It would be a hard matter to persuade any one that the words
which his father, or schoolmaster, the parson of the parish, or such a
reverend doctor used, signified nothing that really existed in nature:
which perhaps is none of the least causes that men are so hardly drawn
to quit their mistakes, even in opinions purely philosophical, and
where they have no other interest but truth. For the words they have a
long time been used to, remaining firm in their minds, it is no wonder
that the wrong notions annexed to them should not be removed.
17. V. By setting them in the place of what they cannot signify.
Fifthly Another abuse of words is the setting them in the place of
things which they do or can by no means signify. We may observe that
in the general names of substances whereof the nominal essences are
only known to us when we put them into propositions, and affirm or
deny anything about them, we do most commonly tacitly suppose or
intend, they should stand for the real essence of a certain sort of
substances. For, when a man says gold is malleable, he means and would
insinuate something more than this. That what I call gold is
malleable, (though truly it amounts to no more,) but would have this
understood, viz. That gold, i.e. what has the real essence of gold, is
malleable; which amounts to thus much, that malleableness depends
on, and is inseparable from the real essence of gold.
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