Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709-1751)

L'Homme machine [Man a Machine]

1748, 1749

"The eye is, in reality, a sort of peep-hole, thro' which the soul can view the images of objects, according as they are represented from different bodies."

[...] For if we listen a little more to what naturalists say, they will tell us, that the same causes which have conspir'd, as it were by chance-medley, to form a looking-glass in the hands of the chemist, have, in like manner, contributed to create pure water in the hands of nature, which serves as a mirrour to the simple shepherdess: they will tell you too, that the same motion which upholds and preserves the world, was likewise able to give it a being; that every body has taken the place assign'd to it by nature; that the air encompasses the earth for the same reason; that iron and other metals, become the workmanship of its intrails; that the sun is as much the production of nature as electricity; that it was no more made to give warmth to the earth and its inhabitants, which sometimes it burns, than the rain was form'd to make the fruits of the earth to blossom, which are frequently spoiled thereby; that the mirrour and water were no more made to see ourselves in them, than other polish'd bodies which have the same property; that the eye is, in reality, a sort of peep-hole, thro' which the soul can view the images of objects, according as they are represented from different bodies; but that it cannot be demonstrated that this organ has been fram'd on purpose for this particular use, nor expressly ordain'd to be placed in any particular situation: and in short that Lucretius, doctor Lamy, and the rest of the modern as well as antient Epicureans, were in the right when they maintain'd that the eye sees for no other reason but because it is organized, and placed as it is; that when once the rules of motion were determin'd, which nature was to observe in the generation and production of bodies, then it was impossible that this wonderful organ could be organized or placed in a different manner than it is.
(p. 51-3)

Architecture::Peep-hole

Reading

4 entries in the ESTC. Published anonymously, translated into English in 1749 with printings in 1750 and 1752.

Text from Man a Machine. Translated from the French of the Marquiss D'Argens. (London: Printed for W. Owen, 1749). <Link to ECCO>

Reading Man a Machine and Man a Plant, trans. Richard A. Watson and Maya Rybalka (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1994). Translation based on version from La Mettrie's Oeuvres philosophiques (Berlin: 1751).

07/16/2013