But if to any one the idea of a
man be but the vital union of parts in a certain shape; as long as
that vital union and shape remain in a concrete, no otherwise the same
but by a continued succession of fleeting particles, it will be the
same man. For, whatever be the composition whereof the complex idea is
made, whenever existence makes it one particular thing under any
denomination the same existence continued preserves it the same
individual under the same denomination.
Chapter XXVIII
Of Other Relations
1. Ideas of proportional relations. Besides the before-mentioned
occasions of time, place, and causality of comparing or referring
things one to another, there are, as I have said, infinite others,
some whereof I shall mention.
First, The first I shall name is some one simple idea, which,
being capable of parts or degrees, affords an occasion of comparing
the subjects wherein it is to one another, in respect of that simple
idea, v.g. whiter, sweeter, equal, more, &c. These relations depending
on the equality and excess of the same simple idea, in several
subjects, may be called, if one will, proportional; and that these are
only conversant about those simple ideas received from sensation or
reflection is so evident that nothing need be said to evince it.
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