An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, fol. 324
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
- Improvement of our lnomledse.
- Boda1V.
- Fi)Ihe has lcarned that Naxim : Or CanHOFa Connery - W enCh KnOW, Fhat
- having receired a Shillins trom one thar omes her threc, and a Shilline
- also from anottier chat omes her three, that the remainins Debrs in cach
- OE their hands are equal; cannot e lno this, P Pay, Without Me Petci
- ehe certaints ofit trom this Maxim, That it zou take rquals trom Pquals,
- ehie remainder ill BC EqualS; 2 Maxim Which postibly e never heard or
- chousht oF: Pdetire any one io consider trhich is linown tirlt and clearest
- By most People; the particular Instance, or the general Rule; and whien
- it isthat gires Lise and Birthto the other. Thele general Rulesare but tho
- comparino our more general and abstract Ideas, Wrhich are che WOrK-
- manship ofthe Mlinc, made; and Names siven to them For the casier dis-
- Patch in its Reasonines, and dramins into comprehensive Perms, and
- Thort Rules, ies various and multiplied Observations: But Knomledoe Be-
- san in theMtind, and Was founded on Parriculars; thouch attermaras,
- perhaps, no norice be taken thereot; it beins natural Por themind (For-
- Ward sill eo enlarge its Rnow ledec) most accentively eo lay ux thole se-
- neral Notions, and matis the prover use ot them, whieh is to disburthen
- the Memory of the cumbersome load oF Particulars.
- 9. 4. But be it inthe Machematicks as it will, Whether it be clearer,
- that taktins an Inch trom a black Linc of trro Tuches, and an Inch From a
- red Linc ottro Inches, the remainins parts ol thetro Lines will be equal,
- Ox that if vou take equals from equals, the remainder will be equals: Wtictu,
- Plar, ot these erro is the clearer and tirst Hnown, I lcave tO any OnC EO
- determine, it not beins material to my present occasion. That Whick L
- have here to do, is to enquire, hrether il it Be the readicst var EORNO-
- ledse, tobegin ith general Maxims, and build uxon them, it be yet a
- sate ay eo tatie the Principles, wrhich are laid dorn in any otter sci-
- enco, as unquectionable Truths; and (0 receire them without examina-
- tion, and adhere to them, withour suftering them to be doubted ot, be-
- cause Mathematicians have been (0 hapor, or l0 tair, to ule norie buF
- selFevident and undeniable. IFthis De (0, P Hno not what may noc pals
- For Truth in Noralier, What may nor be introduced andimproved in Na-
- tural Philosophi.
- Let that Principle oF lome of the ola Philosophers, That all is Matter,
- and that there is nothins else, be receired for certain and indubitable,
- and it will be casie to be seen by the Writinos of some that have rerivedie
- again in our days, wrhat consequences it Will lead us into. Let any onc,
- ith Polemo, take the NVorid; Or, With the Stoicts, the Ather, OF thC
- Sun; Or, with sneximenes, the Air, to De C0d; and whrat a Divinitr,
- Relision, and Worthip must re necds have. Norhine ean De so dangerous,
- a5 Principles thus taken up without questionine or examination; espccialsy
- il ther be luch as concern Moralier, wrhrich influence Mens Lires, and
- sire a bials to all their actions. Who misht not justls expect another
- Kind oF Lite in Aristippus, Wrtro placed FTappinels in bodily Pleature; and
- in Antisthenes, who inade Vertue sufficient to Felicity: And he Who,
- rith Plato, Mail place Beatitude in the Rnomledge ot CrOD, will have
- his Thouohts raised to other Contemplarions, than those who look nOE
- berond this spot of Farch, and thole perithing Thinss are to be had in it.
- Fre that, vith Archelaus, Mall lar it dorrn es a Principle, That Rioht and
- Wrong. TIonest and Distronest, are detined only by LaWs, and not by Na-
- turo, ill have other measures of moral Rectitude and Pravier, than chole
- Wtiotatse it for granted, that wre are uncer Obligations antecedent to aIl
- humane Consticutions.
Cite
An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, fol. 324. Machine transcription, not an edition: Leibniz Legible (model FoNDUE-GD_v2_ft_Leibniz, run 74). https://leibnizlegible.com/page/778263916:0340?run=74