BOOK IV.  OF KNOWLEDGE AND PROBABILITY.

Chap.

I. Of knowledge in general
ii.  Of the degrees of our knowledge
iii.  Of the extent of human knowledge
iv.  Of the reality of our knowledge
V. Of truth in general
vi.  Of universal propositions:  Their truth and certainty
VII.  Of maxims
viii.  Of trifling propositions
ix.  Of our threefold knowledge of existence
X. Of our knowledge of the existence of A god
xi.  Of our knowledge of the existence of other things
XII.  Of the improvement of our knowledge
XIII.  Some other considerations concerning our knowledge
xiv.  Of judgment
XV.  Of probability
xvi.  Of the degrees of assent
xvii.  Of reason [and syllogism]
XVIII.  Of faith and reason, and their distinct provinces
xix. [Of enthusiasm]
xx.  Of wrong assent, or error
xxi.  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 with an inclination, and under a necessity to have fellowship with those of his own kind, but furnished him also with language, which was to be the great instrument and common tie of society.  Man, therefore, had by nature his organs so fashioned, as to be fit to frame articulate sounds, which we call words.  But this was not enough to produce language; for parrots, and several other birds, will be taught to make articulate sounds 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 he should be able to use these sounds as signs of internal conceptions; and to make them stand as marks for the ideas within his own mind, whereby they might be made known to others, and the thoughts of men’s minds be conveyed from one to another.