"Thus likewise, when we form to ourselves a notion of the soul, we ever represent it as a thin shade, or subtil matter; in short, as a corporeal being, if we form any image of it at all."
— Marat, Jean-Paul (1743-1793)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Ridley; and T. Payne
Date
1773
Metaphor
"Thus likewise, when we form to ourselves a notion of the soul, we ever represent it as a thin shade, or subtil matter; in short, as a corporeal being, if we form any image of it at all."
Metaphor in Context
Examine the productions of the human mind, the most singular works of imagination, even those which have the least analogy to nature; all have for their subject, sensible objects, or relations of these objects. Almost all our thoughts are corporeal images, and of the most abstract ideas there is none which is not fixed by the senses; there is not throughout all nature a work of the pure intellect. If we desired, for instance, to form any idea of the Deity, or his attributes, we should consider him under human relations; at one time, as a beneficent father: at another, as a glorious King; now, as a benevolent master; then, as an offended Judge.
He who would rise to the first of Beings, and contemplate him in his essence without the aid of corporeal images, perceiving no relation between God and himself, knows not how to form any notion of him, and is lost in the sublimity of the idea. Thus all religions are supported by a gross worship, which interposes material objects between the supreme Being and Man. One contemplates the Deity in his works, another worships him under an imaginary resemblance; for the heart, as well as the mind, is ever fixed by the intervention of the senses.
Thus likewise, when we form to ourselves a notion of the soul, we ever represent it as a thin shade, or subtil matter; in short, as a corporeal being, if we form any image of it at all.
(pp. 157-8)
He who would rise to the first of Beings, and contemplate him in his essence without the aid of corporeal images, perceiving no relation between God and himself, knows not how to form any notion of him, and is lost in the sublimity of the idea. Thus all religions are supported by a gross worship, which interposes material objects between the supreme Being and Man. One contemplates the Deity in his works, another worships him under an imaginary resemblance; for the heart, as well as the mind, is ever fixed by the intervention of the senses.
Thus likewise, when we form to ourselves a notion of the soul, we ever represent it as a thin shade, or subtil matter; in short, as a corporeal being, if we form any image of it at all.
(pp. 157-8)
Categories
Provenance
ECCO-TCP
Citation
3 entries in ESTC (1773, 1775).
A Philosophical Essay on Man: Being an Attempt to Investigate the Principles and Laws of the Reciprocal Influence of the Soul on the Body, 2 vols. (London: Printed for J. Ridley; and T. Payne, 1773) <Link to Vol. II in ECCO_TCP>
A Philosophical Essay on Man: Being an Attempt to Investigate the Principles and Laws of the Reciprocal Influence of the Soul on the Body, 2 vols. (London: Printed for J. Ridley; and T. Payne, 1773) <Link to Vol. II in ECCO_TCP>
Date of Entry
08/18/2013
