The soul being distinct and different from body, the latter can only be the occasional cause of what it seems to produce in the former. From this we must conclude that our senses are only the occasional cause of our knowledge. But whatever is occasioned by something can occur without it, for an effect does not depend on its occasional cause except according to a certain hypothesis. Thus the soul can absolutely acquire knowledge without the help of sense. Before the Fall an altogether different system prevailed from the one in which the soul exists today. (...) But things have greatly changed owing to its disobedience. God has deprived it of all its power; it has become as dependent on the senses as if they were the physical cause of what they merely occasion, and now it has only the knowledge that the senses provide. Hence follow ignorance and concupiscence. (...) Thus, when I say ``that we do not have any ideas that do not come from the senses, it must be remembered that I speak only of the state we are now in after the Fall. This proposition would be altogether false if applied to the soul in the state of innocence or after its separation from the body. I do not treat the knowledge of the soul in these two states, because I cannot reason except on the basis of experience. Furthermore, if, as cannot be doubted, it is important for us to know the faculties of which God has granted us the use despite the Fall, it is pointless to wish to speculate on those He has taken away and will give back to us in the next life. (Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge, Condillac)
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 01:06:17 +0000
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