And certainly from the fact that I am sensible
of different sorts of colours, sounds, scents, tastes, heat,
hardness, etc., I very easily conclude that there are in the
bodies from which all these diverse sense-perceptions proceed
certain variations which answer to them, although possibly
these are not really at all similar to them. And also from
the fact that amongst these different sense-perceptions some
are very agreeable to me and others disagreeable, it is quite
certain that my body (or rather myself in my entirety,
inasmuch as I am formed of body and soul) may receive
different impressions agreeable and disagreeable from the
other bodies which surround it.
But there are many other things which nature seems to
have taught me, but which at the same time I have never really
received from her, but which have been brought about in my
mind by a certain habit which I have of forming inconsiderate
judgments on things; and thus it may easily happen that these
judgments contain some error. Take, for example, the opinion
which I hold that all space in which there is nothing that
affects [or makes an impression on] my senses is void; that in
a body which is warm there is something entirely similar to
the idea of heat which is in me; that in a white or green body
there is the same whiteness or greenness that I perceive; that
in a bitter or sweet body there is the same taste, and so on
in other instances; that the stars, the towers, and all other
distant bodies are of the same figure and size as they appear
from far off to our eyes, etc.
Pages:
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137