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Show A6ufe of: Word.r. Book III. §. u. Sixthly, 'There remains yet another more gener3l,thougb, pet·• haps, lefs obferved Atufe of 11/ords ;, a11d that is, that Men having by a Jong and familiar ufeannexed to th>m cenam It/eas, they are apt to unagi~ e fo wear and wuejfary a cownex1on be.flvetnt!Je names •nd the /ignijicatiow they ufein them, tha~ they (qrwardly fu ppofc one cannmbut underflood what their. ~~~n~ng 1s: and therefore one ought to acqu1efcc '" the Words delivered, as1f 1t were pail: ~ubt, that m the ufeof thofc common received founds, the Speaker and Hearer had !Jeceff.ml~ . the fame prec1fc Ideas. Whence prefuming, that when they have 10 Dlfcourfe ufed any Term, they have thereby ,as it were,fet before others the very tlung they to!k of.And fo likewife takipg the Words of others,as naturally flandmg for jufl what they rhemfelves have been accuflomed to apply them to, they never trouble themfelves to, explain their own, or underil:aod clearly others meaning. 'trom w1Jencecommonly proceeds Noife,and Wrang!ing,without fmprovement 'or Information; whilil Men take Words to be the conflant regular marks of agreed Notions, which in truth, are no more but the voluntary and unfleady figns of their own Ideas. And yet' Men think it'ilrange,it"in Dilcourfe,or (where it is often abfolutely neceiTary) in Difpute, one foiTJetimes asks the meaning of their Terms: Thou~h the Arguings, oile may every day obferve m Converfat10n, make 1t cv1dent, that tl1ere are feiVnarnes of complex Ideas,which any two Men ufe for the fame juil: precife Collection. 'Tis hard to name a Word, which will not be a clear in fiance ofthis.Lije is a Term,nonemore familiar. Any one almofl would take it for an Affront, to be asked what he meant by it. And yet if it comes in QQe(lion, whether a Pbnt, that lies ready lormed in the Seed, have Life; whether the Embrio in an Egg before Incubation, or a Man in a S~>ound without Senfe or Motion,be alive or no, it is cafie to perceive, that a c'ear difiiBd fottledJdea does not always accompaH>: the Ufe offo known a Word, as that of Life is. Some grofs and conlufed Conceptions Men indeed ordinarily have, to which they applyth~ common Words of their Language, and that ferves them well enough m the1r ordinary Difcourfes and Alfairs: but this is not fullicient for ~hdofoplucal 'Ellquiries. Knowledge an:l Reafoning require precife determmate Ideas. .-\nd though Men will not not be fo importun:)tely dull, as not to underlland what others C1y, without demanding an explication of their Terms; nor fo trpublefomely critical, as to correct others in the ufe of the Words they receive from them; yet where Truth ami Knowledge arc concerned in the Cafe, I know not what Fault it can be to defire the exphcat1on of Words, whofe Senfe feems dubious: Or why a Man lhould be a!hamed to own his Ignorance, in what Senfe another Man ufes his Words , fince he has no other way of certainly knowing it, but by being informetl. Th1s Abufe of taking Words upon Trull, has nowhere fpread fo far, nor WJth fo ill Effetts, as amongfl Men of Letters. The multiplication and oblhnacy of Difputes, which has fo laid walle theintelleCl:ual World, is owwg to nothing more, than to this ill ufe of Words. For though it be gencnlly believed, that there is great diverfity of Oj>inions in the Volumes and Variety ofControverfies, tf1e World is diilra3:ed with; yet the mc_fr I can lind, that the contending learned Men of different Parties do, m t'JCir Arguing• one with another, is, that they fpeak different Languages. F,>r I am apt to imagine, that when any of them quitting Terms, tiJJnk upon Things,and know whot they think,they think all the f.1me. Thougl1 perhaps, W!Jat they would have, be different. · ~. >j. To conclu~e this Confideration of the ImperfeCl:ion, and Ab:J(e of Language; the ends of Lang_uR~e in our Difiourfe u:itb otl;erJ, ~10g cb1efly Cha.p. X. . <~,nc/ Abu{e of Wordn chiefly thefe three: Firfl, io make known one Matt's Thought~ or Ideas to another. Secondly, To do 1t w1tb as much cafe and qutck~ejs, as JS poffible; and lbird~y, Thereby t~ convey the f(?oJv_ledg~ of Tlungs. Larjguage is either •bufed, or delic1cnt , when 1t la1ls m any .of thefe 'Tbree. . Firfl, Words fail in the firil of thefe Eods, ~nd lay not open one M~n's /Je/IJ to anothers view.Firfl, When Men have names m the1r MouthsW1thout any clear and dillintb Ideas in their Minds, whereof they are the f~gns;qr Ste~.Jiy, When they apply the com moo received names of any Language · to /Jeas to which the common ufe of that Language dot'S no1 apply them; Of 1hi, dly, When they apply them very unflcadily, making therq flaqd now for one, and by and by for anoth~r !tie a.. . . ~ ~4. S<condly, Men fail of con.vey1ng the~r Tlwughts, 11'1\h al! tQe qllicknefs and eafe that may be, wlw~ they hav.e comp\e~ Idea~, W1tho4t having dilliull: names forth~~- Tins 1s fomenmP:! the Fault ofd1e Laq• guage it felf, which has not m 1t a Sound yet apply d to fuch a SJg~Jfication : And fometimes the· Fault of the Man, ~~:ho !las not yet \eqr1,1 d the name for that Idea he would fl1ew another. ~. >f. Jhirdly, There is no Knowledge of Things cortveyed by l'rlcn's Wocds when their Ideqs agree not to the Reahty <>f Thmgs. l;hough it be a Defett, that has its Origi'l31 i11 our Ideas, which are not fo~onfox• mabie to the Nature of Things, as ·AltPntlon, Study, and App\1<;:1\10{1 might moke them : Yet it fails not t'? ~xtencl ~t f~lf to our Words roo, when we ufe them as Sign$ of real Bemgs, wluch yet never had ~ny Rea-lity or Exillencc. . § >6. Fi(/f, He that hath W~rdsof any LanguagMvithout d1il!n¢Vde4s in his Mind, to which he appl1es them,does,lo far ~fi. l~e ufe_s them. 1JJ 0 1f· courfe, only. make a noife without. any Senfe or S•gn1ficat1Qn ;. ~n~ how lc:amed foever he may feem by the ufe .Qf h.ard Words, or le;J,rntll T~rms, is not much more advanced thereby in ~nowlcxlgo , tl¥1n he \1'9~ld bc.1p Learning, who had nothing in his S~wly, but tbe bare T1tles of .. U<l<!ks, without polielling the Contents of thern. li'Qr all ft~ch \Vqrd¥, . ~9wevet JlQt into Difcourfe, according to the ~1glu. P>nil:r?C:hon of Gmwm•Jl~al !i.ules, or.rhe Har1;nony of well turned l'enO<!s, rjq Y~l.•plP)Jnr to, ~91h1ag but bare Sounds and nothing elfe. , ,. ',, §. >7. ,Seco./ty, He that bas complex 1dra~, w. ith~qt p~rticu~r ~~mes fOr them, would be in no better a Cl(e·than a Boak~•!l~r, who Jtqp Ul hiS Ware-houfc Volumes that lay there unbound, ancl W1tbout T~tle~; )_VI}Iclt he could 'therefore make known tooth~~. ooly by fl1<tW1~g the lcwfe lheet~, and communicate them only by Tale . . Thi• . Ma11 1S hm<)r~ Ill' .Ius Difcourl<l, for want of Words to C0011I\U01Cate IJJs tpmp)ex Ide~s, V(btd> ~ is therefore forced to make knoWtl by an cnumeratto.n of the firople QllC!j that ebmpofe them ; and fo is fain often to ufe twenty W 9r<ls, to ex· pre{$ what another Man fig1>ifies in one. . • t. ~s. ·1/lirdly, He that ufes not coof!~ntly the f~llle S•gn for the fume IJ,,, but ufes the fam<l ·Words fpm~bmi!S ltl one, .~nd fom~tlm)':s uunotber Signifil:ation, ought to pafs in the S~baols and 'O)Jlverf.mon, for as fair a Mao as he does in ~he Marke~ alld E~ch~oge, who fells [e\leral Things ,under the fame name. ' 1' . . ~- >)l. Fourthly, He t'hat applies the Words of any Lan~u~ge.@ 'dm, dilferenr from thofe, to wlucb the common ufe of t)Ht Cou.otry JppJ1cs them, however his own•IJnderllanding m~y be 61Jed IVJth. Tr11tb and Light, will not by fuch' Wonls be able to ~:onvey op~ )Ot of1t t9 ~thers, ll'ithoqt defining, F"r however the $oun.ds are f~c)1 l\S are J''\JJliJlll.TIY ' K k known |