We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,574,164.82 | Books Available: 794,832 | Members Online: 254

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Vol. 2 of 2: Collated and Annotated, With Prolegomena, Biographical, Critical, and Historical (Classic Reprint)

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Vol 2 of 2 Collated and Annotated With Prolegomena Biographical Critical and Historical - Classic Reprint
Author: John Locke

Excerpt from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Vol. 2 of 2: Collated and Annotated, With Prolegomena, Biographical, Critical, and Historical — After teaching in the Second Book that the only ideas to which a human mind can attain are composed of simple ideas or phenomena, presented in 'sensation' and 'reflection,' as attributes of substanc... more »es; and that even our loftiest thoughts are concerned only with the modes of those phenomena, the substances in which they appear, and their relations-Locke, in the Third Book, supplements this teaching, by unfolding the connexion between ideas of each sort and verbal signs, on which ideas depend, words being means for enabling men to regard ideas, in themselves particular, as general or universal (ch. in). The names of simple ideas and of their simple modes; the names of mixed modes and of relations; and the names of the different sorts of substances, have each something peculiar, regarded as signs of ideas (chh. iv, v, vi). All names of simple ideas and of ideas of substances 'intimate real existence'; but the common names of simple ideas signify the real essence, as well as the nominal, of the qualities that the names stand for, while the common names of substances can express only the nominal essence of the species within which men place the substance. Names of mixed modes, again, and of all ideas of relation, signify only the essences that men have annexed to the names. Simple ideas, moreover, are undefinable, and their names are of all others the least liable to ambiguity. Mixed modes, on the other hand, being formed arbitrarily by men, and sometimes very complex, their names are apt to be used ambiguously, on account of this complexity, and also because they have no absolute standard. The common names of substances, the most important of all, are determined by our limited experience of qualities, and can signify therefore only the connotation we have annexed to the names, not the real essence of the particular substances denoted. On the whole, words are naturally imperfect signs of ideas (ch. ix), especially of mixed modes, and above all of substances; and this natural imperfection of words is aggravated by 'wilful faults and neglects' of which men are guilty when they employ them, some of which are illustrated in detail (ch. x). The Book closes (ch. xi) with an account of five 'remedies' for the 'inconveniences' caused by the natural and acquired imperfection of language.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

ISBN-13: 9781331001072
ISBN-10: 1331001072
Publication Date: 9/27/2015
Pages: 510
Edition: annotated edition
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Forgotten Books
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

Nonfiction >> Philosophy >> Logic & Language

Back to the Top ↑

Search - An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Vol. 2 of 2: Collated and Annotated, With Prolegomena, Biographical, Critical, and Historical (Classic Reprint)

Loading...