THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN SOUL 221 



producing a determination in the cognitive intellect. (5) 

 Upon receiving this determination, the cognitive intellect, 

 which has hitherto been, as it were, a blank tablet with noth- 

 ing written upon it, reacts to express the essence or nature 

 of a boat by means of a spiritual representation or concept 

 — the abstractive act of the active intellect is dispositive^ 

 inasmuch as it presents what is common to all the boats 

 perceived without their differentiating peculiarities; the ab- 

 stractive act of the cognitive intellect, however, is cognitive, 

 inasmuch as it considers the essence of a boat without 

 considering its individuation. Such is the abstractive process 

 by which our general and abstract concepts are formed. From 

 a comparison of two concepts of this sort the process of judg- 

 ment arises, and from the comparison of two concepts with 

 a third arises the process of mediate inference or reasoning. 

 Volition, too, is consequent upon conception, and hence an 

 act of the will (our rational appetite), such as the desire of 

 sailing in a boat, entails the preexistence of some conceptual 

 knowledge of the nature of a boat. Volition, therefore, pre- 

 supposes thought, and thought presupposes imagination, which 

 supplies the sensible imagery that undergoes the aforesaid 

 process of analysis or abstraction. Such imagery, however, 

 is a function of the cerebral cortex, and, for this reason, the 

 normal exercise of the imagination presupposes the cerebral 

 cortex in a normal physiological condition; and anything 

 that disturbs this normal condition of the cortex will di- 

 rectly disturb the imagery of the imagination, and therefore 

 indirectly impede the normal exercise of conceptual thought, 

 which is abstracted from such imagery. Hence it is clear 

 that the activity of both the intellect and the will is ob- 

 jectively dependent upon the organic activity of the imagina- 

 tion, and, in consequence, indirectly dependent upon the 

 physiological condition of the cerebral cortex, which is the 

 organ of the imagination. Since, however, this dependence 

 is objective rather than subjective, it does not, as we have 

 seen, conflict with the spirituality of rational thought. 



