[E]verything is the work of imagination, and... all the faculties of the soul can be correctly reduced to pure imagination... - Julien Offray de La Mettrie

I reduce to two the systems of philosophy which deal with man's soul. The first and older system is materialism; the second is spiritualism.

Among animals, some learn to speak and sing; they remember tunes, and strike the notes as exactly as a musician. Others, for instance the ape, show more intelligence... would it be absolutely impossible to teach the ape a language? I do not think so.

Let us... take in our hands the staff of experience... To be blind and to think that one can do without this staff is the worst kind of blindness.