Quotes by Samuel Alexander

An expectation is a future object, recognised as belonging to me. (Samuel Alexander)

But though cognition is not an element of mental action, nor even in any real sense of the word an aspect of it, the distinction of cognition and conation has if properly defined a definite value. (Samuel Alexander)

But unfortunately Locke treated ideas of reflection as if they were another class of objects of contemplation beside ideas of sensation. (Samuel Alexander)

Curiosity begins as an act of tearing to pieces or analysis. (Samuel Alexander)

Desire in general, as the word is commonly used, is directed upon the past; to which the name is inappropriate. (Samuel Alexander)

Desire then is the invasion of the whole self by the wish, which, as it invades, sets going more and more of the psychical processes; but at the same time, so long as it remains desire, does not succeed in getting possession of the self. (Samuel Alexander)

Hence, in desiring, the more the enjoyment is delayed, the more fancy begins to weave about the object images of future fruition, and to clothe the desired object with properties calculated to inflame the impulse. (Samuel Alexander)

In the act of perception there are accordingly these two things, the mind engaged in a certain act, and the thing called the tree which is not mental. (Samuel Alexander)

In the perception of a tree we can distinguish the act of experiencing, or perceiving, from the thing experienced, or perceived. (Samuel Alexander)

It is a different and independent thing, and the character of the mental act only determines how much of the object is apprehended and in what form. (Samuel Alexander)