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An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, fol. 315

Machine transcription. Not an edition. Errors are expected: about 8% character error rate on Latin and French lines, higher on German. Mean line confidence on this page: 0.92.

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The machine reads it as

  1. Chap. X. Lnomledge of the Existence o)
  2. it wre ill suppole nothins srst, or eternal, Matter ean never begil
  3. toDe: IF re suppose bare Marter, without Mocion, eternal, Motion cam
  4. never begin to bc: IF e suppole orly Macter and Motion tirst, or eternal,
  5. Thouoht can never begin to be. Whatsoever theretore is erernal, must
  6. be a cogiratire Being, a Spirit: Wharsoever is Airst oF aIL Thinos, must ne-
  7. cellarily contain in ic, and acrually have, at leact, all the Perfections that
  8. can ever alter exist: nor can it ever sive to another any pertection chat
  9. it hathnoc, cither actually in it selF, or at least in a hioher derree.
  10. G. FF. Is cherelore it be cvident, thac somethine neceslarily must exist
  11. from Eternity, tis also as evident, thac that somethine must nececlarily he
  12. acoxirative Being: For it is as impossible, eliat incositative Matter Mould
  13. produce a cogitatire Beins, as chat nothins, or the nesarion ol all Beins.
  14. Mould produce a politire Being, or Matter.
  15. 5. X2. Thouph eliis discovery of the necessary Existence of an eternat
  16. Mind, do sufficieney lead us into the Rnomledse oF aGOD; sinco it
  17. Will hence Pollo, that all other bnowins Beings that have 2 besinnins.
  18. must depend on him, and have no other ways os Rnowledse, or extene
  19. oF Porver, than erhrat he sires them: and theretore it he made thole, he
  20. made also the lels- excellent pieces ofthis Oniverse, all inanimate Beines,
  21. Wherebr his Omniscience, Pover, and Providence, will be cctablisted,
  22. and all his orher Attribures necessarily follon: vet to clear up this a little
  23. Farther, re will sec what Doubes can be railed against it.
  24. 5. 23. First, Perhaps it Will Desaic, thac though it DC as clear as de-
  25. monstration can makre it, that chere must be an eternal Beine, and chat
  26. Beino must also beknowinz: Tet is does not follor, buc that chintrine
  27. Beine may also be material. Let it be (0; it equally siil Follos, that
  28. chere is a GOD. For ilthere be an Fternal, Omniscient, Omnipotent
  29. Beins, it is certain, that there is a GOD, Whecher vou imagine thac
  30. Beins to be material, orno. But herein, I suppose, lies the danger and de
  31. ceit ofthat Suppolition: There beine no var to avoid the demonstra
  32. tion, char thereis an eternal tnomine Being, Men, devored to Matier
  33. rould willinslr have ic granted, that ehis lnowins Beins is material; and
  34. then letring Aide out of their Minds, or the Discourse, the demonstration
  35. Wrhereby an eternal lnowins Beins ras proved necessarils to exist, vould
  36. argueall to De Matter, and (0 deny a GOD, that is, an eternal cogitative
  37. Beins: Wherehy cher are (0 tar trom establithins, chat cher destrortheir
  38. own Hypothelis. For it chere can be, in their Opinion, eternal Matter,
  39. Wwithout an eternal cogiratire Being, cher manitestly separate Matter and
  40. Thinkins, and suppole no necellarr connexion of the one with the ocher,
  41. and so eltablimr che necessitr ot an eternal Spirit, buc not ot Matter;
  42. Tinco it has beon proved alreadr, thac an eternal cogitative Being, is
  43. unavoidably to bc granted. Non it Thinkins and Matter may De sepa-
  44. rated, the eternal Fxistence of Marter, will not follon fromthe eternal Fxi-
  45. stence ofa cocitarive Beine, and thes suppose it ro no purpole.
  46. 9. F4. But no let us sec hor thez can latistie chemselres, or others,
  47. that this eternal thintins Beins is material.
  48. First, Pould askthem, Whether they imagine, that aIl Matter, every
  49. particle of Macrer, thintes: This, Isuppole, thcy will Scarce PaY; SIncC
  50. thien chere would be as mans eternal thintrins Beinss, a5 there are Par.
  51. ticles ofptatter, and (0 an intiniey oF G0d5. And ver il ther will noc
  52. allorr Mlatter as Matter; thac is, every Parricle ot Matter to be a5 Wel
  53. cogitatire, as extended, thes will have as hrard a task to matie out tO
  54. their own Reasons, cogitatire Being out of incogitative Particles, a5 an
  55. extended Beins, out ot unextended Parts, il l may (0 speals. 1

Cite

An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, fol. 315. Machine transcription, not an edition: Leibniz Legible (model FoNDUE-GD_v2_ft_Leibniz, run 74). https://leibnizlegible.com/page/778263916:0331?run=74