Outlines of a philosophical argument on the infinite, and the final cause of creation; and on the intercourse between the soul and the body / by Emanuel Swedenborg. Translated from the Latin by James John Garth Wilkinson.

  • Emmanuel Swedenborg
Date:
1847
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Outlines of a philosophical argument on the infinite, and the final cause of creation; and on the intercourse between the soul and the body / by Emanuel Swedenborg. Translated from the Latin by James John Garth Wilkinson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    would be no series in existence, neither would there be any ends; because there would be no distinctions into intermediates ; consequently no element to constitute vortices; none to constitute ether or air; nothing to constitute fire; much less anything to constitute the innu- merable parts of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms; in a word, there would be no world. Hence it is, that my first aim has been to demonstrate, that the first Finite derives its origin from the Simple; the second Finite from the first Finite; the third from the second; the fourth from the third; each being attended by a cause similar to that which exists in the primitive Simple, and which passes, by successive derivation, into the Finites. Hence I shew that a series of Finites thus springs from a Simple, or from the first Finite, in suc- cession to the fifth Finite. These five Finites have a mutual relation to each other, and differ only in degree and dimension, or in their ratio to each other according as they are raised to successively higher powers or degrees. Again; inasmuch as all Finites are capable of becoming Actives, or of performing gyres from a like inhering and concomitant force or cause, that is to say, from a spiral motion of the parts; and inasmuch as they can pass also into a Local motion, provided there be space and nothing in it to present any obstacle; it follows of course, that there may be a fivefold series of Actives; an Active of the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth Finite points respectively; and hence that by means of the last or fifth Active, the fire of our system may pass into our atmosphere. The same law obtains in regard to the compounds or Elementary particles ; which I hold to consist of two principles, namely, Actives and Finites; the Finites occupying the surface, the Actives occupying the interiors. And inasmuch as there is thus a series of Finites and of Actives, there will also be a series of Elements such as the first or most universal Element, the second or Magnetic or vortical Element, the third or Ethereal Element, the fourth or Aérial Element; before the elementary kingdom belonging to the world has yet been fully completed. And since every single particle of each Element is elastic, encloses Actives, and possesses the faculty [v:] of passivity and activity ; hence the first Element encloses within it the Actives of the first Finite; the second, the Actives both of the first and second; the third, the first Elementary particles; the fourth, both the first and second Elementary particles; the two latter Elements participating in each principle, although they enclose not real Actives but Elementary particles. For the Elementary particles are not only passive but active; they are consequently elastic, and are moveable in particles and volumes; the motion and mechanism of their volume de- pending upon the motion and mechanism of their particles; although