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Show General Terms. Book IlL Names to Tlungs, that the Mind lhould have dil\inet !dear of the Things, and retain alfo the particular Name that belongs to every one, with its peculiar appropriatiop to that Ide~. But It 1s beyond the Power of hu. mane Capacity to frame and retaul dtfhoet !dear of all the part1cubr Things we meet with: every Bird, and Beall:, Men faw; every Tree, and Plant that affected the Senfes, could not find a Place in the moil capacious Under!l:anding. If it be looked on, as an in!l:ance of a prodigio~s Me· mory, That fame Generals have been able to call every Sold1er 10 their Army, by his proper Name: We may eafily find a Re:tfon,why Men have never attempted to give Names to each Sheep 10 the1r Flock, or Crow that flies over their Heads ; much lefs to call every Leaf of Plants, or Grain of Sand that came in their way, by a peculiar Name. §.J. Secowdly, I fit were poflible, it would yet be u{elifs, becaufeit would not ferve to the chief end of Language. Men. would in vain heap up Names of particular Things, that would not ferve them to communicate their Thoughts. Men learn Names, and ufe them in Talk with others, .oniy.that they may be underfiood: which is then · only done, when by Ufe orConfent,the Sound I make by the Organs of Speech, excites in ano· ther Man's Mind, who hears it,the Idea I apply it to in mine, li>hen I fpeak it. This cannot be done by Names, apply'd to particular Things, where· p(I alone having the !dear in my Mind, the Names of them could not be ,tignilicant, or intelligible to another, who was not acquainted with all thofe very particular Things, which had fallen under my notice. §. 4· ihirdly, But yet granting this alfo fecible; (which I think is not,) yet a dif/inEI Name for twry particular ibing, would not be of a•y great ufe for the impro7Jtment of KnoJVIedge : which though founded in particular Things, enlarges it felf by general Views ; to which Thing> reduced into forts under general Names, are properly fubfervient. Thcfe, with the Names belonging to them, come within fome Compafs, and do not multiply every Moment, beyond what, either the Mind can contain, pr Ufe requires. And therefore in thefe, Men have for the moll:· part flopp'd: but yet not fo, as tohinderthemfelvesfrom difiinguifl1ing par·. t1cularThmgs, by appropnated Names, where Convenience demands it: And therefore •in their own Species, which they have mofl to do with, and wherein they have often occafion to mention particular Perfons i there they make ufe of proper Names, and di!l:inet Individuals have di· 1\inet Denominations. ·-~75. Befides Perfons, Countries alfo,Cities, Rivers Mountains and other the like DiflinClionsofPlace, have ufually foundpe~uliar Name; and that for the fame Reafon; they being fuch as Men have often an O~cafion to mark particularly, and, as it were, fet before others in their Difcourfcs with them. And I doubt not, but if we had Reafon to mention particu· lar Horfes, as often as we have to mention particular Men we lhould have proper Nam<r for the one, as familiar as for the other.' and Bucepba/UJ would be a Word as much in ufe, as Alexander. And 'therefore we fee that amongf!Jockeys, Horfcs have their proper Names to be known and d11\mgu11hed by, as commonlyas their Servants: Becaufe amongflthem, there IS often Occafion to mention tlus or that particular Horfe, when he ts out of S1ght. §. 6. The next thing W be confidered is, /;ow gtneral Word! come to bt made. For fince all Tlungs that exi!l:, are only particulars, how come we by general Terms, or where find we thofe general Natures they arc fup· pofed to !land for.' Words become general, by being made the figns of general IdtaJ: a~d !tlear become general, by feparating from them the circumflances Chap. II. Adequate and Inadequate Ideas. circumflances of Time, or Place, or any other !dear that may determine them to this or that particular Exi!l:encc. By this way of ab!l:raetion, they are made capable of rcprefeming more Individuals than one ; each of which, having in it a conformity to that ab!l:raCt Idea, is (as we call ir) of that fort. · §. 7. But to deduce this a little more di!l:inetly, it will not, perhaps, be amifs, to trace our Notions, and Names, from their beginning,and obferve by what degrees we proceed, and by what !l:eps we enlarge our ldtar from our fir!l: infancy. There is nothing more evident, than that the Jdtar of the Perfo.ns Children converfe with, (to in fiance in them alone,) are like the Pcrfons themfelvcs, only particular. The Ideas of the Nurfe, and the Mother, are well framed in their Minds; and, like PiCtures of them there, reprefent only thofe Individuals. The Names they firfi gire to them arc confined to thefc Individuals; and the names of Nurfe, and 'Mamma: the Child ufes, determine thcmfelves to thofe Perfons. After• wards, when time and a larger acqua10tance, has made them obferve, that there arc a great many other Things in the World,that in fomecomlnon agreements of Shape, and fevcral other ~alities, refemble their Father and Mother: and thofc Perfons they have been ufed to, th~y frame an Idea, which they find thofe many Particulars do partake in ; and to that they give with others , the name Man, for example. And tlms thry come to /;a~e a general Name, and a general Idea. Wherein they make nothing new but only leave out of the complex !t{ea they had Of Putt and James, Mary and Jane, that which is peculiar to each, and retia in only what is common to them all. §. 8. By the fame wav that they come by the general Name . ~hd Idea of Man, they eafily ad~ance to more.gtneral Nan:tr and Notions. For obferving, that feveral Things that differ from the1r J'dea of Man, ~.nd can· not therefOre be comprehended unaer that Name, have yet certam ~·· lilies, wherein they agree with Ma'n, by retaining only thofe ~alities, and uniting them into one Idea,they have agam another and a more general Idta·· to which having given a Name, they make a term of a tnore comprehenfive extenfion : Which new Idea, is made not by any new addition, but only, as llefore, by leavmg out the_ fhape, and fome other Properties lignified by the name Man, and retammg only a Body, w1th Life, Senfe, and fpontaneous Motion, comprehended under tbe name Animal. · §. 9· That this is the lV'!J JVbereby Men jrf/ formed general Id<ar, and t.t•tral Namer to tbem, I think, is fo evident, that there needs no other j>roof of it, but the confidering of a Man's felf, or others, and the ordmary proceedings of their Minds in Knowledge,: A,nd· he that thmks genera! Natures, or Notions, are any ·thing elfe ~ut fuch abfiraet and pam~! Iden1 Of more complex ones taken at Jir!l: from parncubr Ex1!l:enccs, wdl, I {C.r, be at a lofs where 'to find them. For let ahY; one reflett, \~herein docs his Idea of a Man, differ from that of Petef, .and Paul; or Ins Idea of an Horfc, from that 0 ( Bucepba!UJ, but in. the leavmg out fometlung that is peculiar to each r ndividual ; and reta1~1ng fo much of thofe partt· cular complex !dear, of feveral particular Ex1!l:ences, as they are found to agree in. Of the complex !dear, figmfied by the !'ames Man, ~nd Horfe, leaving out but thofe particulars wherem they d1ffer, and retatnmg only thofe wherein they agree, and ol thof7, making a new dtfhnCt complex Idea' and giving the name Animal to lt, one has a more ge~eral term, that comprehends, with Man, feveral other Creatures. Lea\ e out the Nea of Animal Senfe and fpontaneous Monon, and the rcmammg cot:n- . ' ' plcx |