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Section Five |
| Theory of the Origin of Ideas | |
| Part One | |
| Origin of the Idea of Being |
Contents
| Fact: we think being in all its universality |
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| Nature of the idea of being |
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The pure idea of being is not a sensible image |
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The idea of anything must be distinguished from some judgment about its subsistence |
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Ideas of things never contain the subsistence of these things |
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The idea of being presents only simple possibility |
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We cannot think of anything without the idea of being Demonstration |
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No other idea is necessary for the intuition of the idea of being |
| Origin of the idea of being |
| The idea of being does not come from bodily sensations |
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Demonstration 1 |
From objectivity, the first characteristic of the idea of being and its first element |
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The difference between sensation, sense perception, idea and intellective perception |
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Demonstration 2 |
From possibility or ideality, the second characteristic of the idea of being and its second element |
| The connection between the two general proofs, already given, of the inability of sensations to provide us with the idea of being |
| Demonstration 3 |
From simplicity, the third characteristic of possible being |
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Demonstration 4 |
From unity or identity, the fourth characteristic of possible being |
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Demonstrations 5 And 6 |
From universality and necessity, the fifth and sixth characteristics of possible being |
| Ens is the source of a priori knowledge |
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| The idea of being in all its universality and all other ideas without exception possess the characteristics indicated, especially universality and necessity |
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| Origin of the platonic system of innate ideas |
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Demonstrations 7 and 8 |
From immutability and eternity, the seventh and eighth characteristics of possible being |
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Demonstration 9 |
From indetermination, the ninth characteristic of possible being in all its universality and its third element |
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A synopsis of the proofs already stated, together with an indication of other special proofs that a priori knowledge cannot be deduced from sensations |
| The idea of being does not come from the feeling of one’s own existence |
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This proposition follows from what has been said |
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The distinction between the feeling and the idea of myself |
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The feeling of myself gives me only my particular existence |
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My own feeling is innate; the intellective perception of my existence is acquired |
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The idea of being precedes the idea of myself |
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Malebranches error was his opinion that we directly perceive ourselves intellectively without the intervention of an idea |
| The idea of being does not come from Lockes reflection |
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Definition |
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Demonstration 1 |
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Demonstration 2 |
| The idea of being does not begin to exist in our spirit in the act of perception |
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Demonstration 1 From observation of the fact |
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Demonstration 2 From absurdity |
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The idea of being is innate |
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Demonstration |
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Why it is difficult to be aware that the idea of being is continually present to us |
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The theory was known by the Fathers of the Church |