| OCR Text |
Show lmperfetlion of Words. Book III. ~. 'i· Words having naturally no lignification, the Ideas which each ftands tor, mull be karned and retained , br thofe who would exohange Thoughts, and hold intelligtble Difcourfe wtth others, 10 any Language. But this is hardefl to be done, where, Firfl, The Ideas they ftand for, are very complex, and made up of a great number of Ideas put together. . Secondly, Where the Ideas they ftand for , have no certam conncxion in Nature; and fo no fetled Staridard, anyiwhere in Nature exifling, to rechfie and adjufr them by. Thzrdly, Where the lignification of the Word is referred to a Standard, which Standard is not eafie to be known. Fourthly, Where the fignification of the Word, and the. real Effcnce of the Thing, are not exactly the fame. Thefe are difficulties that attend the fignification of feveral Words that are intelligible. Thofe which are not intelligible at all, fuch as Names ftanding for any fimple !tiM, which another has not Organs or Faculties to attain ; as the Name$ of Colours to a blind Man, or Sounds to a deaf Man, need not here be nlen· tioned. In all thefe cafes , we fhall find an imperfedion in Words ; which I 1hall more at large explain, in their particular application to our feveral forts of !dean For if we ex«mine them, we fhall find, that the Names of mixed Nodes, are mojlliable to dor~!Jtfulnefs and imperfellion, for the two fir /I of tbefe Reafons; and the Names ofS•!JJ/ances chjefiy,for the t1o0 latter. ~.6. Firjl, The Names of mixed Modes ,are many of them liable to gmt uncertainty and obfcurity in their fignification. I. Becaufe of that great Compojition, thefe complex Ideas are often made up of. To make Words ferviceable to the end of CommWJication, is neceifary, (as has been faid) that they excite, in the Hearer, exactly the fame Idea they ftand for, in the Mind of the Speaker: Without this, Men fill ?ne another's Heads with noife and founds; but convey not thereby thetr Thoughts, and lay not before one another their Jtfeas, which is the end of Difcourfe and Language. But when a word ftands for a very complex ltjea, that is compounded and decompounded, it is not eafie for Men to form and retain that Idea fo exactly, as to make the Name in common ufe, ftand for the fame precife Idea, without ~ny the Jeafi varia· tion. Hence it comes to pafs, that Mens Names, of. very compound Ideas, fuch as for the moll: part are moral Words, have feldom, in mo d!lferent Men, the fam.e precife lignification ; Iince one Man's complex Idea feldom agrees Wtth anothers ,' and often differs from his own , from that which he had yellerday, or will have to morrow. ~- 7· II. Becau(e the Names of mixed N odes, for the moft part, t•a•t Standards in Nature , whereby Men may rectifie and adjull: their fignifications ; therefore they are very various and doubtful. They are ~ffemblages of ld~as put together. at the pleafure pf the Mind, purfuing ttsown ends ofDtfcourfe, and fmted to its own Notions. whereby it de· ligns not to copy' any thing really exifting, but to denominate and rank Thmgs, as they come to agree, with thofe Archetypes or Forms tt has ~ade. He that firfl: brought the word Sham , W/;eedle , or ' !3a•ter 111 ufe, put together, as he thought fit, thofe U eas he made tt fraod for: !1-nd as it is with any new Names of Modes, that arc now brought mto any Language; fo was it with the old ones , when they were fir!l: made ufe of. Names tbereforc that ftand for Collections of Ideas,. which the Mind makes at pleafure ,' muft needs be of doubtful Jignificanon, when fuch Collections are no-where to be found confiantly unit..! Chap. IX. _ Abufe of Words~ . _ . i3 ~: united in Nature, nor no Patterns to be fhewn whereby Men may adj~ll: them, what the :v9rd Murther, or Sacrilege, &c. fignifie, can never be known from Th\ngs thelllfelvcs: . There be many of the parts of thofe complex Ideas, wl!.tch are not vtlible m the ACtion it felf. the Intention of the Mind, .or the K~lation of holy Things,. which mv<~ a par[ of Mur~ ther, or S~cnlege, .IJave no necelfary. connexion witf! the. outward an4 vtfible Actton ?~ !urn. that commtts en her : and the pulling the Trigger of the Gun, w!th whtch the Murther ts committed, and. is all the ACtioq, that, perhops, ts vtfible, has no natural connexion with thofe qther Ideas, that make.up the complex one, .named Murther. They have their union and combmatton o~ly from the Underfianding, which unites them under one Name: but unttmg them Wtthout any Rule, or Pattern it cannot be but that the fignification of the Name,tl)at ftands. for.fuch v~Juntary Colle:! lions, fi1oul~ be often various in the Minds of different l.\lcn, w.ho have fcarce any ftandi~g Rule to regulate them{elves, and their Notions of fucb arbitrary Ideas ~Y· . , . . , . , . , . , . ~- 8. 'Tis true, common Vje, that is the Rule of Propriety, ma;r be fuppofed here to afford fome aid, to fettle the fignification of Language; and It cannot be denied , but that in fame meafure it does. Common ufe regulates tbe Meaning of /Yords pretty well for comin,on Converfation i but no body having an Authority to efrablifh the precife Jign.ification of Words, nor determine to what Ideas any one fhall annex the!I), comilion Ufe is not fufficient toadjull: them to philofophical Difc.ourfe~ ; there being fcarce any Name, of a~y very complex Idea, (to f~y nothing of others,) which, in common Ufe, has not a great latitude, and which keeping within the bounds of Propriety, may not be made the lign of far dif-. (en;nt Jdw. Befides, the rule and meafure of Propriety it felfbeing no where efiablifhed, it is often matter of difpute, whether this or that way ofutulg a Word, be propriety of Speech, or no. From all which, it is evident, that the Names of fuch kind of very Coll)plex Ideas, are naturally liable to this imperfection, to be of doubtful and uncertain lignificatiotti and even in Men, that have a Mind to underfrand one another, do notal~ ways ftand for the fame Idea in Speaker and Hearer. Though the name> Glory and Gratitude be the fame in every Man's mouth, through a whole Country, yet the complex collective Jd.a, which every one thinks on, qr intends by that Name, is apparently very different by ~en uling the fame Language. . . · , · §. 9· :ihe way alfo wherein the Names of mixed JI!Iodes are ordinarily lear•ed, does not a little cMtri!Jute to t he doubif ulnefs of their jigni}ica, tio.. For if we will obferve how Children lea.rn Languages, we Jhall find, that to make them underftand what the Names, of lim pie lt!eas, or Subl\ances, ll:and for, People ordinarily Jhew thefil the thing, whereof they would have them have the Idea ;and then repeat to them the Name ~hat !lands for it, as White,Sweet,Milk, Sugar, Cat, :09g. But as for mixed Modes, efpecially the moil: material of t,hem moral Words, the Sou:nd5 ~re ufually learn'd firfl:, and then to know what complex Ideas they ll:atid for, they are either beholden to tht; explication of others, or (which happens for the moll: part) arp left to their own Obfervation and Indufrry; which being little laid out in the fearFh !Jf the true and prectfe meaning of Names, theJe moral Words are, in moil: MeiJs mouths, little more th:!n bare Sounds; or when they have any,'tis for the mon part but a vety obfcure and confufed lignification. And even thofe themfelv<$, who have with mm'e attention fetl~d tf1eir Notions, do yet hardly avoid theirlconvcnience, io havi: thcin ·fl:arid for GompJex Ideas, different from ' 1-1. h thofe |
