Date: 1731

"Sense is a Line, the Mind is a Circle. Sense is like a Line which is the Flux of a Point running out from it self, but Intellect like a Circle that keeps within it self."

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Date: 1731

"And Reason interposing, brings in its Verdict for those Stronger Phantasms also whose Objects are durable and permanent, by means whereof the latter only seem to be Real Sensations, the former counterfeit and Fictitious Imaginations; or meer Picture and Landskip in the Soul."

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Date: 1731

"In the day they [Phantasms] are shut out and disappear, the Senses and Understanding working, as the lesser Fire is made to disappear by the Greater; and small Griefs and Pleasures by Great ones. But when we are at rest in our Beds, the least Phantasms make Impressions upon us."

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Date: 1731

"But when we are asleep, the same Phantasms and Imaginations are more strong, vivid and lively; because the Nerves are relaxated, there are often no Motions transmitted by them from the outward Objects into the Brain, to confound those Motions of the Spirits within, and distract the Soul's Attent...

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Date: 1731

"Secondly, Neither doth every Involuntary Phantasm, or such as the Soul is not Conscious to it self to have purposely excited or raised up within it self, seem to be a Sensation or Perception of a thing, as existing without us; for there may be Straggling Phantasms, which come into the Mind we kn...

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Date: 1731

"To have not only Reason degraded and dethroned, but even Sense it self Perverted or extinguished, and in the room, thereof boisterous Phantasms protruded from the Irrational Appetites, Passions and Affections (now grown Monstrous and Enormous) to become the very Sensations of it, by means whereo...

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Date: 1731

"And the serious Consideration hereof should make us very careful how we let the Reins loose to that Passive Irrational Part of our Soul, which knows no Bounds nor Measures, lest thereby we unawares precipitate and plunge our selves headlong into the most sad and deplorable Condition that is imag...

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Date: 1731

"So that Knowledge is not a Passion from any thing without the Mind, but an Active Exertion of the Inward Strength, Vigour and Power of the Mind, displaying it self from within; and the Intelligible Forms by which Things are Understood or Known, are not Stamps or Impressions passively printed upo...

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Date: 1731

"When in a great Throng or Crowd of People, a Man looking round about meets with innumerable strange Faces, that he never saw before in all his Life, and at last chances to espy the Face of one Old Friend or Acquaintance, which he had not seen or thought of many Years before; he would be said in ...

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Date: 1731

"If Intellection and Knowledge were mere Passion from without, or the bare Reception of Extraneous and Adventitious Forms, then no Reason could be given at all why a Mirrour or Looking-glass should not understand; whereas it cannot so much as Sensibly perceive those Images which it receives and r...

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)