no ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book 11. 



ly no exiftence in the vifible world (for all things there are individu- 

 als) and, according to the philofophy of Ariftotle, have no exiftence at 

 all, except in inhid. And, fecondly, our oivn minds ; and, from our oivn 

 7nmdsy by analogy and comparifon, we form ideas of other minds^ 

 which are objeds without us, but of a different kind from the objects 

 before mentioned, 'uiz. objeds oifenfe. 



I come now to a divifion of the powers of the human mind, made 

 by Ariftotle's commentators of the Alexandrian fchool, particularly 

 by Philoponus, in his introdudion to his commentary upon Ariftotle's 

 books, De Anima. It Is, I think, of great importance, and will lead 

 us, if rightly undcrftood, more than any other, into a full and com- 

 prehenfive knowledge of the human mind. The divifion I mean, is 

 into Gnod'ic and Oreclic. By the firft we know and perceive ; and, by 

 the fecond, we defire or incline; under which I include alfo averfion ; 

 for averfion is the defire of the ab fence of any thing. Under the firft 

 of thefe, Philoponus reckons five powers of the mind, viz. fenfe, phan- 

 tafia, opinion, a<«v*/«, or difcourfe of reaj'on, as it may be tranflated, and 

 N«v?, or intelkcl. Now, this divifion is, I think, in one refpedt, defec- 

 tive, and, in another, it is much too full ; for, if it be confidered as 

 an enumeration of all the powers and faculties of the miiid, there are 

 two wanting, namely, rnemory^ which, as I have faid, is the repofi- 

 tory of ideas ; 2cc\^^ fecondly ^ it<5-1))^«, oxfcience^ by which the mind makes 

 fcientific or demonftrative conclufions of reafon. Again, if it be con- 

 fidered as a divifion only of \k\^ gnofic powers of the mind, and as 

 fuch only Philoponus has given it us, it is much too fall ; for the p7/^- 

 fi'ic powers, or powers of perception, are only two ; — that by which 

 we perceive the obje£ts of fenfe, whether prefent, through the opera- 

 tion of them upon our organs^ or abfent, by the means of the phan- 

 tafia ; and with this faculty of perceiving thofe objeds, I join the fa- 

 culty of comparing them, in the manner above mentioned ; — and that 

 by which wc apprehend ideas, either fingle or in combination, in the 



manner 



