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Single Idea 3630

[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 3. Innate Knowledge / a. Innate knowledge ]

Full Idea

You can't prove that Praxiteles never made any statues on the grounds that he did not get from within himself the marble from which he sculpted them.

Gist of Idea

Our thinking about external things doesn't disprove the existence of innate ideas

Source

René Descartes (Reply to Fifth Objections [1641], 362)

Book Ref

Descartes,René: 'Meditations on First Philosophy etc.', ed/tr. Cottingham,John [CUP 1986], p.79

The 5 ideas from 'Reply to Fifth Objections'

3626 Knowing the attributes is enough to reveal a substance [Descartes]
3630 Our thinking about external things doesn't disprove the existence of innate ideas [Descartes]
3631 A blind man may still contain the idea of colour [Descartes]
3640 Possible existence is a perfection in the idea of a triangle [Descartes]
3639 Necessary existence is a property which is uniquely part of God's essence [Descartes]