And this substance is either
a body, that is, a corporeal nature in which there is
contained formally [and really] all that which is objectively
[and by representation] in those ideas, or it is God Himself,
or some other creature more noble than body in which that same
is contained eminently. But, since God is no deceiver, it is
very manifest that He does not communicate to me these ideas
immediately and by Himself, nor yet by the intervention of
some creature in which their reality is not formally, but only
eminently, contained. For since He has given me no faculty to
recognise that this is the case, but, on the other hand, a
very great inclination to believe [that they are sent to me
or] that they are conveyed to me by corporeal objects, I do
not see how He could be defended from the accusation of deceit
if these ideas were produced by causes other than corporeal
objects. Hence we must allow that corporeal things exist.
However, they are perhaps not exactly what we perceive by the
senses, since this comprehension by the senses is in many
instances very obscure and confused; but we must at least
admit that all things which I conceive in them clearly and
distinctly, that is to say, all things which, speaking
generally, are comprehended in the object of pure mathematics,
are truly to be recognised as external objects.
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