But, in both cases,
my aim is only to know what ideas are connected together; and the
more a man knows of the connexion of ideas, the more he is said
to know of the nature of things. What, therefore, if our ideas
are variable; what if our senses are not in all circumstances
affected with the same appearances. It will not thence follow
they are not to be trusted; or that they are inconsistent either
with themselves or anything else: except it be with your
preconceived notion of (I know not what) one single, unchanged,
unperceivable, real Nature, marked by each name. Which prejudice
seems to have taken its rise from not rightly {246} understanding
the common language of men, speaking of several distinct ideas as
united into one thing by the mind. And, indeed, there is cause to
suspect several erroneous conceits of the philosophers are owing
to the same original: while they began to build their schemes not
so much on notions as on words, which were framed by the vulgar,
merely for conveniency and dispatch in the common actions of
life, without any regard to speculation.
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