i62 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. 



Ipcak of an Intellecl that does not operate without the Phantafia, — 

 is pafllve and corruptible. 



To tliefe objccftions, it may he anfwercd ; That, as there is a pro- 

 grefs in our Intellcdl from mere potentiality to a pcrfe<fl ftatc, hut 

 which mull ncceflarily be tlirough fcveral ftatcs lefs perfevTl:, accor- 

 ding to a general law of Nature, which holds, as I obferved above, 

 in all things in generation, and particularly in the Animal and Ve- 

 getable parts of us, as is well known to Naturalifts, I fhould defire 

 to know, what more natural progrefs, or indeed what other pro- 

 grefs, can be imagined, than that the intellect, inftead of perceiving 

 the pure Forms or Ideas, which, no doubt, are the proper objects of 

 Intelled, fhould perceive them mixed with Matter ? 



As to what is faid of the difference betwixt the Ideas of the Prac- 

 tical and Speculative Intelled: ; they are not more different than the 

 Ideas of Perfecft and Imperfect Intel le£l muft neceflarily be. That 

 there fhould be a difference is abfolutely necelTary ; and it is not 

 pofTible to imagine any other. But the Ideas even of the Practical 

 and Perfe(n: Intelletfl are flill Ideas, and altogether different from Sen- 

 faiions : For the Senfe, as I obferved before, perceives only the ac- 

 cidents of things ; whereas the Practical Intelle(5t, imperfe(n: as it is, 

 perceives the Form of the thing, though not without the Mat- 

 ter. 



ido, As to the authority of Ariftotle, it is true that he fays, that 

 we do not think without Phantafms, that is, Appearances in the Phan- 

 tafia *. But it is evident from the context, that Ariftotle is there 

 fpeaking of the Pradlical Intelledl, which, as it is converfant about 



particular 



• OuJ(9r«Ti ytH a>«t> ^xtTxcfiarti ij ■^vx>'>. Lib. 3. De Aiiima, cap. 8. 



