And here I desire it may be considered, and carefully examined,
whether the greatest part of the disputes in the world are not
merely verbal, and about the signification of words; and whether, if
the terms they are made in were defined, and reduced in their
signification (as they must be where they signify anything) to
determined collections of the simple ideas they do or should stand
for, those disputes would not end of themselves, and immediately
vanish. I leave it then to be considered, what the learning of
disputation is, and how well they are employed for the advantage of
themselves or others, whose business is only the vain ostentation of
sounds; i.e. those who spend their lives in disputes and
controversies. When I shall see any of those combatants strip all
his terms of ambiguity and obscurity, (which every one may do in the
words he uses himself), I shall think him a champion for knowledge,
truth, and peace, and not the slave of vain-glory, ambition, or a
party.
8. Remedies. To remedy the defects of speech before mentioned to
some degree, and to prevent the inconveniences that follow from
them, I imagine the observation of these following rules may be of
use, till somebody better able shall judge it worth his while to think
more maturely on this matter, and oblige the world with his thoughts
on it.
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