(Prf:19) Wherefore, the being inhabited, in so far as it is
regarded as a final cause, is nothing else but this particular desire,
which is really the efficient cause; it is regarded as the primary cause,
because men are generally ignorant of the causes of their desires.
(Prf:20) They are, as I have often said already, conscious of their own
actions and appetites, but ignorant of the causes whereby they are
determined to any particular desire. (21) Therefore, the common saying
that Nature sometimes falls short, or blunders, and produces things which
are imperfect, I set down among the glosses treated of in I:[Appendix] .
(Prf:22) Perfection and imperfection, then, are in reality merely modes
of thinking, or notions which we form from a comparison among one another
of individuals of the same species; hence I said above (II:[D.vi] ), that
by reality and perfection I mean the same thing. (23) For we are wont to
refer all the individual things in nature to one genus, which is called
the highest genus, namely, to the category of Being, whereto absolutely
all individuals in nature belong. (24) Thus, in so far as we refer the
individuals in nature to this category, and comparing them one with
another, find that some possess more of being or reality than others, we,
to this extent, say that some are more perfect than others. (25) Again,
in so far as we attribute to them anything implying negation - as term,
end, infirmity, etc.
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