Kitap 7
8
If, therefore, of the pair of corresponding seriese.g. the Pythagorean pair of series, One, Good, etc. opposed to Many, Bad, etc. (Solomon). The Determined (opposed to the Indeterminate ) belonged to the desirable series. of this kind one is always in the class of the desirable, and the known and the perceived are generally speaking constituted by their participation in the determined nature, so that to wish to perceive oneself is to wish oneself to be of a certain character,—since, then, we are not each of these things in ourselves but only by participating in these faculties in the process of perceiving or knowing (for when perceiving one becomes perceived by means of what one previously perceives,i.e. perception of something outside oneself causes consciousness of self. in the manner and in the respect in which one perceives it, and when knowing one becomes known)—hence owing to this one wishes always to live because one wishes always to know; and this is because one wishes to be oneself the object known.
