qualities of the image; and this inference of the judgment he confounds
with sensation, as is common on other occasions. Now it is evident,
that the inference of the judgment is here much more lively than what
is usual in our common reasonings, and that a man has a more vivid
conception of the vast extent of the ocean from the image he receives by
the eye, when he stands on the top of the high promontory, than merely
from hearing the roaring of the waters. He feels a more sensible
pleasure from its magnificence; which is a proof of a more lively idea:
And he confounds his judgment with sensation, which is another proof of
it. But as the inference is equally certain and immediate in both cases,
this superior vivacity of our conception in one case can proceed from
nothing but this, that in drawing an inference from the sight, beside
the customary conjunction, there is also a resemblance betwixt the image
and the object we infer; which strengthens the relation, and conveys the
vivacity of the impression to the related idea with an easier and more
natural movement.
No weakness of human nature is more universal and conspicuous than what
we commonly call CREDULITY, or a too easy faith in the testimony of
others; and this weakness is also very naturally accounted for from the
influence of resemblance. When we receive any matter of fact upon human
testimony, our faith arises from the very same origin as our inferences
from causes to effects, and from effects to causes; nor is there
anything but our experience of the governing principles of human nature,
which can give us any assurance of the veracity of men.
But though
experience be the true standard of this, as well as of all other
judgments, we seldom regulate ourselves entirely by it; but have a
remarkable propensity to believe whatever is reported, even concerning
apparitions, enchantments, and prodigies, however contrary to daily
experience and observation. The words or discourses of others have an
intimate connexion with certain ideas in their mind; and these ideas
have also a connexion with the facts or objects, which they represent.
This latter connexion is generally much over-rated, and commands our
assent beyond what experience will justify; which can proceed from
nothing beside the resemblance betwixt the ideas and the facts. Other
effects only point out their causes in an oblique manner; but the
testimony of men does it directly, and is to be considered as an image
as well as an effect. No wonder, therefore, we are so rash in drawing
our inferences from it, and are less guided by experience in our
judgments concerning it, than in those upon any other subject.
As resemblance, when conjoined with causation, fortifies our reasonings;
so the want of it in any very great degree is able almost entirely to
destroy them. Of this there is a remarkable instance in the universal
carelessness and stupidity of men with regard to a future state, where
they show as obstinate an incredulity, as they do a blind credulity on
other occasions. There is not indeed a more ample matter of wonder
to the studious, and of regret to the pious man, than to observe
the negligence of the bulk of mankind concerning their approaching
condition; and it is with reason, that many eminent theologians have not
scrupled to affirm, that though the vulgar have no formal principles
of infidelity, yet they are really infidels in their hearts, and have
nothing like what we can call a belief of the eternal duration of their
souls. For let us consider on the one hand what divines have displayed
with such eloquence concerning the importance of eternity; and at the
same time reflect, that though in matters of rhetoric we ought to lay
our account with some exaggeration, we must in this case allow, that the
strongest figures are infinitely inferior to the subject: And after this
let us view on the other hand, the prodigious security of men in this
particular: I ask, if these people really believe what is inculcated on
them, and what they pretend to affirm; and the answer is obviously in
the negative. As belief is an act of the mind arising from custom, it
is not strange the want of resemblance should overthrow what custom has
established, and diminish the force of the idea, as much as that latter
principle encreases it. A future state is so far removed from our
comprehension, and we have so obscure an idea of the manner, in which we
shall exist after the dissolution of the body, that all the reasons we
can invent, however strong in themselves, and however much assisted
by education, are never able with slow imaginations to surmount this
difficulty, or bestow a sufficient authority and force on the idea. I
rather choose to ascribe this incredulity to the faint idea we form
of our future condition, derived from its want of resemblance to the
present life, than to that derived from its remoteness.
For I observe,
that men are everywhere concerned about what may happen after their
death, provided it regard this world; and that there are few to whom
their name, their family, their friends, and their country are in any
period of time entirely indifferent.
And indeed the want of resemblance in this case so entirely destroys
belief, that except those few, who upon cool reflection on the
importance of the subject, have taken care by repeated meditation to
imprint in their minds the arguments for a future state, there scarce
are any, who believe the immortality of the soul with a true and
established judgment; such as is derived from the testimony of
travellers and historians. This appears very conspicuously wherever
men have occasion to compare the pleasures and pains, the rewards and
punishments of this life with those of a future; even though the case
does not concern themselves, and there is no violent passion to disturb
their judgment. The Roman Clatholicks are certainly the most zealous of
any sect in the Christian world; and yet you'll find few among the
more sensible people of that communion who do not blame the
Gunpowder-treason, and the massacre of St. Bartholomew, as cruel and
barbarous, though projected or executed against those very people, whom
without any scruple they condemn to eternal and infinite punishments.
All we can say in excuse for this inconsistency is, that they really do
not believe what they affirm concerning a future state; nor is there any
better proof of it than the very inconsistency.
We may add to this a remark; that in matters of religion men take a
pleasure in being terrifyed, and that no preachers are so popular, as
those who excite the most dismal and gloomy passions. In the common
affairs of life, where we feel and are penetrated with the solidity of
the subject, nothing can be more disagreeable than fear and terror; and
it is only in dramatic performances and in religious discourses, that
they ever give pleasure. In these latter cases the imagination reposes
itself indolently on the idea; and the passion, being softened by the
want of belief in the subject, has no more than the agreeable effect of
enlivening the mind, and fixing the attention.
The present hypothesis will receive additional confirmation, if we
examine the effects of other kinds of custom, as well as of other
relations. To understand this we must consider, that custom, to which
I attribute all belief and reasoning, may operate upon the mind in
invigorating an idea after two several ways. For supposing that in all
past experience we have found two objects to have been always conjoined
together, it is evident, that upon the appearance of one of these
objects in an impression, we must from custom make an easy transition to
the idea of that object, which usually attends it; and by means of the
present impression and easy transition must conceive that idea in a
stronger and more lively manner, than we do any loose floating image of
the fancy. But let us next suppose, that a mere idea alone, without any
of this curious and almost artificial preparation, should frequently
make its appearance in the mind, this idea must by degrees acquire a
facility and force; and both by its firm hold and easy introduction
distinguish itself from any new and unusual idea. This is the only
particular, in which these two kinds of custom agree; and if it appear,
that their effects on the judgment, are similar and proportionable, we
may certainly conclude, that the foregoing explication of that faculty
is satisfactory. But can we doubt of this agreement in their influence
on the judgment, when we consider the nature and effects Of EDUCATION?
All those opinions and notions of things, to which we have been
accustomed from our infancy, take such deep root, that it is impossible
for us, by all the powers of reason and experience, to eradicate them;
and this habit not only approaches in its influence, but even on
many occasions prevails over that which a-rises from the constant and
inseparable union of causes and effects. Here we most not be contented
with saying, that the vividness of the idea produces the belief: We must
maintain that they are individually the same. The frequent repetition
of any idea infixes it in the imagination; but coued never possibly
of itself produce belief, if that act of the mind was, by the original
constitution of our natures, annexed only to a reasoning and comparison
of ideas. Custom may lead us into some false comparison of ideas. This
is the utmost effect we can conceive of it. But it is certain it coued
never supply the place of that comparison, nor produce any act of the
mind, which naturally belonged to that principle.
A person, that has lost a leg or an arm by amputation, endeavours for a
long time afterwards to serve himself with them. After the death of any
one, it is a common remark of the whole family, but especially of the
servants, that they can scarce believe him to be dead, but still
imagine him to be in his chamber or in any other place, where they
were accustomed to find him. I have often heard in conversation, after
talking of a person, that is any way celebrated, that one, who has
no acquaintance with him, will say, I have never seen such-a-one, but
almost fancy I have; so often have I heard talk of him.
All these are
parallel instances.
If we consider this argument from EDUCATION in a proper light, it will
appear very convincing; and the more so, that it is founded on one
of the most common phaenomena, that is any where to be met with. I am
persuaded, that upon examination we shall find more than one half of
those opinions, that prevail among mankind, to be owing to education,
and that the principles, which are thus implicitely embraced,
overballance those, which are owing either to abstract reasoning or
experience. As liars, by the frequent repetition of their lies, come at
last to remember them; so the judgment, or rather the imagination, by
the like means, may have ideas so strongly imprinted on it, and conceive
them in so full a light, that they may operate upon the mind in the same
manner with those, which the senses, memory or reason present to us. But
as education is an artificial and not a natural cause, and as its maxims
are frequently contrary to reason, and even to themselves in different
times and places, it is never upon that account recognized by
philosophers; though in reality it be built almost on the same
foundation of custom and repetition as our reasonings from causes and
effects.
[Footnote 7. In general we may observe, that as our assent
to all probable reasonings is founded on the vivacity of
ideas, It resembles many of those whimsies and prejudices,
which are rejected under the opprobrious character of being
the offspring of the imagination. By this expression it
appears that the word, imagination, is commonly usd in two
different senses; and tho nothing be more contrary to true
philosophy, than this inaccuracy, yet in the following
reasonings I have often been obligd to fall into it. When I
oppose the Imagination to the memory, I mean the faculty, by
which we form our fainter ideas. When I oppose it to reason,
I mean the same faculty, excluding only our demonstrative
and probable reasonings. When I oppose it to neither, it is
indifferent whether it be taken in the larger or more
limited sense, or at least the context will sufficiently
explain the meaning.]
SECT. X. OF THE INFLUENCE OF BELIEF.
But though education be disclaimed by philosophy, as a fallacious ground
of assent to any opinion, it prevails nevertheless in the world, and
is the cause why all systems are apt to be rejected at first as new
and unusual. This perhaps will be the fate of what I have here advanced
concerning belief, and though the proofs I have produced appear to
me perfectly conclusive, I expect not to make many proselytes to
my opinion. Men will scarce ever be persuaded, that effects of
such consequence can flow from principles, which are seemingly so
inconsiderable, and that the far greatest part of our reasonings with
all our actions and passions, can be derived from nothing but custom and
habit. To obviate this objection, I shall here anticipate a little what
would more properly fall under our consideration afterwards, when we
come to treat of the passions and the sense of beauty.
There is implanted in the human mind a perception of pain and pleasure,
as the chief spring and moving principle of all its actions. But pain
and pleasure have two ways of making their appearance in the mind; of
which the one has effects very different from the other.
They may either
appear in impression to the actual feeling, or only in idea, as at
present when I mention them. It is evident the influence of these upon
our actions is far from being equal. Impressions always actuate the
soul, and that in the highest degree; but it is not every idea which
has the same effect. Nature has proceeded with caution in this came, and
seems to have carefully avoided the inconveniences of two extremes.
Did impressions alone influence the will, we should every moment of our
lives be subject to the greatest calamities; because, though we foresaw
their approach, we should not be provided by nature with any principle
of action, which might impel us to avoid them. On the other hand,
did every idea influence our actions, our condition would not be much
mended. For such is the unsteadiness and activity of thought, that
the images of every thing, especially of goods and evils, are always
wandering in the mind; and were it moved by every idle conception of
this kind, it would never enjoy a moment's peace and tranquillity.
Nature has, therefore, chosen a medium, and has neither bestowed on
every idea of good and evil the power of actuating the will, nor yet has
entirely excluded them from this influence. Though an idle fiction has
no efficacy, yet we find by experience, that the ideas of those objects,
which we believe either are or will be existent, produce in a lesser
degree the same effect with those impressions, which are immediately
present to the senses and perception. The effect, then, of belief is to
raise up a simple idea to an equality with our impressions, and bestow
on it a like influence on the passions. This effect it can only have by
making an idea approach an impression in force and vivacity. For as the
different degrees of force make all the original difference betwixt an
impression and an idea, they must of consequence be the source of all
the differences in the effects of these perceptions, and their removal,
in whole or in part, the cause of every new resemblance they acquire.
Wherever we can make an idea approach the impressions in force and
vivacity, it will likewise imitate them in its influence on the mind;
and vice versa, where it imitates them in that influence, as in the
present case, this must proceed from its approaching them in force and
vivacity. Belief, therefore, since it causes an idea to imitate
the effects of the impressions, must make it resemble them in these
qualities, and is nothing but A MORE VIVID AND INTENSE
CONCEPTION OF
ANY IDEA. This, then, may both serve as an additional argument for
the present system, and may give us a notion after what manner our
reasonings from causation are able to operate on the will and passions.
As belief is almost absolutely requisite to the exciting our passions,
so the passions in their turn are very favourable to belief; and not
only such facts as convey agreeable emotions, but very often such as
give pain, do upon that account become more readily the objects of faith
and opinion. A coward, whose fears are easily awakened, readily assents
to every account of danger he meets with; as a person of a sorrowful and
melancholy disposition is very credulous of every thing, that nourishes
his prevailing passion. When any affecting object is presented, it
gives the alarm, and excites immediately a degree of its proper passion;
especially in persons who are naturally inclined to that passion. This
emotion passes by an easy transition to the imagination; and diffusing
itself over our idea of the affecting object, makes us form that
idea with greater force and vivacity, and consequently assent to it,
according to the precedent system. Admiration and surprize have the same
effect as the other passions; and accordingly we may observe, that
among the vulgar, quacks and projectors meet with a more easy faith upon
account of their magnificent pretensions, than if they kept themselves
within the bounds of moderation. The first astonishment, which naturally
attends their miraculous relations, spreads itself over the whole soul,
and so vivifies and enlivens the idea, that it resembles the inferences
we draw from experience. This is a mystery, with which we may be already
a little acquainted, and which we shall have farther occasion to be let
into in the progress of this treatise.
After this account of the influence of belief on the passions, we shall
find less difficulty in explaining its effects on the imagination,
however extraordinary they may appear. It is certain we cannot take
pleasure in any discourse, where our judgment gives no assent to those
images which are presented to our fancy. The conversation of those who
have acquired a habit of lying, though in affairs of no moment, never
gives any satisfaction; and that because those ideas they present to us,
not being attended with belief, make no impression upon the mind. Poets
themselves, though liars by profession, always endeavour to give an air
of truth to their fictions; and where that is totally neglected, their
performances, however ingenious, will never be able to afford much
pleasure. In short, we may observe, that even when ideas have no manner
of influence on the will and passions, truth and reality are still
requisite, in order to make them entertaining to the imagination.
But if we compare together all the phenomena that occur on this head,
we shall find, that truth, however necessary it may seem in all works
of genius, has no other effect than to procure an easy reception for the
ideas, and to make the mind acquiesce in them with satisfaction, or at
least without reluctance. But as this is an effect, which may easily be
supposed to flow from that solidity and force, which, according to
my system, attend those ideas that are established by reasonings from
causation; it follows, that all the influence of belief upon the fancy
may be explained from that system. Accordingly we may observe, that
wherever that influence arises from any other principles beside truth or
reality, they supply its place, and give an equal entertainment to
the imagination. Poets have formed what they call a poetical system of
things, which though it be believed neither by themselves nor readers,
is commonly esteemed a sufficient foundation for any fiction. We have
been so much accustomed to the names of MARS, JUPITER, VENUS, that
in the same manner as education infixes any opinion, the constant
repetition of these ideas makes them enter into the mind with facility,
and prevail upon the fancy, without influencing the judgment. In like
manner tragedians always borrow their fable, or at least the names of
their principal actors, from some known passage in history; and that not
in order to deceive the spectators; for they will frankly confess, that
truth is not in any circumstance inviolably observed: but in order
to procure a more easy reception into the imagination for those
extraordinary events, which they represent. But this is a precaution,
which is not required of comic poets, whose personages and incidents,
being of a more familiar kind, enter easily into the conception, and are
received without any such formality, even though at first night they be
known to be fictitious, and the pure offspring of the fancy.
This mixture of truth and falshood in the fables of tragic poets not
only serves our present purpose, by shewing, that the imagination can be
satisfyed without any absolute belief or assurance; but may in another
view be regarded as a very strong confirmation of this system. It is
evident, that poets make use of this artifice of borrowing the names
of their persons, and the chief events of their poems, from history, in
order to procure a more easy reception for the whole, and cause it
to make a deeper impression on the fancy and affections.
The several
incidents of the piece acquire a kind of relation by being united into
one poem or representation; and if any of these incidents be an object
of belief, it bestows a force and vivacity on the others, which are
related to it. The vividness of the first conception diffuses itself
along the relations, and is conveyed, as by so many pipes or canals,
to every idea that has any communication with the primary one. This,
indeed, can never amount to a perfect assurance; and that because
the union among the ideas is, in a manner, accidental: But still it
approaches so near, in its influence, as may convince us, that they
are derived from the same origin. Belief must please the imagination
by means of the force and vivacity which attends it; since every idea,
which has force and vivacity, is found to be agreeable to that faculty.
To confirm this we may observe, that the assistance is mutual betwixt
the judgment and fancy, as well as betwixt the judgment and passion;
and that belief not only gives vigour to the imagination, but that a
vigorous and strong imagination is of all talents the most proper to
procure belief and authority. It is difficult for us to withhold our
assent from what is painted out to us in all the colours of eloquence;
and the vivacity produced by the fancy is in many cases greater than
that which arises from custom and experience. We are hurried away by the
lively imagination of our author or companion; and even he himself is
often a victim to his own fire and genius.
Nor will it be amiss to remark, that as a lively imagination very often
degenerates into madness or folly, and bears it a great resemblance in
its operations; so they influence the judgment after the same manner,
and produce belief from the very same principles. When the imagination,
from any extraordinary ferment of the blood and spirits, acquires such a
vivacity as disorders