But I have infilled too long upon things, which do not properly belong to the Subject of my Difcourfe. 'Tis enough, if I can conclude from the Explication I have given in this Chapter, that all thofe Spurious Traces which Mothers imprint in the Brain of their ^Children, adulterate Se the n- their Minds, and corrupt their Imaginations. And thus the generality of Men are wont to Imam' ginc tilings otherwife than they are, by giving fome falfe colour, and fome irregular ftroke to the Idea's of things which they perceive.
CHAP.
Chap. Vllt The Search ifier Truth. if CHAP. VIII.
L ''The Changes which happen in the Imagination of an Infant after his Birth <i by bis accompanying with hk Mother, his Nurfe and other Perfins. II. Some Inflru&ions for their good Education.
'N the preceding Chapter we have confidered the Brain of an Infant in his Mother's Wombj let us at prefent examine what Changes it is fubject to after his Departure from it. Ar the fame time that he quits his darkfome Habitation, and firft beholds the Light, the cold of the Exteriour Air takes hold of him: the tendered Embraces of the Woman that receives him, are offenfive to his nice and delicate Body: All External Objeds roundabout aftonifh and confound him: they are all occafions of his fears, fince he does not as yet know them, nor is in a capa- city of refilling or avoiding them. His Tears and Cries wherewith he bemoans himlelr, are in- fallible Indications of his Pains and Fears. For thefe are in effect the Supplications which Nature makes to the Affiflants tor him, that they would deliver him from the Evils that he fullers, and from thofe he is apprehenfive of.
But the better to conceive what confufion his Mind is under in this condition, I.
it muft be remembred that the Fibres of his Brain are moft ibft and tender, and pe changes which hap^i confequently that all External Objeds make moll profound Impreffions on them. %£afttfZ7ir!{Z For fince the leafl things are often capable of Hurting a weak Imagination, fuch his accompanying with his a multitude of furprizing Objects cannot fail to wound and embroil that of a new Mother, hi* Nurfe ini oJ born Child. m ther Ferfons'.
But to form a more lively Imagination of the Perturbations and Pains, Children are expos'd to at their Coming into the World, and the wounds their Imagination mull receive; Let us re- prefent to our felves, what aflonifhment would feize thofe Men, who Ihould fee at fome fmall di- ftance Giants five or fix times as tall as themfelves approaching towards them without knowing any thing of their Defign. Or Ihould they behold fome new Species of Animals, that had no Analogy to any that they had already feen, or if only a Flying Horfe, or fome other Chimera of our Poets Ihould, defcending from the Clouds on a fudden, light upon the Earth. What deep ftrokes would thefe Prodigies leave in the Mind, and how would they perplex and confound the Brain, though at a fingle View?
It daily happens that an unexpected Event, that has any thing terrible in its circumflances, de- prives of their Senfes, Men of a Mature Age, whofe Brain isnotfo fufceptible of new Impref- fions, who are experienc'd in the World, who can make a Defence, or at leall are capable of ta- king up fome Refolution. Childien at their firlt Arrival in the World, fuffer fomething from eve- ry Object thatflrikes upon their Senfes, wherewith they are not yet acquainted. All the Animals they fee, are Creatures of a new Species on their Regard, fince nothing of what they fee at prefent was ever feen by them before. They are dellitute of Strength, and void of Experience;, the Fibres of their Brain are of a moll fine and flexible temper. How then is it poffible their Imagination Ihould continue whole, when expos'd to the Impreffions of fo many different Objects?
'Tis true the Mothers have fomewhat pre-accuflomed their Children to the Impreffions of Ob- jects, by having already imprinted them in the Fibres of their Brain before they left the Womb-, and this is the reafon they receive much lefs damage when they behold with their own Eyes, what they in fome manner have perceived already with their Mother's. 'Tis farther true that thefe adulterate Traces and wounds, their Imagination receives upon the fight of fo many Obje&s, to them frightful and terrible, clofe up and heal again in time} for as much as being unnatural, the whole Body is againfl them, and all the parts confpire to their Deftruction, as has been feen in the preceding Chapter. And this is the caufe that all Men in general are not Fools from their Cra- dles. But this hinders not but that there may be ever fome Traces fo flrong and deep imprefs'd ■ as can never be effae'd, but will remain as' long as Life it felf.
If Men would make ferious Reflections upon what happens in their own Breafl, and contem- plate their own Thoughts, they would not want an Experimental Proof of what I have faid. They .would generally difcover in themfelves fome fecret Inclinations and Averfions, which are not in others, whereof there feems no other Reafon to be given than thefe Traces of our Infancy. For fince the caufes of thefe Inclinations and Averfions are peculiar to us, they have no foundation in the Nature of Men ', and fince they are unknown to us, they mud needs have acted on us at a time, when our Memory was not yet capable of regiflring the circumflances of things, which might have affifted us in calling them again to Mind; and that time could be only that of our tendered Age. ' • Monfieur Des-Cartes has acquaintedus in one of his Epiftle j, that he had always a particular fancy for all Squint-ey'd People \ and having diligently fearch'd into the Caufe ol it, at length understood this Defect, was incident to a young Maid he lov'd, when he was a Child ^ the Affection lie retain- ed for her diffufing it felf to all others that any way refembled her.
But 'tis not thefe little irregularities of our Inclinations which fubjecr. us moil to Error, 'Th our having univerfally, or almofl univerfally, our Mind adulterate in fomething or other, and our being generally fubjecr. to fome kind of Folly, though perhaps we are not aware of it. Leu...an R. but 6i K Malebranche Concerning Book It but examine carefully the Temper of thofe People he converfes with, and he will eafily be per* fwaded into this Opinion, and though himfelf bean Original for others to Copy after, and be look'd upon as fuch; yet he will find all others to be Originals too, and all the difference to con* lift in the Degree of \ )more or left.
Now o:ie of the Caufes of the different Characters of Mens Minds, is doubtlefs the diffe- rence of Impreffions received by them in their Mother's Womb, as has been. manifefted touch- ing peculiar and nnufual Inclinations: becaufe thefe being Specie s of Folly, that are fettled and per- manent for the moft part, they cannot have their Dependence on the Constitution of the Ani- mal Spirits, which is of a flux and alterable Nature. And confequently they mult needs proceed from the Bafe and Spurious Impreffions made in the Fibres of the Brain, at fuch time as our Me- mory was incapable of preferving the Remembrance of them, that isinthie beginning of our Lives* Here then is one of the com moneft Caufes of the Errors of Mankind; I mean that Subverfion or their Brain, caufed by the Impreffion of External Objedts, in making their Entrance into the World j and this Caufe does not fo fnddenly.ceafe, as may bepoffibly imagined.
The ordinary Commerce Children are obliged to have with their Nurfes, or even with their Mothers that frequently have had no Education, puts the laft hand, and gives the finiftiing Itroke to the corruption of their Mind. Thefe filly Women entertain them with nothing but Foole- ries, with ridiculous Tales, and frightful-Stories: Their whole Difcourfe to them is about things fenfible \ and they deliver it in a way moft proper to confirm them in the falfe Judgments of their Senfes. In a word, they fow in their Minds the Seeds of all the Follies and Weaknefles themfelves are fubjedt to \ as of their extravagant Fears and Apprehenfions, their ridiculous Su- perftitions, and other the like Feeble fes of Mind. Which is the Reafon, that not being accuftom- ed to fearch for Truth, nor to tafte and relifh it, they at laft become incapable of difcerning it, and of making any ufe of their Reafon. Hence they become timerous and low-fpirited, which Temper for a long time fticks by them: For there are many to be feen, who when fifteen or twenty Years old, retain the Character and Spirit of their Nurfe.
'Tis true, Children feem not to be greatly qualified for the Contemplation of Troth, and for ab- ftract and fublime Sciences: becaufe the Fibres of their Brain being extreamly fine, are moft ea- fily agitated by Objects, even -the moft weak, and Leaft fenfible that can be; and their Soul ne- celfarily admitting Senfations proportioned to the Agitation of thefe Fibres, leaves Metaphyficd Nations, and pure IntelleVzion, to apply her felf wholly to her Senfations. And thus ChHdnea feem improper for, and incapable of an attentive Application to the pure Idea's of Truth, be- ing fo frequently and fo eafily drawn off, by the confus'd Idea's of their Senfes.
Yet in Anfwer to this it may be faid: Firft, that 'tis eafier for a Child of feven Years old, to be freed from the Errors his Senfes lead him to, than for a Man at fixty, who all his Life long has been mif-guided by the prejudices of Childhood: Secondly, that a Child, though incapable,qf the clear and diftinct Idea's of Truth, is at leaft capable of being admonifh'd, that his Senfes deceive him upon all occafions: and if he cannot be taught the Truth, he fhould not however be encouraged and fortified in his Errors: Laftly, the youngeft Children, though never fo ta- ken up with Pleafant and Painful Senfations, yet learn in little time, what Perfons more advane'd in Years cannot in much longer-, as the Knowledge of the Order and Relations, which all the things and words, they fee and hear, ftand in to one another. For though thefe things depend moftly on the Memory, yet 'tis very evident they make great ufe of their Reafon, in the manner of their Learning their Language.
But fince that Aptnefs and Facility there is in the Fibres of a Child's Brain, to receive the Pa- l^'.jhetick Impreffions of fenfible Objects, is the caufe of our judging them incapable of Speculative cm for the Science \ it is eafie to be redrefTed. For it muft be acknowledge, that were the Fears, Defires, good Edu- and Hopes of Children removed or prevented j were they never cans'd to fuffer Pain, and remo- catlon of ved as far as poffible from their little Pleafures, they might be taught as foon as they could fpeak, children, things moft difficult and abftradt, or at leaft ienfible Matlismtkiek^ Mechankks, and fuch like Sciences, as are neceffary in the conduct of their Life. But they have but little concern for ap- plying their Minds to abftradt Sciences, whilft they are hurried with Defires, or molefted with Fears: which is worth while to be well confidered.
For as a Man of Ambition, who had jult loft his Eftate or Honour, or was fuddenly rais'd to an unexpected Preferment, would not be in a Capacity of xttdxiw^ Metaqhyficd Ojieftions, or Equations of Algebra \ but only to do thofe things, to which he was influenced by his prefent Paflion: So Children in whofe Brain an Apple or a Sugar-plumb makes as deep an Impreffion, as a great Poft, a Title, or Preferment, in that of a Man of Forty Years old j are not quali- fied to attend to abftracted Truths, that are taught them. So that we may affirm, there is no- thing fo oppOfite to Children's Advancement in Science, as thofe continual Diverlions we give them as Rewards, and the Pains we conftantly are inflicting, and threatning them withal.
But that which is infinitely more confiderable is, that the fears of Correction, and the de- fires of fenfible Gratifications, which fill the Capacity of a Child's Mind, utterly alienate him from the fenfe of Piety and Religion; Devotion is ftill more abftradt than Science, it has lefs of the relifh of corrupted Nature in it. The Mind of Man is ftrongly enough inclin'd to Study, but has no Inclination to Piety at all. If then great Agitations will not give us leave to Study, tliough we Naturally find Pleafure in it; how is it Poffible for Children, whofe Thoughts are con- tinually intent and bufied about fenfible Pleafures wherewith they are rewarded, and fenfible Pains with which they arc affrighted, to preferve amongll all thefe Avocations a Liberty of Mind to relifh the things belonging to Religion? The Ghap. VtlL The Search after Truth U The Capacity of the Mind is very If rait and limited, 'twill contain but a little furniture » and when once 'tis full, it has no farther room for any Novel Thoughts, unlefs it empties itfelf fidt of the former to receive them. But when the Mind is filled with fenfible things, it does not eva» cuate it felf at its Pleafure,. • ° ' In order to conceive this, it m lift be confidered, that we are all inceffantly carried towards Good by oar Natural Inclinations; and that Pleafure being the Character whereby we diftinguifh it from Evil, Pleafure mult unavoidably be more our concern and bufinefs than all things befides Pleafure therefore being conpyn'd to the ufe of Senfible things, becaufe they are the Goods of the Body of Man, there is a kind of neeeffity thefe Goods mould fill up the whole extent of our Mind,, till GOD diffufes fome bitternefs upon them, which creates in us a diflike and averfion, by given us, through his Grace, a Senfation of thofe Heavenly Delights which ex tinguifh all Earthly Enjoyments ^ Dando menti Ccelcflem deleclationem, qn& omnif terrena deletla- S Aueuft' iib fitpcratur. « •" • 6 a But becaufe we are as much inclin'd to fly Evil, as to love Good, and Pain is the Character which Nature has affix'd to Evil -7 all that has been faid of Pleafure ought, in a contrary fenfe to be nnderltood of Pain. ' Seeing therefore tl^ things which make us fenfible of Pleafure and Pain, fill the capacity of the Mind:, and 'tis not in our Power to quit them, and to be unconcern'd about them, when we wou'd: Tis plain that we cannot give Children a relifh of Piety (no more than we can any other Men J unlefs we begin, according to the Precepts of theGofpel, with a Deprivation of all thofe things which affect the Senfes) and promote great Defires and Fears. Since all the Paflions obnubilate and extinguifh Grace, and that internal Delegation which GOD makes us fenfible of in our Duty.
The leaft Children are inftructed with Reafon no lefs than perfect Men, though they want Experience. They have too the fame Inclinations, though they are carried by them unto diffe- rent Objects. They fhould then be accuftomed to follow the conduct of Reafon, unce they have it in them, and they ought to be excited to their Duty by a dexterous management of their good Inclinations. 'Tis the way to extinguifh their Reafon, and to debauch their belt Inclinations, to hold them to their Duty by fenfible Impreffions. They feem to be jn the performance of their Duty, but they are only fo in fhew and appearance: t Vertue is not at the bottom of their Heart or Mind, their Moral or their htelletlual Part: They know Vertue very little, but they love it much lefs. Their Minds abound with nothing but Fears and Defires, with Averfions and fenfible Fondneffes, which they cannot get rid of, to come to the ufe of their Liberty and Exer- cifeof their Reafon. Thus Children who are Educated in that dif-fpirited and flavifh manner, grow harden'd by degrees, and become infenfible to all the Sentiments of an Floneft Man and a- Chriftian } which infenfibility cleaves to them all their day. And when they are in hopes offecuring themfelves from the Lafli, by their Authority, or their management; they give themfelves up to every thing that flatters their Concupifcence and their Senfes j becaufe indeed they know no other Goods than the Goods of the Senfes.
It is true, there are fome particular Junctures, in which it is necefTary to inftrud Children by their Senfes ^ but this ought never to be done but where Reafon is defective. They ought at firftto be perfwaded by Reafon of what their Duty is; and if they have not Light enough to difcover their Obligations to it, it feems belt to let them alone for fome time. For this would not be to inftrudt them, to force them upon an External Performance of what they do not con- ceive their Duty: Since 'tis the Mind which ought to be inftructed, arid not the Body. But if they refufe to do what Reafon tells them they ought to do, they are no longer to be born with: qu;. But rather Severity fhould beufed to fome excefs. For in fuch Conjunctures, He that [pares his virga?,odit Son, according to the Wife Man, has a greater degree of hatred than of love for him.. filium fu- If Chaftifements be not inftructive to the Mind, nor conducive to the love for Vertue ^ they in- um- mv. ftruct, at leaft, the Body in fome meafure, and prevent their tafting Vice, and confequently their I3- 24* becoming Slaves to it. But that which is more efpecially obfervable, is, That Pains fill not the Capacities of the Mind as Pleafures do. We ealily ceafe to think of them, when we no longer fufter them, and are out of the danger and fear of them. For then they importune not the Inva- gination; they excite not the Paflions, nor provoke Concupifcence. In fine, they leave the Mind. at liberty to think of what it pleafes j and thus we may difcipline Children with them, to keep them in their Duty, or in the Appearance of it.
But though it be fometimes ufeful to affright and punifh Children with fenfible Corrections •, it ought not to be concluded, that they fhould be allured by fenfible Rewards. There fhould no means be made ufe of, that any whit forcibly affect the Senfes, but in a cafe of extreme neceffity: Now there can be none of beftowing Senfible Rewards upon them, and reprefentirig thefe Re- wards as the End of their Employment. This, on the contrary, would be the means of vitia- ting their belt Actions j and inclining them rather to Senfuality than Vertue. The Traces of Pleafures which they have once tafted, remain ftrongly imprinted in their Imagination: They continually quicken and awaken the Ideas of Senfible Goods:, they conftantly excite importun-:-: Defires, which difhirb the peace of the Mind. Laftly, They provoke Concupifcence or occafions, which is the Leaven that corrupts the whole mafs. But this is not the place of e>, ning thefe things according to their Defert.
Th 64. K Male bran cue Concerning Book it ■■ The SECOND PART: Concerning The IMAGINATION.
I. Of the Imagination of Women. II. Of the Imagination of Men. 111. Of the Imagination of Old Men.
w 'E have in the Firfl Part, in fome meafure, explain'd the Phyfical Caufes of the Difbr- ders of Man's Imagination: We mail endeavour in this to make fome Application of thefe Caufes to the more general Errors of Imagination, and fhall treat likewife of the Gaufes of thefe Errors, which may be call'd Moral.
It may be underflood from what has been faid in the fore-going Chapter, that the Delicacy of the Fibres of the Brain,is one of the principal Caufes that difables us,from bringing an Application fufficient for the Difcovery of Truths, that lye any whit deep or conceal'd.
This Delicacy of the Fibres is more ufually incident to Women; and this is the Principle of of be'i - ^tir **° exai^ aC(luamtance w^tn au< things that ftrike upon their- Senfes. 'Tis the Woman's Pro- ginationof viQce t0 determine concerning the Fafhions, to judge of Language, to diftinguifh the genteel Women. Mein, and the fine and courtly Behaviour: They far out-do Men in the Science, Skill, and Dex* terity about thefe things. All that depends upon the Tall falls under their Jurifdi&ion \ but ge- nerally they are incapable of Penetrating into Truths that have any Difficulty in the Difcovery. All things of an abftra&ed Nature are Incomprehenfible to them. They cannot imploy their imagination in difentangling compound and perplex'd Queftions. Their Conflderation ter- minates on the furface and out-fide of things: and their Imagination has neither Itrength nor reach enough to pierce to the bottom of them, and to make a Companion of their parts, without Diftra&ion. A Trifle or a Feather fhall call them off, the fmalleft out-cry difmay them, and any little Motion gives them Imployment: In fhort, the Mode and not the Reality of things, is enough to take up the whole Capacity of their Mind} becaufe the leaffc Obje&s producing great Motions in the delicate Fibres of their Brain, by a neceffary confequence excite fuch lively and great Senfations in their Souls, as wholly poffefs and take them up.
But though it be certain, that this Delicacy of the Fibres of the Brain is the principal Caufe of all thefe Effects-, yet it is not equally certain, that it is univerfally to be found in all Women. Or if it be to be found, yet their Animal Spirits are fometimes fo exactly proportion'd to the Fibres of their Brain, that there are Women to be met with, who have a greater folidity of Mind than fome Men. 'Tis in a certain Temperature of the Largenefs and Agitation of the Ani- mal Spirits, and Conformity with the Fibres of the Brain, that the ftrength of parts confifh: And Women have fometimes that jufl Temperature. There are Women Strong and Conftant, and there are Men that are Weak and Fickle. There are Women that are Learned, Couragious, and capable of every thing. And on the contrary, there are Men that are Soft, Effeminate, incapable of any Penetration, or difpatch of any Bufinefs. In fine, when we attribute any Fai- lures to a certain Sex, Age, or Condition, they are only to be underftood of the generality j it being ever fuppos'd, there is no general Rule without Exception.
For it ought not to be imagin'd, that all Men, or all Women of the fame Age, Country, or Family, have their Brain of the fame Conftitution. It is more pertinent to believe, that as there are not two Faces in the World, in every thing refembling one another; fo there are not two Imaginations exactly alike: And that all Men, Women, and Children differ from one another, only more or lefs, in the Delicacy of the Fibres of their Brain. For as we ought not too lvaftily to fuppofe an Effemial Identity in thofe things, between which we fee no Difference; fo we ought not to make Ejfential Differences, where we cannot find perfect Identity. For thefe are the common Faults Men ufually fall into.
That which may be faid of the Fibres of the Brain, is, That in Children they are very foftand cxtreamly tender, that with Age they harden and corroborate: Yet notwithstanding the gene- rality of Women, and fome Men, have them extreamly delicate all their Lives. To determine any thing farther,we dare not. But this is enough to be laid of Women and Children/That as they are not concern'd with fearching after Truth and the Inftrudion of others -7 fo their Errors do not occafion much Prejudice •, fmce little credit is given to things by them advane'd. Let us fpeak of of fcliap. t. The Search after Truth. 6$ of Men grown up t, of fuch as hare their Mind in its Strength and Vigour -7 fuch as may be thought capable of finding out Truth* and teaching it to others.
The ordinary Seafon for the greateft Perfection of the Mind, is, from the Age of Thirty, to *L thatof Fifty Years. The Fibres of the Brain in that Age have ufually attain'd a tolerable confi- °ftbe^' itence; the Pleafures and Pains of the Senfes make hardly any more Impreffion on them. So ^^-^n in the a Man has no more to do, than to ward off violent Paflions, which rarely happen; and from verfeBion which a Man may fcreen himfelf, if he diligently avoid all manner of occafion: And thus the of their Soul meeting with no more Diverfion from things fenfible, may, with greater eafe and leifure, A&° give her fell' to the Contemplation of Truth.
A Man in this capacity, who had not his Mind fill'd with the Prejudices of Childhood -0 who from his Youth upwards had obtain'd a Facility for Meditation; who would only take up with the clear and diftindf Notions of Intellect, and induftrioufly reject all the confus'd Idea's of Senfe; and who had both Time and Inclination for Study, would dou briefs very rarely fall into Er- ror. But fuch a Man as this is not the fubject of our. Difcourfe; 'tis Men of the vulgar ftamp, who ufually have nothing of this in them.
I fay then, that the Solidity and Confiftence accruing with Age to the Fibres of Men's Brains, gives the Solidity and Confiftence to their Errors, if I may fo fpeak. 'Tis the Seal that feals up their Prejudices, and all their falfe Opinions, and locks them from the Attempts and Force of Reafon. In fine, by how much this Conflitution of the Fibres of the Brain is advantagious to well Educated Perfons, by fo much it is prejudicial to the greateft part of Mankind; becaUfe it confirms each of them in the Notions they have taken up.
But Men are not only confirmed and ftrengthened in their. Errors, when they have attained to the Age of Forty or Fifty Years. They are ftill more liable to fall into new ones every day; for believing themfelves competent Judges of every thing, as indeed they ought to be, they perem- ptorily determine, yet only confult their Prejudices to give a decifion: For Men reafon only up- on things with relation to the Idea's they are molt familiar with, and accuftomed to. When a Chymiit would reafon about any Phyficd Body, immediately his three Principles are prefent to his Mind. A Peripatetick has recourfe forthwith in his Thoughts to his four Elements, and the four Primitive Qualities: And another Pbilofipher drives every thing up to other Principles. And fo there can nothing enter into the Mind of a Man, but is inftantly tinged with the Error he is fub- ject to, and augments their number.