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Show Relation. Book II.' ~. 7. Concerning· Relation in keneral, thefe things rna y be con(~ dered: · " Firf/ That there is' no one tbing,whether limple /Jea, Subftancc, Mode or Rela;ioQ, or Name of either of them, wbich j1 not capaUe of almofl a; infnite numher of Conliderations, in reference to other things ; and there· fore this makes no fmall part of Mens Thoughts and Words ; v. g;. one lingle Man may at once be concerned m, ancL fufiam all thefe following Relationl, and many more, vr<. Father, Brother, Son, .Grandfather Grandfon, Father-in-Law, Son-in-Law, Busband, Friend, Enemy, Su~ jet!:, General, Judge, Patron, Client, Profelfor, European, Enghlh-man, Jllanders, Servant, Mafier, Polfelfor, Captain, Superieur, Inferiour, Bigger, Lefs, Older, Younger, Contemporary, L1ke, Unhke, &c. to an almofi in· finite number, he I,Jeing capable of as many Relations, as there can be DC· calions of comparing him to other thin~s, with which he may agree, or difagree, or h•ve any refpetl:: For, as I faid, Relation is a way ofcompa· ring, or conlidering two things to?;ether; and giving one, or both of them, fome appellation from· tha~ , Comparifon, and fometimes giving even the Rela\ion it felf ~ Name., .... §. 8. Secondly, This farther may be confid'ered concerning Relation, That though it be not contained in the real exifienceofThings, but fometi) ing CX\raneous,and fuperinduced ; yet the Ideal which relative Words fland for, are often clearer, and more difiinQ:, thanqf thole Subfiances to whiCh they do b~long. The No!J<;n we have of a Father, or Brother, is a great deal clearer, ~p,d more ddhntl:, Than. that we have of a Man : Or if you wjll, Paternity, is a thing whereof 'tis e.alier to have· -a clear JJ;a, than of .Humanity:· And I can mud) ealier Cr;>l}ceive what a Friend is, than ~bat G ~D. ,Eeca~fe the kno~ledge of one Atl:ion, or one /imple Ide•, IS oftentimq fpffic1ent to g1ve me the Nption of a Relation : !1ut to the knowing of any fubfiantial lleing, an acc~rate col!etl:ion offundry Ideas is neceifary. A Man, if he compare two t(1ings together, can hardly be fuppofed not to know what it is, wherein he compares them: So that when he compares any Things together, he cannot but have a very clear Idea of that Relation. The Ideas then of &lations ar< capable at lea£1 of ~eing; "'.".' perfel1 and dij}inCI in •our /Jfinds, tban tbofe of S•bjlancn: Becaufe It I.scommonly hard to know all thelimple Ideas, which are really in aay Subftance, but. for the moll: part eaGe enough to know the limple Iduu that makeup any Relation I think on or have a Name for; v. g. comparing two Men, in r~fererce to one ' c~m'mon Parent , it IS very ealie to frame the .Ideal of Br?thers,without having yet the perfell Idea of a Man. For ligmficant relative Words, as well as others, ftanding only f~r ldw; and thofe be_ing all either limple, or made up of fimple ones, It fufficcs for the knowmg the prec1fe Idea the relative term !lands for1 to have. a clear conception ofthat, which is the foundation of the Rc· lauon ,; wh1~h may be done without having a perfeCl and clear Idea of the thmgit IS attnbuted to. Thus having the Notion, that one laid the Egf~, out of which the other was hatched, I have a clear Idea of theRe· !anon of Dam and Chick, between the two Caffiowaries in St. Jamds Park ; though, perhaps, I have but a very obfcure and imperfctl: Idea of thofe B~rds themfelves. ~· 9: Thirdly, Though there be a great number of ConGderations, wherem.Tlungs may be compared one with another, and fo a multitude of RelatJom, yet they all trrminare ;, and are concerned about rhofe ./i~>~ple Idea1, either of Senfation or Refletl:ion; which 1 think to be the whole Matenals of all our Knowledge. To clear this, I fhall fhew it in the moll: .Chap. XXVI. Relation. moll: confiderable Relations that we have any notion of, and fame that feem to he the moll temote{rom Senft or &fieC/ion; which yet will appear to have their I1em from thence, and that the Notions we have of them, are but certam limple Idea1, and fo originally derived from Senfe or Refletl:ion. , · §.to. Fourthly, That Relation being theconlideriog of one thing with another, which is extrinlical to it, it is e'lidcnt, that all Words that necelfuily infer, _and lead :he· Mind to any other IdetU, than are'fuppofed really to ex1fl: m that thmg, to wluch the Word IS applied, are relative H'ord1; v .g; .. A Man Black, Merry, Thoughtful, Thirfty,Angry, Extended ; thefe, and the like, are all abfotute, hecaufe they neither Ggnifie nor intimate any thing, but what does, or is fuppofed really to exifi in the Man thus,dcnommated t Father, Brotbe_r, King, Husband, Blac· ke_r, Me~ner, Ilk are Words, h1ch, together With the thing they d~no· mmate, 1m ply alfo fometluog elfe feparate ~nd exterior to the exifience of •that thing. ~. 1 r. Having laid down thefe Premifes concerning Relation in general .I fhall now proceed to flJew, in tome infl:ances, how all the Ideal we hav; of Relation are made up, as the others are,ooly ot Gmple Ideas; and that the>: all, how relined, or remote .fro~ Senfe foever they feem, terminate at !aft m .limple Jtleas. I fhall begm With the moll comprehenlive Relation, whcrem all thmgs that do, or can ex1ft, are concerned ; and that is the Relation of Cauie and EffeCl:. The Idea whereof, how derived from the .two Fountains of all our Knowledge, Senfation and Beftet/ion, I tball in the next place confider. CHAP. XXVI. OJ [au(e and Ejfi8, an[other !J\elatidns. §.r ·JN the notice,thatour Senfes take of the confl:antVicillitudeofThiogs, we cannot but obferve, that feveral parncular, both Qyalities, and Subfiances begin to cxiil; and that they receive this their Exifience, from the due Application and Operation of fame other Being. From this Obfervation, we get our Jdea1 of Caufe and E./fell. That which produces any fimple or complex Idea, we denote by the general Name Caufe; and that which is produced, Ejj'eCI. Thus finding, that in that Subfiance which we call Wax, Fluidity, which is a limple Idea, that was not in it before, is confiantly produced by the Application of a certain degree of Heat, we call the limple Mea of Heat, in relation to Fluidity in Wax, the Caufe of it ; and Fluidity the Effetl:. So alfo finding that the Subftance, Wood, which is a certain ColleCl:ion of Gmple Ideas, fo called, will by theAppli· cation of Fire, be turned into another Subilance,called Afl1es ; i. e. another complex Idea, conf1!ling of a ColleCl:ion of lim pie Ideas, quite different from that complex Idea, which we call Wood; we confider Fire, in relation to Afhe•, as Caufc, and the Afl1es, as EffeCl:. So that whatever is confidered by us, to conduce or operate, to the producing any parti· cular fimplc Idea, or Colletl:ion of limple Ideas , whether Subfiance, or Mode, which d1d not before cxi!l, hath thereby in our Minds the relation of a Caufe,. and fo is denominated by us. · . X §. ~ . |
