BOOK I PART IV
stance; which seems to me a sufficient reason
for abandoning utterly that dispute concerning
the materiality and immateriality of the soul,
and makes me absolutely condemn even the
question itself. We have no perfect idea of any
thing but of a perception. A substance is en-
tirely different from a perception. We have,
therefore, no idea of a substance. Inhesion in
something is supposed to be requisite to sup-
port the existence of our perceptions. Noth-
ing appears requisite to support the existence
of a perception. We have, therefore, no idea of
inhesion. What possibility then of answering
that question, Whether perceptions inhere in a
material or immaterial substance, when we do
not so much as understand the meaning of the
question?
There is one argument commonly employed