pp1d02 cogitare, cogitatio NOT pp1a04 cognitio

Cogitare occurs in 3 different senses, all dealt with on this notes page
Sense 1: cogitatio-res
Sense 2: attributus-cogitationis
Sense 3: cogitatio-operatio

Sense 1: | cogitatio(-res) Go to: Sense 2: (attributus-)cogitationis Sense 3: cogitatio(-operatio)
Meaning | A thought, a thought-thing (res), one of the two types of "modus cogitandi" (the other is cogitatio-operatio). Examples of cogitatio(-res): the thought of an apple (or the thought of a thought). Exceptionally called rem cogitantem in {1p14c2}
Subsets (kinds) | {2d03 idea} (explained below)
Related concepts | modus cogitandi = [mng eqv] cogitatio(-res)
Occurrence | [geomap (all senses)] First occurrence sense 1: {1d02}

{1p14c2 rem vel attributa vel affectiones} ... further down in Ethica, the thought-things locally (and uniquely) called here rem cogitantem prove to be affectiones of the attribute of thought called modi cogitandi ...
Corollary II.-It follows: 2. That extension and thought are either attributes of God or (by Ax. i.) accidents (affectiones) of the attributes of God. | COROLLARIUM {1p14} II: Sequitur II. rem extensam et rem cogitantem vel [excl exh] Dei attributa esse vel (per axioma 1 {1a01}) affectiones attributorum Dei.

{1p31 Intellectus naturatam naturantem} ... to some modi cogitandi the term res (at least the common notion) applies exceptionally badly: those are the different kinds of cogitatio actu (that is: actual operations in the attribute of thought). Examples are: intellectus actu (understanding in operation), voluntas, cupiditas, amor ... in the quote, "absolutam cogitationem" refers to the attribute of thought ... because they are modi they must be passive nature ... it is puzzling whether intellectus actu refers only to the acts of understanding by specific human minds or the attribute of thought "contains" a general intellectus actu ...
... The intellect in function, whether finite or infinite, just like will, desire, love, &c., should be referred to passive nature and not to active nature. | ... Intellectus actu sive [excl exh] is finitus sit sive [excl exh] infinitus, ut et voluntas, cupiditas, amor etc. ad Naturam naturatam, non vero ad naturantem referri debent.
... By the intellect we ... do not mean absolute thought, but only a certain mode of thinking, differing from other modes, such as love, desire, &c., and therefore ... requiring to be conceived through absolute thought. It must ... through some attribute of God which expresses the eternal and infinite essence of thought, be so conceived, that without such attribute it could neither be nor be conceived. It must therefore be referred to nature passive rather than to nature active, as must also the other modes of thinking ... | ... Per intellectum ... non intelligimus absolutam cogitationem sed certum tantum modum cogitandi, qui modus ab aliis scilicet cupiditate, amore, etc. differt adeoque ... per absolutam cogitationem concipi debet nempe ... per aliquod Dei attributum quod aeternam et infinitam cogitationis essentiam exprimit, ita concipi debet ut sine ipso nec esse nec concipi possit ac propterea ... ad Naturam naturatam, non vero naturantem referri debet ut etiam reliqui modi cogitandi.

{2a1.3 Modi cogitandi idea rei} ... ideas and other modes of thinking (modus cogitandi) ...
... the idea can exist without the presence of any other mode of thinking ... . | ... idea dari potest quamvis nullus alius detur cogitandi modus ...

{2p01 Deus res cogitans} ... particular thoughts(-res) called singulares cogitationes ... their being in an attribute of God = natura-sense 2 = substance is claimed to prove that God is a thinking (-operatio) thing
... Particular thoughts, or this and that thought, are modes which, in a certain conditioned manner, express the nature of God ... ..Thought, therefore, is one of ... attributes of God ... In other words, God is a thinking thing ... | ... Singulares cogitationes sive [mng-eqv] haec et illa cogitatio modi sunt qui Dei naturam certo et determinato modo exprimunt ... Est igitur cogitatio unum ex ... Dei attributis ... sive [mng-eqv] Deus est res cogitans ...

{2p06c res ideatae ex suis attributis} ... ideas are thoughts ...
... ideas follow ... from the attribute of thought ... . | ... .ideas ex attributo cogitationis consequi ... .

{5p01 ordinantur concatenantur mente corpore} . ..cogitationes and (Lat: " ... que") ideae.
... thoughts and the ideas of things are arranged and associated in the mind ... . | ... cogitationes rerumque ideae ordinantur et concatenantur in mente ...

{5p05 Affectus erga rem simpliciter} ... the actual being of ideas (esse formale idearum) ...
... the actual being of ideas ... . ( ... owns God as its cause, only in so far as he is considered as a thinking thing, not in so far as he is unfolded in any other attribute; that is, the ideas both of the attributes of God and of particular things do not own as their efficient cause their objects (ideata) or the things perceived, but God himself in so far as he is a thinking thing.) | " ... esse formale idearum ... .

2p18s memoria ... Idea and cogitatio(-res), share this scholium, but by instructively dividing it for exclusive use into a first and second half. 2p48s nullam dari facultatem absolutam intelligendi, cupiendi, amandi etc: ideas are not images in the brain but cogitationis conceptus in the mind.
... by ideas I do not mean images such as are formed at the back of the eye, or in the midst of the brain, but the conceptions of thought ... . | ... Non ... per ideas imagines quales in fundo oculi et si placet, in medio cerebro formantur sed cogitationis conceptus intelligo ... ... "

{2p49 volitio idea involvit} ... ideas are modi cogitandi, but images are corpora "in the brain", modi not under cogitatio but under another attribute, that of extension. These things in memory however (see above) are sub cogitatio, hence NOT images
.an idea (being a mode of thinking) does not consist in the image of anything, nor in words. The essence of words and images is put together by bodily motions, which in no wise involve the conception of thought. | ... ideam (quandoquidem modus cogitandi est) neque in rei alicujus imagine neque in verbis consistere. Verborum namque et imaginum essentia a solis motibus corporeis constituitur, qui cogitationis conceptum minime involvunt

Sense 2: | attributus-cogitationis [see also: Getting Started] Go to: Sense 1: cogitatio(-res) Sense 3: cogitatio(-operatio)
Meaning | The space of cogitatio-thoughts. First in {1p21} Demonstratio: " ... .ideam Dei in cogitatione ... .": "attribute of thinking". Solidly introduced in: {2p01} "Cogitatio attributum Dei ... " Ethica deals with two attributes, the attribute of cogitatio and that of extensio (space of bodies). When a thought (cogitatio sense 1) is called a modus cogitandi, this cogitandi refers to the being of the modus in the attribute of thinking. The human mind perceives things (res, modi) of two attributes: attributus extensionis and cogitationis. The crucial proposition {2p07} claims that the structure (ordo et connexio) inside these two attributes is the same (more introduction: Getting Started Reading Content. Technical details: Appendix to pp1p02 res concerning {2p07}).
Mantras [what is] | attributus cogitationis absoluta cogitatio (absolute does NOT here mean absolutely infinite, since attributes are infinite in their kind (in suo genere) only) substantiae ( = Dei = naturae-sense 2) attributus quod aeternam et infinitam cogitationis essentiam exprimit substantia ( = Deus = natura-sense 2) quatenus tantum ut res cogitans consideratur esse formale idearum substantiae ( = Dei = naturae-sense 2) quatenus est res cogitans ______________ The string: "modus cogitandi" is a mantra denoting a thought-thing (cogitatio(-res) sense 1) but the mantra-substring cogitandi would read in full: "belonging to the attribute of thought" that is, sense 2. One would expect, as an analogue to the mantra res extensa (extended thing) to encounter the term res cogitandi. But, curiously, this term is not used in Ethica. [more under "res"]
Occurrence | [geomap (all senses)] First occurrence sense 2: {1p14c2}

{1p21 Omnia sequuntur infinita aeterna} ... in cogitatione: in the attribute thought ...
... the idea of God expressed in the attribute thought ... its nature in so far as it is absolute thought ... | ... ideam Dei in cogitatione ... ejus natura quatenus est absoluta cogitatio ...

In {1p31}-demonstratio "Cogitatio absoluta" ("absolute thought") refers to attributus-cogitatio as opposed to "modus cogitandi", "mode of thinking", of which "intellectus" is said to be an example among emotions in the sense of {3d03 affectus} like "love" and "desire", but also (in {1p32c2}) will ("voluntas").
{2p07c} In that corollary, Elwes renders for "formaliter": in the world of extension (=attributus extensionis). "Objective": in the world of thought (= attributus-cogitationis)

Sense 3: | cogitatio-operatio Go to: Sense 1: cogitatio(-res) Sense 2: (attributus-)cogitationis
Meaning | Thinking as the operation of the mind when it goes from one thought to another. Everything everything that happens in the mind is part of thinking (cogitatio-operatio), including the operations of will and the emotions. Thus thinking in this sense comes in a host of different types like: understanding, conceiving, perceiving, willing, desiring, loving. All these types of cogitatio-operatio (intellectus-actu included!) are passive, not active nature (see below). An operation is by definition a dynamic process, that is, a process in time (duratio). In these dynamic processes, thoughts (cogitatio-res) in people's minds tend to get associated by accidental dynamic experience in life: as a result, a soldier and a farmer both seeing a horse print on the ground, will have different thoughts (cogitatio-res) next (2p18s). But there are ways to improve this and instead reconnect the thought (cogitatio-res) of the horse to the thought (cogitatio-res) of its essence - which for the soldier, the farmer and all other men is the same. This proper ordering and connection of thoughts (cogitatio-res) is the general way to more perfection of the mind, the central subject of Ethica. Its vehicle is understanding (intelligere, informally defined as conceiving adequate ideas), which is - contrary to intellectus actu! (see quote of {1p31} below) - claimed an active operation (see quote of {3p58} below).
Subsets (kinds) | Everything that happens in the mind is part of thinking (cogitatio-operatio). 1. Operations of the mind that cause the formation and change of ideas of external bodies. There are 9 terms used for such operations: sentire, percipere, concipere, imaginare, considerare, contemplare, comprehendere, intelligere and ratiocinare 2. All other operations of the mind: will (voluntas), desire (cupiditas), love (amor) and all other emotions.
Mantras [what is] | mentis cogitandi potentia
Occurrence | [geomap (all senses)] First occurrence sense 2: {1p31}

{1p31 Intellectus naturatam naturantem} ... There are many types of cogitatio-operatio very different from intelligere, comprehendere, concipere, percipere etc.: voluntas, cupiditas, amor and all other emotions ... everything that happens in the mind is cogitatio-operatio ...
... The intellect in function, whether finite or infinite, just like will, desire, love, &c., should be referred to passive nature and not to active nature. | ... Intellectus actu sive [excl exh] is finitus sit sive [excl exh] infinitus, ut et voluntas, cupiditas, amor etc. ad Naturam naturatam, non vero ad naturantem referri debent.
... intellect ... a certain mode of thinking, differing from other modes, such as love, desire, &c. ... .must ... be referred to nature passive rather than to nature active, as must also the other modes of thinking ... | ... Intellectum enim ... certum tantum modum cogitandi, qui modus ab aliis scilicet cupiditate, amore, etc. ... concipi debet ut sine ipso nec esse nec concipi possit ... ad Naturam naturatam, non vero naturantem referri debet ut etiam reliqui modi cogitandi ...

{2a1.2 Homo cogitat}
... Man thinks. | ... Homo cogitat.

{2a1.3 Modi cogitandi idea rei} ... NB: alius: here modus cogitandi refers both to cogitationes-operatio and cogitationes-res ...
... Modes of thinking such as love, desire, or any other of the passions, do not take place, unless there be in the same individual an idea of the thing loved, desired, &c. But the idea can exist without the presence of any other mode of thinking. | ... Modi cogitandi ut amor, cupiditas vel [excl non-exh] quicunque nomine affectus animi insigniuntur, non dantur nisi in eodem individuo detur idea rei amat, desiderat etc. At idea dari potest quamvis nullus alius detur cogitandi modus.

{2p01 Deus res cogitans} ... here all three senses (marked [res][att][op]) are used in one proposition ...
... Thought is an attribute of God, or God is a thinking thing. | ... Cogitatio [att] attributum Dei est sive [mng-eqv] Deus est res cogitans [op].
... Particular thoughts, or this and that thought, are modes which, in a certain conditioned manner, express the nature of God ... God therefore possesses the attribute ... of which the concept is involved in all particular thoughts, which latter are conceived thereby. Thought, therefore, is one of the infinite attributes of God, which express God's eternal and infinite essence ... In other words, God is a thinking thing ... | ... Singulares cogitationes [res] sive [mng-eqv] haec et illa cogitatio [op] modi sunt qui Dei naturam certo et determinato modo exprimunt ... Competit ergo Deo ... attributum cujus conceptum singulares omnes cogitationes [res] involvunt, per quod etiam concipiuntur. Est igitur cogitatio [att] unum ex infinitis Dei attributis quod Dei aeternam et infinitam essentiam exprimit ... sive [mng-eqv] Deus est res cogitans [op] ...

{2p07c formaliter objective} ... power of thinking (cogitandi potentia where thinking is cogitatio-operatio, in other words: cogitatio-actu), a clear and distinct concept if about humans, but concerning God = natura-sense 2 = substance the very existence of cogitandi potentia even seems to be denied in 1p33s2: " ... all the philosophers whom I have read admit that God's intellect is entirely actual, and not at all potential ... " ...
... God's power of thinking is ... | ... Dei cogitandi potentia ... est

2p07s substantia cogitans et substantia extensa una ... puzzling, if not dangerous quote ... the attribute of extension (harbouring res extensae), is associated with an expression unique in Ethica: substantia extensa. The attribute of thought however is associated NOT with res cogitandi but is called substantia cogitans, referring NOT to idea = res cogitandi but to cogitatio-operatio, the operation that produces ideas. A few words further down, in "idea illius modi", the opposition is changed back from cogitatio-operatio to idea (= cogitatio-res). Res is used here as res sense 3, that is: NOT to referring to modi, as it elsewhere does in expressions like res extensa or (in {1p14c2}) rem cogitantem, but for the substantial thing that expresses itself in two modi (1. an extended modus and 2. a modus cogitandi) ... moreover, in the expression in natura existens the term natura is used, absolutely unique in Ethica, as extended nature ... but at the end of the quote, the expression totius naturae refers again to the rare but not unique meaning of natura-substantia. [more: notes page on natura]
... substance thinking and substance extended are one and the same substance, comprehended now through one attribute, now through the other. So, also, a mode of extension and the idea of that mode are one and the same thing, though expressed in two ways ... | ... substantia cogitans et substantia extensa una eademque est substantia quae jam sub hoc jam sub illo attributo comprehenditur. Sic etiam modus extensionis et idea illius modi una eademque est res sed duobus modis expressa ...
... For instance, a circle existing in nature, and the idea of a circle existing, which is also in God, are one and the same thing displayed through different attributes. Thus, whether we conceive nature under the attribute of extension, or under the attribute of thought, or under any other attribute, we shall find the same order, or one and the same chain of causes-that is, the same things following in either case ... | ... Exempli gratia circulus in natura existens et idea circuli existentis quae etiam in Deo est, una eademque est res quae per diversa attributa explicatur et ideo sive naturam sub extensionis sive sub attributo cogitationis sive sub alio quocunque concipiamus, unum eundemque ordinem sive unam eandemque causarum connexionem hoc est easdem res invicem sequi reperiemus.
... God is the cause of an idea-for instance, of the idea of a circle,-in so far as he is a thinking thing; and of a circle, in so far as he is an extended thing, simply because the actual being of the idea of a circle can only be perceived as a proximate cause through another mode of thinking, and that again through another, and so on to infinity; | ... Deus sit causa ideae exempli gratia circuli quatenus tantum est res cogitans et circuli quatenus tantum est res extensa nisi quia esse formale ideae circuli non nisi per alium cogitandi modum tanquam causam proximam et ille iterum per alium et sic in infinitum, potest percipi
so that, so long as we consider things as modes of thinking, we must explain the order of the whole of nature, or the whole chain of causes, through the attribute of thought only. | ita ut quamdiu res ut cogitandi modi considerantur, ordinem totius naturae sive causarum connexionem per solum cogitationis attributum explicare debemus
... in so far as we consider things as modes of extension, we must explain the order of the whole of nature through the attributes of extension only ... | et quatenus ut modi extensionis considerantur, ordo etiam totius naturae per solum extensionis attributum explicari debet ...

{3p58 affectus dantur agimus} ... the cogitatio-operatio of conceiving an adequate idea (intelligere) is a case where pleasure and desire are no passions but actions ...
... Besides the pleasure and desire that are passivities or passions, there are other types of the emotions of pleasure and desire, which are attributable to us in so far as we are active ... | ... Praeter laetitiam et cupiditatem quae passiones sunt, alii laetitiae et cupiditatis affectus dantur qui ad nos quatenus agimus, referuntur ...
... in so far as it conceives adequate ideas; that is, in so far as it is active ... | ... quatenus ideas adaequatas concipit hoc est (per propositionem 1 hujus {3p01}) quatenus agit.

Equivalence claims involving cogitare, cogitatio (linked to their sense [res][att][op])
{2d03} [notes] | 1. idea 2. the mental conception which is formed by the mind as a thinking thing. | 1. ideam 2. mentis conceptum quem mens format propterea quod res est cogitans [op].
{2p01} | 1. Thought is an attribute of God 2. God is a thinking thing. | 1. Cogitatio [att] attributum Dei est 2. Deus est res cogitans [op].
{2p01} | 1. Particular thoughts 2. this and that thought 3. modes which, in a certain conditioned manner, express the nature of God | 1. Singulares cogitationes [res] 2. haec et illa cogitatio [att] 2. modi qui Dei naturam certo et determinato modo exprimunt
{3p28} | [About the mind] 1. endeavour 2. power of thinking | [De menti] 1. conatus 2. potentia in cogitando [op]
{3dg} | 1. Emotion 2. passivity of the soul 3. a confused idea, whereby the mind affirms concerning its body, or any part thereof, a force for existence greater or less than before, and by the presence of which the mind is determined to think of one thing rather than another. | 1. Affectus 2. animi pathema 3. confusa idea qua mens majorem vel [non-excl non-exh] minorem sui corporis vel alicujus ejus partis existendi vim quam antea affirmat et qua data ipsa mens ad hoc potius quam ad illud cogitandum [op] determinatur.