But before examining whether any such objects as I
conceive exist outside of me, I must consider the ideas of
them in so far as they are in my thought, and see which of
them are distinct and which confused.
In the first place, I am able distinctly to imagine that
quantity which philosophers commonly call continuous, or the
extension in length, breadth, or depth, that is in this
quantity, or rather in the object to which it is attributed.
Further, I can number in it many different parts, and
attribute to each of its parts many sorts of size, figure,
situation and local movement, and, finally, I can assign to
each of these movements all degrees of duration.
And not only do I know these things with distinctness
when I consider them in general, but, likewise [however little
I apply my attention to the matter], I discover an infinitude
of particulars respecting numbers, figures, movements, and
other such things, whose truth is so manifest, and so well
accords with my nature, that when I begin to discover them, it
seems to me that I learn nothing new, or recollect what I
formerly knew?that is to say, that I for the first time
perceive things which were already present to my mind,
although I had not as yet applied my mind to them.
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