An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, fol. 198
Machine transcription. Not an edition. Errors are expected: about 8% character error rate on Latin and French lines, higher on German. Mean line confidence on this page: 0.92.
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The machine reads it as
- Names of simple Ideas.
- all: And cheresore a Detinition, Which is proverly nothins but the sewine
- themeanins oF one Word by several ochers, noc lignitying cach che larrie
- thino, can in the Names of simple Ldeas have no Place.
- 6. 8. Fhenot observins this difference in our Pdeas, and their NamES,
- has produced that eminent trittins in the Schools, which isso casie t0
- De observed, in the definitions they gire us of lome sew of these simple
- Ideas. Foras tottie orearest pare ot them, even those Masters ot Dehni-
- tions, vere tain eo leave them untouchd, meerl by the imposibilitr
- ther sound in ic. What more exquilite Farcon could the Wit ot Nan in-
- vent, than this Detinition, The Act of a beine in Pover, as far forth as
- in Pover, Wrhich vould purzle ans rational elan, tonhom it vas not
- already Known by its famous ablurditi, to guess what Nord ic could e.
- ver De supposed to be the Lixplication ot. IF Tully astring a Dutchman Wlrat
- Beweexince Was, Mould have receired this Explication in his omn Lan
- suase, that it ras Actusentis in potentia quatenus in potentia; Iaste Wrhe-
- ther any one can imagine he could thereby have understood wrhat the
- Word Beweeringe lignitied, or have guessed What Ldea a Dutchman ordinari-
- Iy had in his Nind, and irould signitie to another, Wrhen he uled that sound.
- 6. 9. Nor hare the modern Philosophers, irho have endeavoured 10
- thron of the Farcon oF the Schools, and speakc intolligiblz, mueh bet-
- ter succecded in detinins simple Ldeas, Whether by explainins their C au-
- ses, or any othermise. The Aromists, Who detine Motionto De a passaze
- fromone place to another, What do they more than pur one lynonymous
- Nord For another: For What is Passase ocher chan Motion: And il they
- aere astced what Passase as; Iloir vouldchey berter define it than by
- Motion: For is it nor et least as prover and signiticant, to lay, P’assare is a
- Motion from one place to another, 2s to lay, Morion is a Passare, etc. This
- istotranstate, and not to detine, when we chanse ero Words of thelame
- Signitication one For another; which irhen onc is better understood
- ehian the ocher, maz serve todiscover irhat Idea the unknomn Ctands For;
- but is vers far trom a Detinition, unless e will lay, erery Enolistr Word
- in theDictionarr, is the detinition of the Larin Word it ansivers, and
- thatMotion is a detinition OF MotuS. Nor will the successive application
- of the parts of the Superticies of one Body, to those of another, Wvtrich the
- Cartesians sire us, prove a much becrer detinition ol Motion, irhen well
- examincd.
- 6. XO. The Act of Perspicuous, as far forth as perspicuous, is anorher
- Peripaterick definition ot a simple Idea; Wrhich choueli noc more absurd
- chanthe former of Morion, zec betraysits Vsclelsnels and Inlignificaner
- more plainlz, Decause Experience rill casils convince any onc, that ic
- cannot makre the meanine oF the Word Lichr (Wrhich it pretends to de-
- FinC) at all understood by a blind Mtan: bue the detinition of Motion ap.
- Peaxsnot at tirst sistur so uselels, because it scapes this way ofTrial. For
- Enis simple Idea entrins by the Touch as well as Sighes tis impossible
- eother an Example of ans onc, Wrhro has no ocher ey eo ger the Idea ot
- norion, but barely by che detinirion of that Name. When the Cariesi-
- ans tellus, that Licht is a great number of litele Clobules, sritins briste-
- ly on the borrom ol the FyC, they speak a lirtle more intelligibly thanthe
- Schools: Dut vet thele Words never (o ell understood, vould matre the
- Ideas the Word Liehe RandsFor, no more bnoon to a Man chat under.
- Sands it not betore, chan it one Mould tell him, ThaE LisHE WaS nO
- chins buc aCompany of litele Tennis- baIIS, Which Fairies all Day lons
- Arook ich Rackets againct lome Mens Fore heads, Whils thes passed
- by others. Forerancins his eixplication ot che chins r0 be ere; vet e
- Idea
- BOC
Cite
An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, fol. 198. Machine transcription, not an edition: Leibniz Legible (model FoNDUE-GD_v2_ft_Leibniz, run 74). https://leibnizlegible.com/page/778263916:0214?run=74