“ when we say that man is subject to law, we mean nothing by man but a corporeal rational creature ”
John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689). copy citation
Author | John Locke |
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Source | An Essay Concerning Human Understanding |
Topic | law meaning |
Date | 1689 |
Language | English |
Reference | |
Note | |
Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10616/pg10616-images.html |
Context
“Nor let any one object, that the names of substances are often to be made use of in morality, as well as those of modes, from which will arise obscurity. For, as to substances, when concerned in moral discourses, their divers natures are not so much inquired into as supposed: v.g. when we say that man is subject to law, we mean nothing by man but a corporeal rational creature: what the real essence or other qualities of that creature are in this case is no way considered. And, therefore, whether a child or changeling be a man, in a physical sense, may amongst the naturalists be as disputable as it will, it concerns not at all the moral man, as I may call him, which is this immovable, unchangeable idea, a corporeal rational being.”
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