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Show Simple Idear. _Book II. duce in one another, occuring every moment to our Senfes, We both thefe waxs get the Idea of Power- . I l f< !l d ~. Beflde• thefe. there is another Ide•, whtch t toug 1 ugge e by ·Se 9· r. 1 1 · mo'tecon!lantlyofferedus, bywhatp:iffesmourown oMuirn dsn. iaens,d yreh at1iss the ·f ·11 J 1 · ed' Idea of Succejjion. For 1 we WI · oo < Illlm. ,. lltel i~to our felves, and refled: on what is obfervable there, we lhall find our~deas 'always,• whil!l we are awake, or hav~ any thought pafling m train one going and another coming, wtthout mtermiflion. ~· '10• Thefe,i'ftheyare not all,are at lea!l(as l tlunk)the moll_ conflderable of thofe (imple Ideas which t~e M1nd has, and out of wh,Ich are made all its otl1er knowledge ; all which It receives only by the t\1 o fore-mentioned ways of Senfation and RejleE/10w. . . Nor let any one think thefe too na~row. bounds for the capac10us Mmd of Man to expatiate in, which t.'kes tts fhght farther than the Stars, nnd cffrinot be confined by the limits of the World ; that extends tts thoughts often even beyond theutmo!l expanfion ofMatter,and makes excurlions into that incomprehenlible Inane. I grant all tlus, but defire any one to nflign any jimple Idea, which it received not from one of thofe Inlets before- mentioned,or any comflox Idea not made out of thofe ~mple ones. Nor will it be fo !lrnnge, to thmk thefe. few .fimple Ideas fulllcient to er;pploy the quicken Thought, or largell: Capactty ; a~d to furmfh the Mate.~mb cfall that various Knowledge, and more vanous Pl!anfies and Optmom of all .Mankind, if we confider· liow ma~y~~rdsmay be made out of the various compofition of 2.4 Letters_; or tf gomg one ll:ep far.ther, we wtll but refleCt on the variety of combmanons ~~~y be m~e, Wtlh barely .one eflhefe 'Jd•ar,'viz. Number, whofc frock IS tnexhau~~le, and truly m6. nite : And what a large and immenfe field, .doth Exl!lll'fion alone afford the Mathematicians? ., C H A P. VIII. Some 'fart/,er (o11(tderatiom co1JCer~i11g our jimple Ideas. §. !. ~Oncerning the fimple Ideas. of Senfation 'tis to be confidered, '·' That whatjpever is fo confhtuted m Nature •. as to be able, by aftec.t;ri our Setlfe's,' to· caufe any percepnon m ~he Mmd, doth thereby produce in the t'1nd~rll:andinga fimple Idea.; wluch, whatever be the ~xternal caufe of ir, when it comes to be taken nonce of, by our dtfcernmg F:idllty, it is by the Mind looked on and conftdered there, to be a real po: jitiv< Idea in the Underll:andu1g , as m~ch .as .a.ny other . whatfoever, though perhaps the caufe of it be but a prwatton m the fubJCCl. ~. 2..' Thus th~ Uea of Heat and Cold, Light a~d Darknef•, White and Black, Motion and Rcll:,areequally clearandpo/itroe Ideas m the Mmd; though, perhaps, fome of the caujes wluch produce ~hem, are barely prr· vati•ni in thofe fubjects, from whence our Senfes denvethofe Ideas. Thefe the Under!landing, in its view of them, confiders all as dill:mCl pofi!I~e Ideas; without taking notice of the cauf.,; that produce them: .~luch IS an enquiry not belonging to the Idea, as tt ts m the Underll:andwg; but to the nature of the things exifring without us. Thefe are two very different things, and carJ:fully to be dill:inguifhed ; it being one thmg to · · ' percetve, Chap. VII!. Simple Ideas_. _____ _:5_.5.: .__ perceive and know the Idea of White .or Black, and quite another to exa-mine what kind of particles they mtill: be, and how ranged in the Super' ficics to make any Object appear white or black. ~. l· A Painter, or Dyer, who never enquired into their caufes, hath the Ideas ofW.hite. and Blac.k, and other Colours, as dearly,, perfeCl:ly, and difrmtlly, m h1s Underfiandmg,and perhaps more dilhnctly than the Philofophcr, who hath, buf\\'d himfelf in conlidering tl)eir Natures, aiid thinks helmows how faretthe(ofthem ISm Its caufe pofinve or privative; and tho Idea of Black is no lef;;.pojitive in his Mind , than that of White however rbe caufe of that Colour in the external ObjeCt, may /;e only a priva-tJQn. .. §. 4- !fit were the dclign of my pr&nt Undertaking, to enquire into the natural caufes and manner ofPercept1on, I fl10uld offer this as a reafen, 1vh_y a privati'fJe caufe. might! in fame cafes at leal!:, produce a pojitive Idea, vrz. That all Senfat1on betng produced m us, only by different degrees and modes of Motion in our animal Spirits , varioully agitated by external ObjeCls, the abatement of any former motion, mull: as necelfarily produce a new (enfation, as tl1e variation or increafe of it ; and fa introduce a new Idea, which depends only on a different motiori of the ariimal Spirits in that Organ. . ~. 5· But whether this befo, or no, I will not here determine, but appeal to every one's own Experience, whether the lhadow of a Man,though it co~lifis.~f nothing but theabfence of Light (and the more the abfence of L1ght ts, the more difcermble IS the fl1adow) does not, when a Mari looks on it, caufe as clear and pofitive an Idea in his mind, as a Man himfelf, though covered over with clear Sunlhine? And the piCture of a iliadow, is a pofitive thing. Indeed, we have negative Names, to which there be no politive Ideas ; but they conli!l wholly in negation of fame certain Ideas, as Silence, lnvifible; but thefe Jignife not any Ideas in the Mind, bul their aPfenu. &. 6. And thus one may truly be faid to fee Darknefs. For fuppoling a hole perfectly dark, from whence no light is reflected, 'tis certain on~ tnay fee the figure of it,or it may be painted; and v•hether the Ink,! write with, make any other Idea, is a que!lion. The privative caufes I have here ofligned ofpofltive Ideas, are according to the common Opinion; but in truth it will be hard to determine, whether there be really any Ideas from a privative caufe, 'till it be determined, Whether Rejl lie a•y more a privation, than Mor;on. §. 7· To difcover the nature of our Ideas the better, and to difcourfe of them intelligibly, it will be convenient to dill:inguilh them, as they are Jd,as, or Perceptions in our Minds ; and as they are in the Bodies, that caufe fuch Perceptions in us: that fowe may not think( as perhaps ufually is done) that they are exaCtly the Images and refemblances of fomethidg inherent in the fubjeCl; moll: of thofe of Senfation being in the Midd no more the likenefs of fomething exifiing without us, than the Natnes that !land for them, are the likenefs of our Ideas, which yet upon hearing, they arc apt to excite in us. §. 8. Whatfoever the Mind perceives in it felf, or is the immediate ob-ject of Perception, Thought, or UnderHanding, that [ call Iclea; and the power to produce any Idea in our mmd, [call 0!ality of the SubjeCt wherein that power is. Thus a Snow-ball having the power to produce in us the Jd•as of White, Cold, and Round, the powers to produce thofe Id•as in us, as they are in the Snow-ball, I c V 0!•/ities; and as they are Senfations, or Perceptions, in our.Under~~~andings, I c;all them Ideas: •Y which |