But is there the like reason why
they should be discouraged in philosophy? The making anything
known which was unknown before is an innovation in knowledge:
and, if all such innovations had been forbidden, {244} men would
have made a notable progress in the arts and sciences. But it is
none of my business to plead for novelties and paradoxes. That
the qualities we perceive are not on the objects: that we must
not believe our senses: that we know nothing of the real nature
of things, and can never be assured even of their existence: that
real colours and sounds are nothing but certain unknown figures
and motions: that motions are in themselves neither swift nor
slow: that there are in bodies absolute extensions, without any
particular magnitude or figure: that a thing stupid, thoughtless,
and inactive, operates on a spirit: that the least particle of a
body contains innumerable extended parts: -- these are the
novelties, these are the strange notions which shock the genuine
uncorrupted judgment of all mankind; and being once admitted,
embarrass the mind with endless doubts and difficulties.
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