Synopsis
Excerpt from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Vol. 2 of 3: In Four Books; A New Edition Corrected
3. From what has been faid, it is eafy to dif cover what is (0 much inquired after, the princi pium individuationir and that, it is plain, is exiti ence itfelf, which determines afbeing of any fort to a particular time and place incommunicable to two beings of the fame kind. This, though it feems cafier to conceive in {imple fubl'tances or modes, yet when refleéted on, is not more difficult in compounded ones, if care be taken to what it is applied. V. G. Let us fuppofe an atom, z'. E. A continued body under one immutable fuperficies, exil'ting in a determined time and place, it is evi dent, that, confidered in any infiant of its cxiii ence, it is in that inltant the fame with itfelf. For being at that inltant what it is, and nothing elfe, it is the fame, and (0 mutt continue as long as its exiltence is continued for fo long it will be the fame, and no other. In like man ner, if two or more atoms be joined together into the fame mafs, every one of thole atoms will be the fame, by the foregoing rule: and whilft they exilt united together, the mafs, confil'ting of the fame atoms, mull be the fame mafs, or the fame body, let the parts he never fo differently jumbled: but if one of thefe atoms be taken a way, or one new one added, it is no longer the fame mafs, or the fame body. In the {tale of living creatures, their identity depends not on a mals of the fame particles, but on fomething elfe for in them the variation of great parcels of mat ter alters not the identity. An oak growing from a plant to a great tree, and then lopped, is fill] the fame oak: and a colt grown up to a horfe, fome.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.