But number in things themselves arises from the distinction there is
between them: and distinction is threefold, viz., real, modal, and
of reason. The real properly subsists between two or more
substances; and it is sufficient to assure us that two substances
are really mutually distinct, if only we are able clearly and
distinctly to conceive the one of them without the other. For the
knowledge we have of God renders it certain that he can effect all
that of which we have a distinct idea: wherefore, since we have now,
for example, the idea of an extended and corporeal substance, though
we as yet do not know with certainty whether any such thing is
really existent, nevertheless, merely because we have the idea of
it, we may be assured that such may exist; and, if it really exists,
that every part which we can determine by thought must be really
distinct from the other parts of the same substance. In the same
way, since every one is conscious that he thinks, and that he in
thought can exclude from himself every other substance, whether
thinking or extended, it is certain that each of us thus considered
is really distinct from every other thinking and corporeal
substance.
Pages:
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94