Produced by Steve Harris and David Widger
AN ESSAY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING
BY
JOHN LOCKE
[Based on the 2d Edition] CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME
BOOK III. OF WORDS.
CHAP.
I. OF WORDS OR LANGUAGE IN GENERALII. OF THE SIGNIFICATION OF WORDSIII. OF GENERAL TERMSIV. OF THE NAMES OF SIMPLE IDEASV. OF THE NAMES OF MIXED MODES AND RELATIONSVI. OF THE NAMES OF SUBSTANCESVII. OF PARTICLESVIII. OF ABSTRACT AND CONCRETE TERMSIX. OF THE IMPERFECTION OF WORDSX. OF THE ABUSE OF WORDSXI. OF THE REMEDIES OF THE FOREGOING IMPERFECTION AND ABUSES
BOOK IV. OF KNOWLEDGE AND PROBABILITY.
CHAP.
I. OF KNOWLEDGE IN GENERALII. OF THE DEGREES OF OUR KNOWLEDGEIII. OF THE EXTENT OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGEIV. OF THE REALITY OF OUR KNOWLEDGEV. OF TRUTH IN GENERALVI. OF UNIVERSAL PROPOSITIONS: THEIR TRUTH AND CERTAINTYVII. OF MAXIMSVIII. OF TRIFLING PROPOSITIONSIX. OF OUR THREEFOLD KNOWLEDGE OF EXISTENCEX. OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCE OF A GODXI. OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCE OF OTHER THINGSXII. OF THE IMPROVEMENT OF OUR KNOWLEDGEXIII. SOME OTHER CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING OUR KNOWLEDGEXIV. OF JUDGMENTXV. OF PROBABILITYXVI. OF THE DEGREES OF ASSENTXVII. OF REASON [AND SYLLOGISM]XVIII. OF FAITH AND REASON, AND THEIR DISTINCT PROVINCESXIX. [OF ENTHUSIASM]XX. OF WRONG ASSENT, OR ERRORXXI. OF THE DIVISION OF THE SCIENCES
BOOK III
OF WORDS
CHAPTER I.
OF WORDS OR LANGUAGE IN GENERAL.
1. Man fitted to form articulated Sounds.
God, having designed man for a sociable creature, made him not only withan inclination, and under a necessity to have fellowship with those ofhis own kind, but furnished him also with language, which was to bethe great instrument and common tie of society. Man, therefore, had bynature his organs so fashioned, as to be fit to frame articulate sounds,which we call words. But this was not enough to produce language; forparrots, and several other birds, will be taught to make articulatesounds distinct enough, which yet by no means are capable of language.
2. To use these sounds as Signs of Ideas.
Besides articulate sounds, therefore, it was further necessary that heshould be able to use these sounds as signs of internal conceptions; andto make them stand as marks for the ideas within his own mind, wherebythey might be made known to others, and the thoughts of men's minds beconveyed from one to another.
3. To make them general Signs.
But neither was this sufficient to make words so useful as they ought tobe. It is not enough for the perfection of language, that sounds canbe made signs of ideas, unless those signs can be so made use of as tocomprehend several particular things: for the multiplication of wordswould have perplexed their use, had every particular thing need ofa distinct name to be signified by. [To remedy this inconvenience,language had yet a further improvement in the use of GENERAL TERMS,whereby one word was made to mark a multitude of particular existences:which advantageous use of sounds was obtained only by the difference ofthe ideas they were made signs of: those names becoming general, whichare made to stand for GENERAL IDEAS, and those remaining particular,where the IDEAS