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Show 1\emedies of the lmperfeflion Book UL diflinet Jde~r of; which is not to be expeCted by any one, who hath not vanity eriough to illlagine he can prevail wid~ ~en, to be very know• ing, or very filent. And he mull be httle sktll d m the World, who thinks that a voluble Tongue, !hall accompany only a good Underllan. ding; or that Mens talking much or little, O!all hold proportion only to their Knowledge. · §. 1. But th0ugh the Market arid Exchange mull be left to their own ways of T~lking, and Ooffipping;s, not robb'd of their ancient Privilege; though the Schools, and Men ol Argument would, perhaps, take it amifs to have any thing offered to abate the length, or !etTen the number of their Difp~tes; yet, methink~ thofe Ivbo ptetendferio•fly to fearcb aftu, or maintam Trutb, lhould thmk themfelve~ obhged to lludy_ how th~y might dehver themfelves Without Obfcunty, Doubtfulnefs, or Equivocation , to which Mens Words are naturally liable , if care be not taken. ~- 4· For he that !hall well confider the Errourr and Obfcurity, the Millakes and ConfuGon, that isfpmi/. in tbe World /;y an iUufe of Words, will find fome reafon to doubt, whether Language , as it has been employ'd, has contributed more to the improvement or hindrance of Knowledge amongll Mankind. How many are there, that when thev would think on Things, fix their Thoughts only on Words, efpecialiy whm they would apply their Minds to moral Matters 1 And who then can wonder, if the refult of fuch Contemplations and Reafonings, about little more than Sounds, whilfl the Ideas they annexed to them, are very confufed, or very unlleady, or perhaps none at alJ; who can wonder, J fay, that fuch Thoughts and Reafonings, end in nothing but Obfcurity and Mi!\ake, without any dear Judgment or Knowledge1 9. 5· This Inconvenience, in an ill ufe of Words, Men fuffer in their own private Meditations: but much more manifefl are the Diforderswhich follow from it, in Converfation, Difcourfe, and Arguings with others. For Language being the great Conduit, whereby Men convey their Difcove· ries, Reafooings, and Knowledge, from one to another, he that makes an ill u(e of it, though he does not corrupt the Fountains of Knowledge, whtch are m Thmgs themfelves; yet he does, as much as in ·him lies, · break or flop the Pipes, whereby it is diflributcd to the publick ufe and advanta~e of Mankind. He that ufes ~ords, without any dear and llcady meanmg, What does he but lead htmfelf and others into Errours 1 And he that defigncdly does it, ought to be looked on as an Enemy to Truth and Knowledge. And yet, who can wonder, that all the Sciences and Parts of Knowledge, have been fo over-charged with obfcure and e<juivocal Terms, and_ inGgnificant and doubtful Expreffions, capable to make the moll attentive or qutck-fighted, very little , or not at all the more knowing or Orthodox ; Iince Subtilty, in thofe who make profcllion to teach or defend Truth,hath patTed fo much for a Vertue : A Vertue, indeed, which con filling, for the moll part, in nothing but the fallacious and tlluforyufe?t ohft•re or deceitful Termr, is only fit to make Men more conceited m theit Ignorance, and ohjfi"ate in their Errours. §. 6. Let us look into the Books of Controverlies of any kind, there we !hall fee, that the effeCt of obfcure, unlleady, or equivocal 'Ierm•, IS notlu~g but nm[e and wrangling about Sounds, without con• ~mcmg or bettenng a Mans Underllanding. For if the Idea be not a· greed on, betWIXt the Speal<er and Hearer for which the Words !land, the Argument is not about Things, but Na~es. As often as fucha Word, whofe Signification is not afcertained betwixt them, comes in ufe, their Under· Chap. Xi. and AbuJe of Words. lJ'nderllandings have no other ObjeCt wherein they agree, but barely the Sound, the Things that they ihink on at that time, as exprelfed by that Word, being quite different. _ §. 7· Whether a Bat be a Bird, or no, is ncit a <tueflion, whether a Bat be another Thing than indeed it is, or have other ~alities than indeed it has Cor that would be extremely abfurd to doubt of: But rite queflion is t.'Either betwfen thofe that acknowledged themfelves to have but i~perfeei: Idw of arlo or both of thofe fons of Things, for which thefe Names arc fuppofed to fiarid; and theil it is a real enquiry,, concerning ihe Nature of a Bird, or a Bat, to make their yet imperfeCt ldeas of it more complet e, by examining, whether all the fimple Ideas, to which combined together, they both give the name B'~rd, be all to be found in a Bat: But this is a Q£f!lion orily ofEn11nirers, coot Difptiters,) who nei• !her affirm nor deny, btit examine: dr, 2.. It is a Q!!e!\ion between Dif1 putants; \~hereof the one affirms, and the-other denies, that a Bat is a Bird: And then the ~eflion is barely about the Stgmficatton of one, or both thcfe Words. in t i!Ot they not having both the f.1;ne complex Ideas, io which they giv~ thcfc two Names, one holds, and t'other denies,_ that thefe two names m:iy be affirmed one of another . .Were they agreed 10 tho Signification ofthefe twoNames,it were impoffible they fl10uld difputea· bout them : For they would prefently and clearly fee, (were that adJufied between them,) whether :ill the fimple Ideas; nf the more general name Bird were found in the complex Idea of a Bat, or no; and fo there tould be no doubt whether a Bat were a Bird, or no. And here I de· lire it may be confidcred, and carefully examined, whether the greatefi ptrt of the Difputes in the World,. arc rtdt meerly Verbal, and about the Signification of Words ; and that tf the terms t1ley arc made m, were defiried, and reduced in their Signification (as they mull be! where they lignifie any thing) to the fimple !deaJ they fla~d for,thofe ~tfputes would not end of themldves, add immediately \•amlh. I leave It then to be confidered, wl10t the learning of Difputatioil is, and how well they are imploy'd for the adva~tage of themfelves, or others, whofe buli_nefs _IS only the vain oflentatiOn of Sounds ; r. e. thofe who fpcnd thelf Ltves Ill Difputes and Controverlies. When I !hall fee any of tl10fe Combatants, firip all his Terms of Ambiguity and Obfcumy, (wluch evecr one may do in the W onds he ufes himfelf, as far as he has dear and dtflmCl Notio~ s to which he applies them,) I !hall think him ~ Champion fo_r !\nowledge, Truth, and Peace, and riot the Slave ofV am-glory, Ambition, or 1 Patty. ~- 8. 7o remed the DefeEli of Speech before-mentioned,to ~orne degree, arid to prevent the Inconveniencies that follow from them, I tmagme, the . obfervation of thefe following Rules may be of ufe, ttll fame bod~ better able !hall judge it worth his while, to think.mo~e maturely on tlus mat-ter, and oblige the World wlth hts Thoughts on It. ' _ . Firfl, A Man lhould take care to ufe no_ Word •vrthout ~jignifcatro", no Name without an Jd;a for which he makes Jt !land. Thts Rule Will not feem altogether ncedlefs, to any one who thai! take_ the pams to recolleCt how often he has met with fuch Words; as hP mEl, Sympathy, and Aotipathy &c in the Difcourfe of others, fo made u(e of, as he mtg~t eafily con~lud;, that thofc that ufed them, had no Idea; in the~ ~·nfi s to which they applied them ; but fpol<e them only as Sounds, whtc uh ually fcrved iollead of Reafons, on the like occafions. Not but_ tat thefe Words and the like have and may be ufed, in very proper J•gmfd Cltions. bu~ there being ~o natural conn ex ions between any Wor s, an • any |