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Show .AbflraEI !lrrd Cowrete 'Lerms. Book Ill· yet every onc,at lirfr hearing,perreives the fullhood of tbefe Propolitions; Humanity iJ Animality,of Rationality,or Wbtte.efs: And tlus IS as evident, as any ofthe mo!lallow'd Maxims. All our A!lirmationstheo are only in concrete, which is the affirming,not one ab!lrail Idea to be anothcr,but one abfiractldea be join'd to another; which ab!lrael: Jdeas,,in Subfianccs, may he of any fort; in all the refi, are little elfe but ofRelatwns;and m Subltanccs, the moll frequent are of Powers; v.g;. a Man is NJbite,ligniftcs,that the thing that has the Effence of a Man1 has alfo in it the .Effence of \Vhitcne(<, which is nothing btit a ]lOWer to produce the Idea of Wlmenefs in one, whofe Eyes can difcover ordinary Objech; or a Man is rational, lignifies, that the f.1me thing tbat bath the EJTence of a Man, hath,alfo in it the Effence of Rationality, i.e. a power ofRealoning. §. t. This difl:inchon of Names , il1cws us alfo the diffcrence of our Irleas: For if we obferve them, we !hall find, that our Jimple Ideas have aO •6!/raEI, as well as concrete Names : The one whereof is ( to fpeak the Language of Grammarians) a Subfiantive, 1he other an Adjective;. as Whitenefs, White; Swe~rnefs,Sweet. The like alfo holds in our Ideas of MoJes and Relations; as Ju!lice, Ju!l; Equality, Equal; only with this difference, That fome of the concrete Names of Relations, amongft Men chiefly, are Subllantives; as PaternitaJ, Pater; whereof it were eafie to render a Reafon. But as to our Ideas of Subflancei, we have very few011 •oa6jlr4E! NameJatall. For though the Schools have introduced AnimalitaJ, Humaniras, Corporieta>, and fome others; yet they hold no proportion witll that infinite number of Names of Subffances, to which they never were rediculous el)ough to attempt !be coining of ablhad: ones: rrnd tl'rofe few that the Schools forged, and put into. t\Je mouths oF their Scholars, could never yet get admittance into common ufe,. or obtain the hcenfrr of publici< approbation. Which feems to me at leall to intimate the confeflion of all Mankind, that they have no Ideas of the real Elfences ef Subltances, Iince they have no! Names for fucb Ideas : whiclt no doubt they would have had, had not their conf~ioufnefs to tllemfdves of their ignorance of them, kept tl1em from fo idle an, attempt. And theretore though they had Ideas enougluo diiling.uiffi Gold from a. Stone, and Metal from Wood ; yet they but timeroully ventured on fuch terms, as AtJnetas and SaxietfJJ, Metaliietm and Lignietas)or the like names, which lhould pretend to iignifie the real Effences of rhofe Sub!lances, whereof they knew they had no Idea. And indeed, it was only the DoCtrine of fub!lant1al Forms, and the confidence of 0Jamelefs Pretenders to a knowledge that they had not, which !irlt coined, ancf then introduced /lninwIJtai, and Hum,nitas, and the lil<e; which yet went very little farther than thetr own Schools, and could never get to be current amongfl: under!\ andUlg Men.. Indeed~ Human it as was a Word, familiar among,!l the Romans; but 111 a far ,hfferent fenfe, aod !lood not for the ab!lractfi{. fence of any Subfl:aoce; but was the ab!lract Name of a Mode-, and its concrete HumanUJ, not Homo. CHAP. Chap. IX. ImperfeElion of Words. CHAP. IX. Of the Jmper{eclio11 of WorJJ. § 1 F Rom what has been faid in the foregoin(? Chapters, it is ea!ie · · to perceive, what imperfect1on there1s 111 Language, and how theverv nature ofWords,makes it almofi unavOidable, for many ofthem d b f l and uncertain in thetr ligmficauons. To examme the to be . ou t u imperfection of Words, it is neceffary, fir!l, to confider J!Cf~eaf,0';11drend: For ~s they are more or lefs fitted to attain that, fo are tthheeyir u e l 's perfect We have in the former part of thiS Dtfcourfe, more or e" · ' d ft n occalion mentioned a double ufo of Wor I : 0 e~~';f0 One for the recording of our ow~ Thoughts. . F.$e con t!.'.t ,J , Tl other for the commumcatmg of our Thoughts to 1e llthers. A to the fir!l of thefe, for t!Je rec~rdiMg; our own ihoug;lm, for the §. ~. s M or'tes \Vhereby as 1t were, we talk to our felves he! P 0 fourown em ' ' ol d' d· c · d ·n fervc the turn. For Iince Sounds are v untary an Ill H• any Wor s 'Y[ ld a Man may ufe what Words he pleafe, to ligmferen, t figns 0 /"Y ~f~fclf· and there will be no imperfection in them, ~e hts own l eas to he lam; li n for the fame Idea : for then he con not If he con!lantlY. ufe t . d~llood wherein confifu ,rhe right ufe and fuil of having h!S meamng un ' perfection of Language. ·cation ~y Word I that too /;as a doubt; ufe: §; l· Secondly, As to commum ' I. Civil. II. Phifofopbical. meanfuchacommunicationofThoughts and Firf/,By thcll' c1vrl V~, I ~ the u holding common Converf.~tion IJeasbyWords, as may 1ervedor y Aff.irs and Conveniencies of civil and Commerce, about t Je or ~=~on ll another. Life in the Soc1etlesot.~;;n) 0~/Vfe of words, I mean fuch an pfc of Second!J, By the ph' o,op JIC 1 e >recife Notions of Things, and to e"them, as may ferve to convey t 'caln and undoubted Truths, which the prefs, in general Propolitdo~s, f~~~fied with, in its [earch after true KnowMmd may refi upon, an e difiinct. and a great deal lefs exa&nefs ledge. Thefe two Ufes are ."er{ tl r 'as we fhall fee in what follows. will ferve in the one, than 10 t e 0 Je 'Communication being to be Ul)· §. 4 The chief End of La~F~ageht~ end neither in ~ivil, nor philoder! lood, Words ferve not we or t does ~ot excite in the Hearer, the fophical Difcourfe, when any Word M'nd of the Speaker. Now Iince fame Jdea'which it fiands for 1~ the 'tl~ our Ideas but have all their Sounds have no natural ~onne~ton fi:·on of Men ~he dou6tjulnefs and lignification from the arb•trary tmpf ·c~ is the /mperfefl.jon we here arc uncertainty of their fignificatton, ~l ~Ideas they fiand for, than in any fpcaking of, has it.~ caufe g;,oredm m~re than in another , to ftgnifie anY ujj:apaetty there lS !11 one un ' 11 ually perfect. . Idea : For in that regard, thdy ~~ ~ne~ and uncertainty in the ligmfica. . That then which makes ho~ ~t~ers is the difference of Ideas they tton of fome Words more t a ' lland for, ~· f• |