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Full Idea
I can express the motion of my body through the motion of a point, since its volume is not relevant, but I could not infer from this that if I know nothing except the moving force of a body, that then the body can be conceived as a simple substance.
Clarification
The 'point' is the centre of gravity
Gist of Idea
I can express the motion of my body in a single point, but that doesn't mean it is a simple substance
Source
Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781], B812/A784)
Book Ref
Kant,Immanuel: 'Critique of Pure Reason', ed/tr. Guyer,P /Wood,A W [CUO 1998], p.666
A Reaction
A nice analogy. The centre of gravity of a body is an abstraction, and people (such as Cartesians) who represent personal identity as being atomic seem to be discussing an abstraction rather than the real thing. My personal self is a bit of a mess.
| 276 | My individuality is my soul, which carries my body around [Plato] |
| 3609 | I am a thinking substance, which doesn't need a place or material support [Descartes] |
| 5627 | I can express the motion of my body in a single point, but that doesn't mean it is a simple substance [Kant] |
| 16002 | The self is a combination of pairs of attributes: freedom/necessity, infinite/finite, temporal/eternal [Kierkegaard] |
| 15811 | I am picked out uniquely by my individual essence, which is 'being identical with myself' [Chisholm] |