Chap. IV. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 75 



CHAP. IV. 



ArijlotWs Definition of Mind — Shoivn not he fiifficiently comprehenfive 

 in tivo reJpeBs — Aljo not fufficiently particular — Plato's Definition 

 o/Mind — This alfio imperfecl m tivo refipeds — The Definition above 

 ginjen the true Definition — agreeable to the Opinion ofi Plato and A- 

 rtjiotle, and oj the Philofiophers before them. 



THE only definition that Ariftotle has given of mind,'m general, is, 

 that it is the entelechcia^ or perfection^ of a phyfical organized 

 body * ; and, from what he fays, in another paffage of the fame book, 

 by perfe5iion^ he means the fornix or sjS^,?, which is no doubt what gives 

 perfeBion to every thing. As, therefore, every thing exifting is ei- 

 ther matter ox fiorm^ or what is compounded of thefe two, that is, the 

 natural Jubfiance-, tnind (for fo I tranflate the word 4'->^x>>y is one of 

 thele three, viz. \\\^ form. And this d'^^finition, no doubt, as far as it 

 goes, is a true definition ; for it is evident that mind is the perfection, 

 and that which gives the fiorniy and conftitutes the eflence of every 

 thing in which it is inherent. And it is true what Ariliotle fays after- 

 wards t, that mind is fo much the principle of the body in which it 

 exifts, that it is a caiife of that bodv-, in three different refpeds. Fitfi^ 

 it is, as we have faid, \\\^ formal cauje^ n^aking the thing what it is, 

 whether animal or vegetable. Secondly^ it \^\\\q final c^rz/d', being that 

 for the fake of which the body is formed ar^d organized, and without 

 which it would be of no ufe. And, lajlly^ it is the efficient caufie\ for 

 it is the motive poiver of the body, by which all its energies and ope- 



K 2 rations 



* De /^nimay lib. 2. cap. I. n Ts-^arn Dinhiy^Hix, crufixni ^v<rixov, cfyxrizov. ]Jy ff^tirn 

 ivreAzx^-x he meanft, according to the explication I have given of thcfe wonls abovcj^ 

 the pcrfcdlion of powety or hal?ity not of a6luality or energy. Sec above, page 19. 



t Ibidem, cap. 4. p.ig. 634. liditio Val. 



