"Thus a man who is dressed can be regarded as a compound of a man and clothes. But with respect to the man, his being dressed is merely a mode, although clothes are substances. In the same way, in the case of a man, who is composed of a soul and a body, our author might be regarding the body as the principal element, in relation to which having a soul or the possession of thought is nothing but a mode."
— Descartes, René (1596-1650)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Amsterdam
Publisher
Elzevir
Date
1648
Metaphor
"Thus a man who is dressed can be regarded as a compound of a man and clothes. But with respect to the man, his being dressed is merely a mode, although clothes are substances. In the same way, in the case of a man, who is composed of a soul and a body, our author might be regarding the body as the principal element, in relation to which having a soul or the possession of thought is nothing but a mode."
Metaphor in Context
Lastly, we should note that in subjects which are composed of several substances, one such substance often stands out; and we view this substance in such a way that any of the other substances which we associate with it are nothing but modes of it. Thus a man who is dressed can be regarded as a compound of a man and clothes. But with respect to the man, his being dressed is merely a mode, although clothes are substances. In the same way, in the case of a man, who is composed of a soul and a body, our author might be regarding the body as the principal element, in relation to which having a soul or the possession of thought is nothing but a mode. But it is absurd to infer from this that the soul itself, or that in virtue of which the body thinks, is not a substance distinct from the body.
(p. 299)
(p. 299)
Categories
Provenance
Past Masters
Citation
Descartes, René. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes. Trans. John Cottingham, Robert Stoothof, and Dugald Murdoch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
Date of Entry
10/03/2003
Date of Review
12/03/2008
