e.,
of external objects).--FRENCH.] and as it only considered other
objects in so far as they were useful to the body, in which it was
immersed, it judged that there was greater or less reality in each
object, according as the impressions it caused on the body were more
or less powerful. Hence arose the belief that there was more
substance or body in rocks and metals than in air or water, because
the mind perceived in them more hardness and weight. Moreover, the
air was thought to be merely nothing so long as we experienced no
agitation of it by the wind, or did not feel it hot or cold. And
because the stars gave hardly more light than the slender flames of
candles, we supposed that each star was but of this size. Again,
since the mind did not observe that the earth moved on its axis, or
that its superficies was curved like that of a globe, it was on that
account more ready to judge the earth immovable and its surface
flat. And our mind has been imbued from our infancy with a thousand
other prejudices of the same sort which afterwards in our youth we
forgot we had accepted without sufficient examination, and admitted
as possessed of the highest truth and clearness, as if they had been
known by means of our senses, or implanted in us by nature.
Pages:
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106