is there one of ten thousand, who is stiff and insensible enough, to
bear up under the constant dislike and condemnation of his own club. He
must be of a strange and unusual constitution, who can content himself
to live in constant disgrace and disrepute with his own particular
society. Solitude many men have sought, and been reconciled to: but
nobody that has the least thought or sense of a man about him, can live
in society under the constant dislike and il opinion of his familiars,
and those he converses with. This is a burden too heavy for human
sufferance: and he must be made up of irreconcileable contradictions,
who can take pleasure in company, and yet be insensible of contempt and
disgrace from his companions.
13. These three Laws the Rules of moral Good and Evil.
These three then, first, the law of God; secondly, the law of politic
societies; thirdly, the law of fashion, or private censure, are those to
which men variously compare their actions: and it is by their conformity
to one of these laws that they take their measures, when they would
judge of their moral rectitude, and denominate their actions good or
bad.
14. Morality is the Relation of Voluntary Actions to these Rules.
Whether the rule to which, as to a touchstone, we bring our voluntary
actions, to examine them by, and try their goodness, and accordingly to
name them, which is, as it were, the mark of the value we set upon them:
whether, I say, we take that rule from the fashion of the country, or
the wil of a law-maker, the mind is easily able to observe the relation
any action hath to it, and to judge whether the action agrees or
disagrees with the rule; and so hath a notion of moral goodness or evil,
which is either conformity or not conformity of any action to that rule:
and therefore is often called moral rectitude. This rule being nothing
but a collection of several simple ideas, the conformity thereto is
but so ordering the action, that the simple ideas belonging to it may
correspond to those which the law requires. And thus we see how moral
beings and notions are founded on, and terminated in, these simple ideas
we have received from sensation or reflection. For example: let us
consider the complex idea we signify by the word murder: and when we
have taken it asunder, and examined all the particulars, we shall find
them to amount to a collection of simple ideas derived from reflection
or sensation, viz. First, from REFLECTION on the operations of our own
minds, we have the ideas of willing, considering, purposing beforehand,
malice, or wishing il to another; and also of life, or perception, and
self-motion. Secondly, from SENSATION we have the collection of those
simple sensible ideas which are to be found in a man, and of some
action, whereby we put an end to perception and motion in the man; al
which simple ideas are comprehended in the word murder. This col ection
of simple ideas, being found by me to agree or disagree with the esteem
of the country I have been bred in, and to be held by most men there
worthy praise or blame, I call the action virtuous or vicious: if I
have the will of a supreme invisible Lawgiver for my rule, then, as I
supposed the action commanded or forbidden by God, I call it good or
evil, sin or duty: and if I compare it to the civil law, the rule made
by the legislative power of the country, I call it lawful or unlawful,
a crime or no crime. So that whencesoever we take the rule of moral
actions; or by what standard soever we frame in our minds the ideas of
virtues or vices, they consist only, and are made up of collections of
simple ideas, which we original y received from sense or reflection: and
their rectitude or obliquity consists in the agreement or disagreement
with those patterns prescribed by some law.
15. Moral actions may be regarded wither absolutely, or as ideas of
relation.
To conceive rightly of moral actions, we must take notice of them under
this two-fold consideration. First, as they are in themselves, each made
up of such a collection of simple ideas. Thus drunkenness, or lying,
signify such or such a collection of simple ideas, which I call mixed
modes: and in this sense they are as much POSITIVE ABSOLUTE ideas, as
the drinking of a horse, or speaking of a parrot. Secondly, our actions
are considered as good, bad, or indifferent; and in this respect they
are RELATIVE, it being their conformity to, or disagreement with some
rule that makes them to be regular or irregular, good or bad; and so, as
far as they are compared with a rule, and thereupon denominated, they
come under relation. Thus the challenging and fighting with a man, as it
is a certain positive mode, or particular sort of action, by particular
ideas, distinguished from al others, is cal ed DUELLING: which, when
considered in relation to the law of God, wil deserve the name of sin;
to the law of fashion, in some countries, valour and virtue; and to the
municipal laws of some governments, a capital crime. In this case,
when the positive mode has one name, and another name as it stands in
relation to the law, the distinction may as easily be observed as it is
in substances, where one name, v.g. MAN, is used to signify the thing;
another, v.g. FATHER, to signify the relation.
16. The Denominations of Actions often mislead us.
But because very frequently the positive idea of the action, and its
moral relation, are comprehended together under one name, and the same
word made use of to express both the mode or action, and its moral
rectitude or obliquity: therefore the relation itself is less taken
notice of; and there is often no distinction made between the positive
idea of the action, and the reference it has to a rule. By which
confusion of these two distinct considerations under one term, those who
yield too easily to the impressions of sounds, and are forward to take
names for things, are often misled in their judgment of actions. Thus,
the taking from another what is his, without his knowledge or allowance,
is properly called STEALING: but that name, being commonly understood
to signify also the moral gravity of the action, and to denote its
contrariety to the law, men are apt to condemn whatever they hear called
stealing, as an il action, disagreeing with the rule of right. And yet
the private taking away his sword from a madman, to prevent his doing
mischief, though it be properly denominated stealing, as the name of
such a mixed mode; yet when compared to the law of God, and considered
in its relation to that supreme rule, it is no sin or transgression,
though the name stealing ordinarily carries such an intimation with it.
17. Relations innumerable, and only the most considerable here
mentioned.
And thus much for the relation of human actions to a law, which,
therefore, I call MORAL RELATIONS.
It would make a volume to go over all sorts of RELATIONS: it is not,
therefore, to be expected that I should here mention them al . It
suffices to our present purpose to show by these, what the ideas are we
have of this comprehensive consideration called RELATION. Which is so
various, and the occasions of it so many, (as many as there can be of
comparing things one to another,) that it is not very easy to reduce it
to rules, or under just heads. Those I have mentioned, I think, are
some of the most considerable; and such as may serve to let us see from
whence we get our ideas of relations, and wherein they are founded. But
before I quit this argument, from what has been said give me leave to
observe:
18. Al Relations terminate in simple Ideas.
First, That it is evident, that all relation terminates in, and is
ultimately founded on, those simple ideas we have got from sensation or
reflection: so that all we have in our thoughts ourselves, (if we think
of anything, or have any meaning,) or would signify to others, when we
use words standing for relations, is nothing but some simple ideas,
or collections of simple ideas, compared one with another. This is so
manifest in that sort called proportional, that nothing can be more.
For when a man says 'honey is sweeter than wax,' it is plain that his
thoughts in this relation terminate in this simple idea, sweetness;
which is equally true of al the rest: though, where they are
compounded, or decompounded, the simple ideas they are made up of, are,
perhaps, seldom taken notice of: v.g. when the word father is mentioned:
first, there is meant that particular species, or collective idea,
signified by the word man; secondly, those sensible simple ideas,
signified by the word generation; and, thirdly, the effects of it, and
al the simple ideas signified by the word child. So the word friend,
being taken for a man who loves and is ready to do good to another, has
al these following ideas to the making of it up: first, all the simple
ideas, comprehended in the word man, or intelligent being; secondly, the
idea of love; thirdly, the idea of readiness or disposition; fourthly,
the idea of action, which is any kind of thought or motion; fifthly, the
idea of good, which signifies anything that may advance his happiness,
and terminates at last, if examined, in particular simple ideas, of
which the word good in general signifies any one; but, if removed from
al simple ideas quite, it signifies nothing at al . And thus also
al moral words terminate at last, though perhaps more remotely, in a
collection of simple ideas: the immediate signification of relative
words, being very often other supposed known relations; which, if traced
one to another, still end in simple ideas.
19. We have ordinarily as clear a Notion of the Relation, as of the
simple ideas in things on which it is founded.
Secondly, That in relations, we have for the most part, if not always,
as clear a notion of THE RELATION as we have of THOSE SIMPLE IDEAS
WHEREIN IT IS FOUNDED: agreement or disagreement, whereon relation
depends, being things whereof we have commonly as clear ideas as of any
other whatsoever; it being but the distinguishing simple ideas, or
their degrees one from another, without which we could have no distinct
knowledge at all. For, if I have a clear idea of sweetness, light, or
extension, I have, too, of equal, or more, or less, of each of these: if
I know what it is for one man to be born of a woman, viz. Sempronia, I
know what it is for another man to be born of the same woman Sempronia;
and so have as clear a notion of brothers as of births, and perhaps
clearer. For it I believed that Sempronia digged Titus out of the
parsley-bed, (as they used to tell children,) and thereby became his
mother; and that afterwards, in the same manner, she digged Caius out
of the parsley-bed, I has as clear a notion of the relation of brothers
between them, as it I had all the skil of a midwife: the notion that
the same woman contributed, as mother, equally to their births, (though
I were ignorant or mistaken in the manner of it,) being that on which
I grounded the relation; and that they agreed in the circumstance of
birth, let it be what it wil . The comparing them then in their descent
from the same person, without knowing the particular circumstances of
that descent, is enough to found my notion of their having, or not
having, the relation of brothers. But though the ideas of PARTICULAR
RELATIONS are capable of being as clear and distinct in the minds of
those who wil duly consider them as those of mixed modes, and more
determinate than those of substances: yet the names belonging to
relation are often of as doubtful and uncertain signification as those
of substances or mixed modes; and much more than those of simple ideas.
Because relative words, being the marks of this comparison, which is
made only by men's thoughts, and is an idea only in men's minds, men
frequently apply them to different comparisons of things, according to
their own imaginations; which do not always correspond with those of
others using the same name.
20. The Notion of Relation is the same, whether the Rule any Action is
compared to be true or false.
Thirdly, That in these I call MORAL RELATIONS, I have a true notion of
relation, by comparing the action with the rule, whether the rule be
true or false. For if I measure anything by a yard, I know whether the
thing I measure be longer or shorter than that supposed yard, though
perhaps the yard I measure by be not exactly the standard: which indeed
is another inquiry. For though the rule be erroneous, and I mistaken in
it; yet the agreement or disagreement observable in that which I compare
with, makes me perceive the relation. Though, measuring by a wrong
rule, I shall thereby be brought to judge amiss of its moral rectitude;
because I have tried it by that which is not the true rule: yet I am not
mistaken in the relation which that action bears to that rule I compare
it to, which is agreement or disagreement.
CHAPTER XXIX.
OF CLEAR AND OBSCURE, DISTINCT AND CONFUSED IDEAS.
1. Ideas, come clear and distinct, others obscure and confused.
Having shown the original of our ideas, and taken a view of their
several sorts; considered the difference between the simple and the
complex; and observed how the complex ones are divided into those of
modes, substances, and relations--all which, I think, is necessary
to be done by any one who would acquaint himself thoroughly with the
progress of the mind, in its apprehension and knowledge of things--it
will, perhaps, be thought I have dwelt long enough upon the examination
of IDEAS. I must, nevertheless, crave leave to offer some few other
considerations concerning them.
The first is, that some are CLEAR and others OBSCURE; some DISTINCT and
others CONFUSED.
2. Clear and obscure explained by Sight.
The perception of the mind being most aptly explained by words relating
to the sight, we shall best understand what is meant by CLEAR and
OBSCURE in our ideas, by reflecting on what we call clear and obscure
in the objects of sight. Light being that which discovers to us visible
objects, we give the name of OBSCURE to that which is not placed in a
light sufficient to discover minutely to us the figure and colours
which are observable in it, and which, in a better light, would be
discernible. In like manner, our simple ideas are CLEAR, when they are
such as the objects themselves from whence they were taken did or might,
in a wel -ordered sensation or perception, present them. Whilst the
memory retains them thus, and can produce them to the mind whenever it
has occasion to consider them, they are clear ideas. So far as they
either want anything of the original exactness, or have lost any of
their first freshness, and are, as it were, faded or tarnished by time,
so far are they obscure. Complex ideas, as they are made up of simple
ones, so they are clear, when the ideas that go to their composition
are clear, and the number and order of those simple ideas that are the
ingredients of any complex one is determinate and certain.
3. Causes of Obscurity.
The causes of obscurity, in simple ideas, seem to be either dull organs;
or very slight and transient impressions made by the objects; or else
a weakness in the memory, not able to retain them as received. For to
return again to visible objects, to help us to apprehend this matter.
If the organs, or faculties of perception, like wax over-hardened with
cold, will not receive the impression of the seal, from the usual
impulse wont to imprint it; or, like wax of a temper too soft, will not
hold it wel , when wel imprinted; or else supposing the wax of a temper
fit, but the seal not applied with a sufficient force to make a clear
impression: in any of these cases, the print left by the seal wil be
obscure. This, I suppose, needs no application to make it plainer.
4. Distinct and confused, what.
As a clear idea is that whereof the mind has such a full and evident
perception, as it does receive from an outward object operating duly
on a well-disposed organ, so a DISTINCT idea is that wherein the mind
perceives a difference from al other; and a CONFUSED idea is such an
one as is not sufficiently distinguishable from another, from which it
ought to be different.
5. Objection.
If no idea be confused, but such as is not sufficiently distinguishable
from another from which it should be different, it will be hard, may any
one say, to find anywhere a CONFUSED idea. For, let any idea be as it
will, it can be no other but such as the mind perceives it to be; and
that very perception sufficiently distinguishes it from all other ideas,
which cannot be other, i.e. different, without being perceived to be so.
No idea, therefore, can be undistinguishable from another from which it
ought to be different, unless you would have it different from itself:
for from all other it is evidently different.
6. Confusion of Ideas is in Reference to their Names.
To remove this difficulty, and to help us to conceive aright what it is
that makes the confusion ideas are at any time chargeable with, we must
consider, that things ranked under distinct names are supposed different
enough to be distinguished, that so each sort by its peculiar name may
be marked, and discoursed of apart upon any occasion: and there is
nothing more evident, than that the greatest part of different names are
supposed to stand for different things. Now every idea a man has, being
visibly what it is, and distinct from all other ideas but itself; that
which makes it confused, is, when it is such that it may as wel be
called by another name as that which it is expressed by; the difference
which keeps the things (to be ranked under those two different names)
distinct, and makes some of them belong rather to the one and some
of them to the other of those names, being left out; and so the
distinction, which was intended to be kept up by those different names,
is quite lost.
7. Defaults which make this Confusion.
The defaults which usually occasion this confusion, I think, are chiefly
these following:
First, complex ideas made up of too few simple ones.
First, when any complex idea (for it is complex ideas that are most
liable to confusion) is made up of too small a number of simple ideas,
and such only as are common to other things, whereby the differences
that make it deserve a different name, are left out. Thus, he that has
an idea made up of barely the simple ones of a beast with spots, has
but a confused idea of a leopard; it not being thereby sufficiently
distinguished from a lynx, and several other sorts of beasts that are
spotted. So that such an idea, though it hath the peculiar name leopard,
is not distinguishable from those designed by the names lynx or panther,
and may as wel come under the name lynx as leopard. How much the custom
of defining of words by general terms contributes to make the ideas
we would express by them confused and undetermined, I leave others to
consider. This is evident, that confused ideas are such as render the
use of words uncertain, and take away the benefit of distinct names.
When the ideas, for which we use different terms, have not a difference
answerable to their distinct names, and so cannot be distinguished by
them, there it is that they are truly confused.
8. Secondly, or their simple ones jumbled disorderly together.
Secondly, Another fault which makes our ideas confused is, when, though
the particulars that make up any idea are in number enough, yet they are
so jumbled together, that it is not easily discernible whether it more
belongs to the name that is given it than to any other. There is nothing
properer to make us conceive this confusion than a sort of pictures,
usually shown as surprising pieces of art, wherein the colours, as
they are laid by the pencil on the table itself, mark out very odd and
unusual figures, and have no discernible order in their position. This
draught, thus made up of parts wherein no symmetry nor order appears, is
in itself no more a confused thing, than the picture of a cloudy sky;
wherein, though there be as little order of colours or figures to be
found, yet nobody thinks it a confused picture. What is it, then, that
makes it be thought confused, since the want of symmetry does not? As it
is plain it does not: for another draught made barely in imitation of
this could not be called confused. I answer, That which makes it be
thought confused is, the applying it to some name to which it does no
more discernibly belong than to some other: v.g. when it is said to be
the picture of a man, or Caesar, then any one with reason counts it
confused; because it is not discernible in that state to belong more to
the name man, or Caesar, than to the name baboon, or Pompey: which are
supposed to stand for different ideas from those signified by man, or
Caesar. But when a cylindrical mirror, placed right, had reduced those
irregular lines on the table into their due order and proportion, then
the confusion ceases, and the eye presently sees that it is a man, or
Caesar; i.e. that it belongs to those names; and that it is sufficiently
distinguishable from a baboon, or Pompey; i.e. from the ideas signified
by those names. Just thus it is with our ideas, which are as it were the
pictures of things. No one of these mental draughts, however the
parts are put together, can be cal ed confused (for they are plainly
discernible as they are) till it be ranked under some ordinary name to
which it cannot be discerned to belong, any more than it does to some
other name of an allowed different signification.
9. Thirdly, or their simple ones mutable and undetermined.
Thirdly, A third defect that frequently gives the name of confused to
our ideas, is, when any one of them is uncertain and undetermined. Thus
we may observe men who, not forbearing to use the ordinary words of
their language til they have learned their precise signification,
change the idea they make this or that term stand for, almost as often
as they use it. He that does this out of uncertainty of what he should
leave out, or put into his idea of CHURCH, or IDOLATRY, every time he
thinks of either, and holds not steady to any one precise combination of
ideas that makes it up, is said to have a confused idea of idolatry or
the church: though this be still for the same reason as the former,
viz. because a mutable idea (if we wil allow it to be one idea) cannot
belong to one name rather than another, and so loses the distinction
that distinct names are designed for.
10. Confusion without Reference to Names, hardly conceivable.
By what has been said, we may observe how much NAMES, as supposed steady
signs of things, and by their difference to stand for, and keep
things distinct that in themselves are different, are the occasion of
denominating ideas distinct or confused, by a secret and unobserved
reference the mind makes of its ideas to such names. This perhaps wil
be fuller understood, after what I say of Words in the third Book has
been read and considered. But without taking notice of such a reference
of ideas to distinct names, as the signs of distinct things, it wil be
hard to say what a confused idea is. And therefore when a man designs,
by any name, a sort of things, or any one particular thing, distinct
from all others, the complex idea he annexes to that name is the more
distinct, the more particular the ideas are, and the greater and more
determinate the number and order of them is, whereof it is made up.
For, the more it has of these, the more it has still of the perceivable
differences, whereby it is kept separate and distinct from al ideas
belonging to other names, even those that approach nearest to it, and
thereby all confusion with them is avoided.
11. Confusion concerns always two Ideas.
Confusion making it a difficulty to separate two things that should be
separated, concerns alway