Truth Tried, Treatise 1 · Chapter 14 – Chapter 15
CHAP. XIV. Whether Knowledge and Sciences receive benefit from this Aſſertion.
HE proceeds to ſhew the Uſefulneſſe of Unity in Theory; and complains, that Learning is broken into ſo many Sciences: wiſhing that it were all like the Chain faſtened to Jupiters Throne, All of a piece. And indeed I wiſh as heartily as his Lordſhip, (whether All things be One Emanation, or Many) that Comenius his deſigne, (of which his Lordſhip ſpeaks) of reducing all into one, might proceed: Of reducing, I ſay, all Knowledge into a Body, all Sciences into one Syſtem; (for This is it Comenius deſignes; he never fancied his Lordſhips Unity.) And great pity it is, that ſo worthy a deſign is not proſecuted at a publike charge, that ſuch a ſhining Light ſhould be extinct for want of Oyl; if there may be hopes of effecting it.
He ſhews what a Multitude of Inquiries we muſt needs make for the perfecting of Knowledge, whilſt we acknowledge a diſtinction in Things; which labour might be much contracted, If we could be content to ſee all things to be but One, bearing onelyonly different Shapes. But though this were allowed; Yet muſt we then, either look at all things with a Confuſed Eye; or elſe ſhall be as much troubled in taking notice of Different Shapes, as we are now in obſerving Different Things.
He reckons up many doubts, as not yet determined, concerning the Exiſtence of Beings; What things there are, and What they are; Qu… nam ſunt, & Qualia (vel Quid) ſunt. But I ſee not how his doctrine, of Ʋnity in all things, will reſolve any of theſe. For granting all things to be One, Yet how ſhall I know, whether there be an Ʋnicorn…, a Phoenix a Mermaid, or Ebur F…il…? Whether the Philoſophers Stone, or a Perpetuall Motion, be poſſibile? Whether Dictamnum be a Soveraign Balm? Whether Tobacco be hot or cold? What are the degrees of Heat or Cold in this or that Simple? If then this Opinion ſerve no way to inform us concerning theſe Queſtions wherein we doubt; How can he commend this opinion, as Uſefull, from the manifeſtion of our Ignorance in theſe particulars? If he would exhort us, not to enquire; this he may doe though they may be Many; If he would have us ſearch, whether or no there be theſe ſeverall Shapes, How doth their common Ʋnity help forward the Enquiry? You ſee (ſaith he) in what a Maz… you are Meandred, if you admit of any Diviſion. I wiſh we could ſee how to help it, by allowing his Ʋnity.
Yet notwithſtanding their multitude) he accounts the knowledge of Exiſtences, and the Being of things, to be Neceſſary; although thoſe things are all of one Nature, variegated only in our apprehenſion. (But for ought I ſee, it is as little labour for us to find, that there are ſo many Things, as for his Lordſhip to find out ſo many Shapes.) But to enquire the Cauſes of theſe Beings, is (in his Lordſhips opinion) to become Majestatis rei▪ for prying into th…ſe Arcana Imperii.
In my judgement, there may be as great a Vanity and Emptineſſe in the curious enquiry after the Being of Things, as in the too nice ſearch of their Cauſes. Vain Philoſophy may be as well in the Hiſtoricall as in the Diſcurſive part. A modeſt inquiry both into the Beings, and into the Cauſes of Things, is both Lawfull and Commendable; a nice Curioſity is blamable in Either: It will prove but Vanity, if not Vexation; Weaving a Spiders Web, if not Hatching a Cockatrices Egge. T…las quaſdam doctrinae pariunt, t…nuitate fili operiſque Admirabiles, ſed quoad uſum Frivolas & Inanes. Bacon. L…ke a Razor of too keen an edge; As Seneca ſpeaks of Chryſippus, Magnum …hercle virum, ſed cujus acumen nimis Tenue retunditur, & in ſe ſaepe replicatur▪ etiam cùm agere aliquid videtur, Pungit, non Perforat.
CHAP. XV. Whether confuſion in the knowledge of Cauſes be redreſſed by this Ʋnity.
OF Cauſes▪ he tells us) there are Two lye open to our view, The Ʋniverſall Efficient of all things, God; and the Materia prima, … common Eſſence; Other Cauſes (ſaith he) are better known by Name then in the Natures of them; (as Efficient, Finall, Materiall, Formall, &c.)
We are ignorant, I grant, in the particular cauſes of divers things; and therefore when we have no other but thoſe two Generals, we muſt reſt there. But if the other appear and Shew themſelves; we need not ſhut our Eyes for fear of Seeing them. It is not like to coſt us ſo dear as Ovid's, or Act…on's ſight, or as thoſe that ſaw Meduſa's Head.
Till Numeri Platonici (ſaith he) ceaſe to be a Proverb, in vain ſhall any undertake to teach him How and Whence it is, that the various Rowlings of the Tongue ſhould ſend forth ſo many articulate Voices, and ſo many ſeverall Languages.
We ſay already, That the different Articulation of Sounds, ariſeth from the diverſe Figuration of the Organs. If his Numeri Platonici can give us a better account, I would be glad to heare it.
Till then, he will give no credence to any who promiſeth an account of the Eſtuation of the Sea; Whether from the Moon, &c.
That Numeri Platonici will furniſh us with a better reaſon; I will then beleeve, when I ſee it. In the mean time I ſee nothing to hinder us from an Enquiry after a Phyſicall cauſe. And I doubt his Lordſhip will have a hard task to give a reaſon in Numbers, why the Sea ebbes and …lows.