Philosophy 2260F/G Chapter : The First Dialogue.docx

• School: Western University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: Philosophy 2260F/G
• Professor: Charles Middleton

Document Summary

Men who have all ages pretended either to believe nothing at all or to believe the most extravagant things in the world. More repugnant to common sense or a more manifest piece of scepticism, than to believe there is no such thing as matter. It were absurd to think god or virtue sensible things. If you take away all sensible qualities there remains nothing sensible. For such his denial is no more to be esteemed a sceptic than the other. A sceptic was one who doubted of everything, or who denies the reality and truth of things. Sensible things you mean those only which can be perceived immediately by sense. Make no inferences deducing therefore of causes or occasions from effects and appearances. To exist is one thing and to be perceived is another. That pain is something distinct from heat and the consequence or effect of it. Sensible pain is nothing distinct from those sensations or ideas.