"And in his [God's] ideas, as in a mirror, we perceive whatever we do perceive of the external world."
— Reid, Thomas (1710-1796)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Edinburgh and London
Publisher
John Bell, and G.G.J. & J. Robinson
Date
1785
Metaphor
"And in his [God's] ideas, as in a mirror, we perceive whatever we do perceive of the external world."
Metaphor in Context
It ought to be observed, that the Pythagoreans and the Platonists, whether elder or latter, made the eternal ideas to be objects of science only, and of abstract contemplation, not the objects of sense. And in this the ancient system of eternal ideas differs from the modern one of Father Malebranche. He held in common with other modern Philosophers, that no external thing is perceived by us immediately, but only by ideas: But he thought, that the ideas, by which we perceive an external world, are the ideas of the Deity himself, in whose mind the ideas of all things past, present, and future, must have been from eternity; for the Deity being intimately present to our minds at all times, may discover to us as much of his ideas as he sees proper, according to certain established laws of nature: And in his ideas, as in a mirror, we perceive whatever we do perceive of the external world.
(i.i.10, 24)
(i.i.10, 24)
Categories
Provenance
Reading in Google Books
Citation
4 entries in ESTC (1785, 1786, 1790, 1793).
See Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (Edinburgh and London: Printed for John Bell, and G.G.J. & J. Robinson, 1785). <Link to Google Books>
See Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (Edinburgh and London: Printed for John Bell, and G.G.J. & J. Robinson, 1785). <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
01/31/2012
