Res cogitans

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What the Latins (and Enlightenment French, come to think of it) called what we think of as a derivative: things that exist only in the mind; hypotheticals; as opposed to the physical hard stuff you stub your toe on when you are in the real word. That’s res extensa.

• Cash brokerage: res extensa.
• Contracts for difference: res cogitans.

See also

• Second-order derivative
• Res extensa
• René Descartes