Words are of arbitrary imposition; and, since men are used to
apply the word
where no distinction or variety is
perceived, and I do not pretend to alter their perceptions, it
follows that, as men have said before, thing>, so they may, upon like occasions, still continue to use
the same phrase, without any deviation either from propriety of
language, or the truth of things. But, if the term be used
in the acceptation of philosophers, who pretend to an abstracted
notion of identity, then, according to their sundry definitions
of this notion (for it is not yet agreed wherein that philosophic
identity consists), it may or may not be possible for divers
persons to perceive the same thing. But whether philosophers
shall think fit to a thing the no, is, I
conceive, of small importance. Let us suppose several men
together, all endued with the same faculties, and consequently
affected in like sort by their senses, and who had yet never
known the use of language; they would, without question, agree in
their perceptions.
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