Section Five
Theory of the Origin of Ideas
PART TWO
Origin of all ideas in general through
the idea of being
the idea of being
|
Section Five |
|
Theory of the Origin of Ideas |
|
|
PART TWO |
|
|
Origin of all ideas in general through the idea of being |
Contents
|
Given the idea of being, the origin of other ideas is explained by analysis of their elements |
||
|
|
The link with what has been said above |
|
|
|
Analysis of all acquired ideas |
|
|
|
A twofold cause is needed to explain form and matter, the two elements of all acquired ideas |
|
|
|
The twofold cause of acquired ideas is the idea of being and sensation |
|
|
|
St. Thomas' teaching on the cause of our ideas |
|
|
|
The true interpretation of the Scholastic dictum: 'There is nothing in the intellect that did not first exist in sense' |
|
|
Another way of explaining the origin of acquired ideas: through the formation of human reason |
||
|
|
The idea of being present to our spirit forms our intellect and human reason |
|
|
|
The teaching of St Thomas and St Bonaventure about the formation of intellect and reason |
|
|
|
Corollary: all acquired ideas depend upon the innate idea of being |
|
|
Third way of explaining the origin of acquired ideas in general: by the potencies that produce them |
|||||
|
Reflection |
|||||
|
Universalisation and abstraction |
|||||
|
Why the faculty of abstraction has been confused with the faculty of universalisation |
|||||
|
Universalisation produces species, abstraction genera |
|||||
|
Plato's theory on genera and species |
|||||
|
Synthesis of ideas |
|||||
| CHAPTER 4 |
Fourth way of explaining the origin of acquired ideas in general: by means of a summary classification of the ideas themselves |
||||||
| Article 1 |
Classification of our intellections |
||||||
| Article 2 |
The difficulty lies in explaining the three listed classes of intellections |
||||||
| Article 3 |
In forming abstracts, our intelligence needs language as a stimulus |
||||||
| §1 |
Our spirit is drawn to the act of perception by sensible things |
||||||
| Observations |
The limits of development attainable by human beings outside society if sensations and bodily images were the only stimuli of their reason |
||||||
| §2 |
Corporeal images are sufficient explanation of the spirit's activity in forming ideas separated from perceptions |
||||||
| §3 |
Language provides sufficient explanation of the spirit's activity in forming abstract ideas |
||||||
| Observation 1 |
An objection drawn from human freedom |
||||||
| Observation 2 |
Human development by means of society and language; the necessity of language, if human beings are to become masters of their own powers |
||||||
| Article 4 |
Intellective perception explained |
||||||
| §1 |
The only intellective perception we have is of ourselves and of bodies |
||||||
| §2 |
Explanation of the perception |
||||||
| §3 |
Explanation of the judgment generating the perception of bodies |
||||||
| Observation 1 |
The teaching of the ancients about the word of the mind |
||||||
| Observation 2 |
Relationship between idea and the word of the mind |
||||||
| Article 5 |
Necessity of intellective perception |
||||||
| Observation 1 |
Is the soul always thinking? |
||||||
| Observation 2 |
How the intelligence is a tabula rasa |
||||||
|
The innate idea of being resolves the general difficulty of the problem of the origin of ideas |
|||||
|
|
The difficulty solved |
||||
|
|
Objections and answers |
||||
|
|
|
First objection |
|||
|
|
|
Reply to the first objection |
|||
|
|
|
The first objection renewed |
|||
|
|
The reply continued |
||||
|
|
|
Second objection |
|||
|
|
Reply to the second objection |
||||
|
|
|
There is an idea which precedes any judgment whatsoever |
|||
|
|
|
Human beings possess an intellectual sense |
|||
|
|
|
The difference between corporeal and intellectual sense |
|||
|
|
|
The nature of ideal being |
|||