Six metaphysical meditations · René Descartes
OBJECT. II.
_Against the Second Meditation: Of the Nature of Mans Mind._ I _am a Thinking Thing_. ’Tis True; for because I _think_ or have a _Phantasme_ (whether I am _awake_ or _asleep_) it follows that _I am Thinking_, for _I Think_ and _I am Thinking_ signifie the same Thing. Because _I Think_, it follows That _I am_, for whatever _Thinks_ cannot be _Nothing_. But when he Adds, _That is_, _a Mind_, _a Soul_, _an Understanding_, _Reason_, I question his Argumentation; for it does not seem a Right Consequence to say, _I am a Thinking Thing_, therefore _I am a Thought_, neither, _I am an Understanding Thing_, therefore _I am the Understanding_. For in the same manner I may Conclude, _I am a Walking Thing_, therefore _I am the Walking it self_. Wherefore _D.Cartes_ Concludes that an _Understanding Thing_ and _Intellection_ (which is the _Act_ of an Understanding Thing) are the same; or at least that an _Understanding Thing_ and the _Intellect_ (which is the _Power_ of an Understanding Thing) are the same; And yet all Philosophers distinguish the _subject_ from its _Faculties_ and _Acts_, that is, from its _Properties_ and _Essence_, for the _Thing it self_ is one thing, and its _Essence_ is an other. It may be therefore that a _Thinking Thing_ is the _Subject_ of a _Mind_, _Reason_, or _Understanding_, and therefor it may be a _Corporeal Thing_, the Contrary Whereof is here _Assumed_ and not _Proved_; and yet this _Inference_ is the _Foundation_ of that Conclusion which _D.Cartes_ would Establish.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.