Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	brain_n	part_n	spirit_n	1,451	5	5.2508	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43995	Humane nature, or, The fundamental elements of policy being a discovery of the faculties, acts, and passions of the soul of man from their original causes, according to such philosophical principles as are not commonly known or asserted / by Tho. Hobbs.	Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679.	1684 (1684)	Wing H2244; ESTC R27431	44,473	106

the interiour the Laws of Refraction still observed Now the interiour coat of the Eye is nothing else but a piece of the Optick Nerve and therefore the Motion is still continued thereby into the Brain and by Resistance or Re-action of the Brain is also a Rebound into the Optick Nerve again which we not conceiving as Motion or Rebound from within do think it is without and call it Light as hath been already shewed by the Experience of a Stroak We have no Reason to doubt that the Fountain of Light the Sun worketh by any other Ways than the Fire at least in this Matter And thus all Vision hath its Original from such Motion as is here described for where there is no Light there is no Sight and therefore Colour also must be the same Thing with Light as being the Effect of the lucid Bodies their Difference being only this that when the Light cometh directly from the Fountain to the Eye or indirectly by Reflection from clean and polite Bodies and such as have not any particular Motion internal to alter it we call it Light but when it cometh to the Eye by Reflection from une●en rough and coarse Bodies or such as are affected with internal Motion of their own that may alter it then we call it Colour Colour and Light differing only in this that the one is pure and the other perturbed Light By that which hath been said not only the Truth of the Third Proposition but also the whole Manner of producing Light and Colour is apparent 9. As Colour is not inherent in the Object but an Effect thereof upon us caused by such Motion in the Object as hath been described so neither is Sound in the Thing we hear but in our selves One manifest Sign thereof is that as a Man may see so also he may hear double or treble by Multiplication of Echoes which Echoes are Sounds as well as the Original and not being in one and the same Place cannot be inherent in the Body that maketh them Nothing can make any Thing which is not in it self the Clapper hath no Sound in it but Motion and maketh Motion in the internal Parts of the Bell so the Bell hath Motion and not Sound that imparteth Motion to the Air and the Air hath Motion but not Sound the Air imparteth Motion by the Ear and Nerve unto the Brain and the Brain hath Motion but not Sound from the Brain it reboundeth back into the Nerves outward and thence it becometh an Apparition without which we call Sound And to proceed to the rest of the Senses it is apparent enough that the Smell and Taste of the same Thing are not the same to every Man and therefore are not in the Thing smelt or tasted but in the Men So likewise the Heat we feel from the Fire is manifestly in us and is quite different from the Heat which is in the Fire for our Heat is Pleasure or Pain according as it is great or moderate but in the Coal there is no such Thing By this the Fourth and last Proposition is proved viz. That as in Vision so also in Conceptions that arise from other Senses the Subject of their Inherence is not in the Object but in the Sentient 10. And from hence also it followeth that whatsoever Accidents or Qualities our Senses make us think there be in the World they be not there but are Seeming and Apparitions only the Things that really are in the World without us are those Motions by which these Seemings are caused And this is the great Deception of Sense which also is to be by Sense corrected for as Sense telleth me when I see directly that the Colour seemeth to be in the Object so also Sense telleth me when I see by Reflection that Colour is in the Object CHAP. III. 1. Imagination defined 2. Sleep and Dreams defined 3. Causes of Dreams 4. Fiction defined 5. Phantasms defined 6. Remembrances defined 7. Wherein Remembrance consisteth 8. Why in a Dream a Man never thinks he dreams 9. Why few Things seem strange in Dreams 10. That a Dream may be taken for Reality and Vision 1. AS standing Water put into Motion by the Stroak of a Stone or blast of Wind doth not presently give over moving as soon as the Wind ceaseth or the Stone setleth so neither doth the Effect cease which the Object hath wrought upon the Brain so soon as ever by turning aside of the Organs the Object ceaseth to work that is to say Though the Sense be past the Image or Conception remaineth but more obscure while we are awake because some Object or other continually plieth and solliciteth our Eyes and Ears keeping the Mind in a stronger Motion whereby the weaker doth not easily appear And this obscure Conception is that we call Phantasie or Imagination Imagination being to define it Conception remaining and by little and little decaying from and after the Act of Sense 2. But when present Sense is not as in Sleep there the Images remaining after Sense when there be many as in Dreams are not obscure but strong and clear as in Sense it self The Reason is That which obscured and made the Conceptions weak namely Sense and present Operation of the Object is removed for Sleep is the Privation of the Act of Sense the Power remaining and Dreams are the Imagination of them that sleep 3. The Causes of Dreams if they be natural are the Actions or Violence of the inward Parts of a man upon his Brain by which the Passages of Sense by Sleep benummed are restored to their Motion The Signs by which this appeareth to be so are the Differences of Dreams old Men commonly dream oftener and have their Dreams more painful than young proceeding from the different Accidents of Mans Body as Dreams of Lust as Dreams of Anger according as the Heart or other Parts within work more or less upon the Brain by more or less Heat so also the Descents of different sorts of Flegm maketh us a Dream of different Tastes of Meats and Drinks and I believe there is a Reciprocation of Motion from the Brain to the Vital Parts and back from the Vital Parts to the Brain whereby not only Imagination begetteth Motion in those Parts but also Motion in those Parts begetteth Imagination like to that by which it was begotten If this be true and that sad Imaginations nourish the Spleen then we see also a Cause why a strong Spleen reciprocally causeth fearful Dreams and why the Effects of Lasciviousness may in a Dream produce the Image of some person that had caused them Another Sign that Dreams are caused by the Action of the inward Parts is the Disorder and casual Consequence of one Conception or Image to another for when we are waking the Antecedent thought or Conception introduceth and is cause of the Consequent as the Water followeth a mans Finger upon a dry and level Table but in Dreams there is commonly no Coherence and

out-goe whom we would not is Indignation To hold fast by another is to love To carry him on that so holdeth is Charity To hurt ones self for hast is Shame Continually to be out-gone is Misery Continually to out-go the next before is Felicity And to forsake the Course is to die CHAP. X. 1. HAving shewed in the precedent Chapters that Sense proceedeth from the Action of external Objects upon the Brain or some internal Substance of the Head and that the Passions proceed from the Alteration there made and continued to the Heart It is consequent in the next Place seeing the Diversity of Degrees in Knowlege in divers Men to be greater than may be ascribed to the divers Tempers of their Brain to declare what other Causes may produce such Oddes and Excess of Capacity as we daily observe in one Man above another As for that Difference which ariseth from Sickness and such accidental Distempers I omit the same as impertinent to this Place and consider it only in such as have their Health and Organs well disposed If the Difference were in the natural Temper of the Brain I can imagin no Reason why the same should not appear first and most of all in the Senses which being equal both in the wise and less wise infer an equal Temper in the common Organ namely the Brain of all the Senses 2. But we see by Experience that Joy and Grief proceed not in all Men from the same Causes and that men differ very much in the Constitution of the Body whereby that which helpeth and furthereth vital Constitution in one and is therefore delightful hindereth it and crosseth it in another and therefore causeth Grief The Difference therefore of Wits hath its Original from the different Passions and from the Ends to which the Appetite leadeth them 3. And first those Men whose Ends are sensual Delight and generally are addicted to Ease Food Onerations and Exonerations of the Body must needs be the less thereby delighted with those Imaginations that conduce not to those Ends such as are Imaginations of Honour and Glory which as I have said before have Respect to the future For Sensuality consisteth in the Pleasure of the Senses which please only for the present and take away the Inclination to observe such Things as conduce to Honour and consequently maketh Men less curious and less ambitious whereby they less consider the Way either to Knowledge or other Power in which two consisteth all the Excellency of Power cognitive And this is it which Men call Dulness and proceedeth from the Appetite of sensual or bodily Delight And it may well be conjectured that such Passion hath its Beginning from a Grossness and Difficulty of the Motion of the Spirit about the Heart 4. The Contrary hereunto is that quick Rangeing of Mind described Chap. 4. Sect. 3. which is joyned with Curiosity of comparing the Things that come into the Mind one with another in which Comparison a Man delighteth himself either with finding unexpected Similitude of Things otherwise much unlike in which Men place the Excellency of Fancy and from whence proceed those grateful Similies Metaphors and other Tropes by which both Poets and Orators have it in their Power to make Things please or displease and shew well or ill to others as they like themselves or else in discerning suddenly Dissimilitude in Things that otherwise appear the same And this Vertue of the Mind is that by which Men attain to exact and perfect Knowledge and the Pleasure thereof consisteth in continual Instruction and in Distinction of Places Persons and Seasons and is commonly termed by the Name of Judgement for to judge is nothing else but to distinguish or discern And both Fancy and Judgement are commonly comprehended under the Name of Wit which seemeth to be a Tenuity and Agility of Spirits contrary to that Restiness of the Spirits supposed in those that are dull 5. There is another Defect of the Mind which Men call Levity which betrayeth also Mobility in the Spirits but in Excess An Example whereof is in them that in the midst of any serious Discourse have their Minds diverted to every little Jest or witty Observation which maketh them depart from their Discourse by a Parenthesis and from that Parenthesis by another till at length they either lose themselves or make their Narration like a Dream or some studied Nonsence The Passion from whence this proceedeth is Curiosity but with too much Equality and Indifference for when all Things make equal Impression and Delight they equally throng to be expressed 6. The Vertue opposite to this Defect is Gravity or Steadiness in which the End being the great and Master-Delight directeth and keepeth in the Way thereto all other Thoughts 7. The Extremity of Dulness is that natural Folly which may be called Stolidity But the Extream of Levity though it be natural Folly distinct from the other and obvious to every Mans Observation I know not how to call it 8. There is a Fault of the Mind called by the Greeks {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which is Indocibility or Difficulty of being taught the which must needs arise from a false Opinion that they know already the Truth of that is called in question for certainly Men are not otherwise so unequal in capacity as the Evidence is unequal between what is taught by the Mathematicians and what is commonly discoursed of in other Books and therefore if the Minds of Men were all of white Paper they would all most equally be disposed to acknowledge whatsoever should be in right Method and by right Ratiocination delivered to them But when Men have once acquiesced in untrue Opinions and registred them as Authentical Records in their Minds it is no less impossible to speak intelligibly to such Men than to write legibly upon a Paper already scribled over The immediate Cause therefore of Indocibility is Prejudice and of prejudice false Opinion of our own Knowledge 9. Another and a principal Defect of the Mind is that which Men call Madness which appeareth to be nothing else but some Imagination of some such Predominancy above the rest that we have no Passion but from it and this Conception is nothing else but excessive vain Glory or vain Dejection which is most propable by these Examples following which proceed in Appearance every one of them from Pride or some Dejection of Mind As first we have had the Example of one that preached in Cheapside from a Cart there instead of a Pulpit that he himself was Christ which was spiritual Pride or Madness We have had also divers Examples of Learned Madness in which Men have manifestly been distracted upon any Occasion that hath put them in Remembrance of their own Ability Amongst the learned Men may be remembred I think also those that determine of the Time of the Worlds End and other such the Points of Prophecy And the gallant Madness of Don Quixotte is nothing else but

3. Sect. 5. where I call them Phantasms For taking them to be Things real without us like Bodies and seeing them to come and vanish so strangely as they do unlike to Bodies what could they call them else but incorporeal Bodies which is not a Name but an Absurdity of Speech 6. It is true that the Heathens and all Nations of the World have acknowledged that there be Spirits which for the most part they hold to be incorporeal whereby it might be thought that a Man by natural Reason may arrive without the Scriptures to the Knowledge of this That Spirits are But the erroneous Collection thereof by the Heathens may proceed as I have said before from the Ignorance of the Cause of Ghosts and Phantasms and such other Apparitions And from thence had the Grecians their Number of Gods their Number of Daemons good or bad and for every Man his Genius which is not the Acknowledging of this Truth That Spirits are but a false Opinion concerning the Force of Imagination 7. And seeing the Knowledge we have of Spirits is not natural Knowledge but Faith from supernatural Revelation given to the holy Writers of the Scriptures it followeth that of Inspirations also which is the Operation of Spirit in us the Knowledge which we have must all proceed from Scripture The Signs there set down of Inspiration are Miracles when they be great and manifestly above the Power of Men to do by Imposture As for Example the Inspiration of Elias was known by the miraculous Burning of the Sacrifice But the Signs to distinguish whether a Spirit be good or evil are the same by which we distinguish whether a Man or a Tree be good or evil namely Actions and Fruit For there are lying Spirits wherewith Men are inspired sometimes as well as with Spirits of Truth And we are commanded in Scripture to judge of the Spirits by their Doctrine and not of the Doctrine by the Spirits For Miracles our Saviour hath forbidden us to rule our Faith by them Matth. 24.24 And Saint Paul saith Gal. 1.8 Though an Angel from Heaven preach to you otherwise c. let him be accursed Where it is plain that we are not to judge whether the Doctrine be true or not by the Angel but whether the Angel say true or no by the Doctrine So likewise 1 Joh. 4.1 Believe not every Spirit for false Prophets are gone out into the World Vers. 2. Hereby shall ye know the Spirit of God Vers. 3. Every Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is not of God and this is the Spirit of Antichrist Vers. 15. Whosoever confesseth that Jesus is the Son of God in him dwelleth God and he in God The Knowledge therefore we have of good and evil Inspiration cometh not by Vision of an Angel that may teach it nor by a Miracle that may seem to confirm it but by Conformity of Doctrine with this Article and Fundamental Point of Christian Faith which also Saint Paul saith is the sole Foundation That Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh 1 Cor. 3.11 8. But if Inspiration be discerned by this Point and this Point be acknowledged and believed upon the Authority of the Scriptures How may some Men ask know we that the Scripture deserveth so great Authority which must be no less than that of the lively Voice of God that is how we know the Scriptures to be the Word of God And first it is manifest that if by Knowledge we understand Science infallible and natural as is defined Chap. 6. Sect. 4. proceeding from Sense we cannot be said to know it because it proceedeth not from the Conceptions ingendered by Sense And if we understand Knowledge as supernatural we cannot have it but by Inspiration And of that Inspiration we cannot judge but by the Doctrine It followeth that we have not any Way natural or supernatural of the Knowledge thereof which can properly be called Infallible Science and Evidence It remaineth that the Knowledge that we have that the Scriptures are the Word of God is only Faith which Faith therefore is also by Saint Paul defined Heb. 11.1 to be the Evidence of Things not seen that is to say not otherwise evident but by Faith for whatsoever either is evident by Natural Reason or Revelation supernatural is not called Faith else should not Faith cease no more than Charity when we are in Heaven which is contrary to the Doctrine of the Scripture And we are not said to believe but to know those Things that be evident 9. Seeing then the Acknowledgment of Scriptures to be the Word of God is not Evidence but Faith and Faith Chap. 6. Sect. 7. consisteth in the Trust we have of other Men it appeareth plain that the Men so trusted are the holy Men of Gods Church succeeding one another from the Time of those that saw the wondrous Works of God Almighty in the Flesh Nor doth this imply that God is not the Worker or Efficient Cause of Faith or that Faith is begotten in Man without the Spirit of God for all those good Opinions which we admit and believe though they proceed from Hearing and Hearing from Teaching both which are natural yet they are the Work of God for all the Works of Nature are his and they are attributed to the Spirit of God As for Example Exod. 28.3 Thou shalt speak unto all cunning Men whom I have filled with the SPIRIT of Wisdom that they may make Aaron's Garments for his Consecration that he may serve me in the Priests Office Faith therefore wherewith we believe is the Work of the Spirit of God in that Sense by which the Spirit of God giveth to one Man Wisdom and cunning in Workmanship more than another and by which he effecteth also in other Points pertaining to our ordinary Life that one Man believeth that which upon the same Grounds another doth not and one Man reverenceth the Opinion and obeyeth the Commands of his Superiour and others not 10. And seeing our Faith that the Scriptures are the Word of God began from the Confidence and Trust we repose in the Church there can be no Doubt but that their Interpretation of the same Scriptures when any Doubt or Controversie shall arise by which this Fundamental Point That Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh may be called in question is safer for any Man to trust to than his own whether Reasoning or Spirit that is to say his own Opinion 11. Now concerning Mens Affections to God-ward they are not the same always that are described in the Chapter concerning Passions There for to love is to be delighted with the Image or Conception of the Thing loved but God is unconceivable To love God therefore in the Scripture is to obey his Commandments and to love one another Also to trust God is different from our trusting one another for when a Man trusteth a Man Chap. 9. Sect. 8. he layeth aside his own Endeavours but