Chapter XX
Of Wrong Assent, or Error
1. Causes of error, or how men come to give assent contrary to
probability. Knowledge being to be had only of visible and certain
truth, error is not a fault of our knowledge, but a mistake of our
judgment giving assent to that which is not true.
But if assent be grounded on likelihood, if the proper object and
motive of our assent be probability, and that probability consists
in what is laid down in the foregoing chapters, it will be demanded
how men come to give their assents contrary to probability. For
there is nothing more common than contrariety of opinions; nothing
more obvious than that one man wholly disbelieves what another only
doubts of, and a third stedfastly believes and firmly adheres to.
The reasons whereof, though they may be very various, yet, I suppose
may all be reduced to these four:
I. Want of proofs.
II. Want of ability to use them.
III. Want of will to see them.
IV. Wrong measures of probability.
2. First cause of error, want of proofs. First, By want of proofs, I
do not mean only the want of those proofs which are nowhere extant,
and so are nowhere to be had; but the want even of those proofs
which are in being, or might be procured.
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