作者：（英）洛克（Locke,J.）
出版社：中国人民大学出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
人类理解论（中文导读插图版）英文试读：
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对于古今学问、中西思想的会通之难，王国维先生的感悟最为深切：“如执近世之哲学，以述古人之说，谓之弥缝古人之说则可，谓之忠于古人则恐未也……欲求其贯串统一，势不能不用语意更广之语；然语意愈广者，其语愈虚，于是古人之说之特质渐不可见，所存者其肤廓耳。译古书之难，全在于是。”今人之于古人的“以意逆志”尚且如此，又遑论国人之于西人？于是王国维先生认为“外国语中之无我国‘天’字之相当字，与我国语中之无God之相当字无以异”；经(1)典之妙，“无论何人，不能精密译之”。
译事之难如是，中国人研读西学经典却不能不借助译本。译本或如业师，指点迷津、功不可没，然入门之后能否一窥堂奥，阡陌纵横如何辨知虚实，则不能不溯本求源。因而阅读原典、溯本求源、汲取学养为会通中西之要素之一。
在本书编委会专家、学者们的指导下，我们精选了西方历代名家经典著作的权威版本，辅之以中文
导读
，配以精美插图，分批推出“世界大师原典文库（中文导读插图版）”，供读者对比、品味、研读。本文库内容涵盖哲学、文学、历史学、法学、政治学、经济学、社会学、心理学、人类学等，力求满足相关领域专家、学者的学术需求，力求帮助学生开阔视野、涵养通识，同时也特别为外语教师、外语类大学生、外语学习者和外语爱好者提供便捷实用的参考资料。
世界之大，在于和而不同；学问之大，在于海纳百川；心灵之大，在于兼容并蓄。我们相信，“世界大师原典文库（中文导读插图版）”会成为各界读者阅读、研究和收藏的精神大餐。杨慧林 教授 （中国人民大学副校长、博士生导师）金莉 教授 （北京外国语大学副校长、博士生导师）2012年9月导读编委会《人类理解论》（An Essay Concerning Human Understanding）的作者是约翰 洛克（John Locke，1632—1704）。
约翰 洛克，英国哲学家、经验主义的创始人，对政治和哲学的发展做出了巨大贡献，是全面论证宪政民主思想的第一人。1632年出生于英国朗灵顿一个乡村律师家庭，早年入威斯敏斯特学院和牛津大学学习，并于1656年获得学士学位，1658年获得硕士学位。 后在牛津大学任教，研究医学和哲学。洛克系统学习过的学科领域十分广泛，包括希腊语、文法、希伯来语、历史学、逻辑学、伦理学、修辞学、化学和医学等。1688 年成为英国皇家学会会员。他结交广泛，被称为现代化学家之父的波义耳、大名鼎鼎的牛顿都是他的好朋友。洛克继承和发展了唯物主义经验论，否认天赋观念，提出“白纸说”，认为心灵本是一张白纸，一切知识来源于经验（The mind begins as“white paper,void of all characters,without any ideas.”）。但认为经验有两种：对外物作用的感觉和对内心作用的反省。社会政治思想方面，他以自然权利和社会契约论为根据，反对“君权神授”，提出分权说。在宗教观上，他反对宗教狂热，主张宗教宽容，提出政教分离的原则。洛克一生著述颇丰，著有《论宽容》（A Letter Concerning Toleration）、《政府论》（Two Treatise of Government）、《论教育》（Some Thoughts Concerning Education）和《论基督教的合理性》（The Reasonableness of Christianity）等。《人类理解论》的创写历时20多年，到1671年时已经两易草稿，1686年基本完成书稿。1688年以长篇概要的形式在一家法国期刊发表，1689年（版权日期写为了1690年）全书正式出版，呈现于世人面前。《人类理解论》出版后反响巨大，好评如潮。此书至洛克去世时共5次修订，5次再版，其中1706年的版本是最终的版本。在1700年被译成法语，1701年被译成拉丁文，在18世纪已经有近24个版本之多。从那时起（尤其在19世纪）至今，此书先后有36个不同形式的英文版本出现，包括“精简本”、“问答评论本”、“问答教材本”、“浓缩本”、“选编本”和“摘要本”等。
在《人类理解论》中，洛克研究人类知识的向度（外延）以及人类理解的本质和范围、动力，显而易见来自他的一种关切，即关于人在万物安排中（the scheme of things）的位置问题。洛克很自然地相信万物之间有一种安排，相信是全能和明智的上帝把我们安排到了这个世界，上帝使我们相信未来会更好。但是，洛克希望证明，人类理智是上述信仰的基础和依据，并力图解读出这些信仰对我们世俗生活中行为的影响是什么。这种认识看似与洛克自己的“白纸说”有矛盾，但实际并不然。西方大多数思想家、哲学家都信仰宗教和上帝，但上帝在其心目中大多时候只是一种符号和象征，是人类认识有限相对于无限的一种体现，并不影响他们的思想和研究，更不影响他们的成就。
他的结论是知识局限于观念，这个观念不是柏拉图的理念或形式，而是由我们经验的对象所造成的观念。观念的起源就是经验，经验有两种形式，即感觉和反省。我们的一切观念，毫无例外地，要么通过感官达到我们，使我们体验到了外在于我们的世界，要么通过反省达到我们，这是一个内在于我们的经验。我们只有先有了感觉经验才能有反省经验，只有当心灵被提供观念后它才能够开始运作，而这些观念只能来自于感觉。这就意味着每个人的心灵最初就像一张白纸，在这上面只有经验能够书写知识。这就是他著名的“白纸说”（“一张白纸，没有任何文字，没有任何思想”）的依据。他认为，是感觉和反思提供给我们一切理性和知识的材料，我们的心灵由此了解外在的世界。
在此基础上，《人类理解论》向读者详细和系统地论述了人类的理解活动（即理智和心智活动），阐释了我们为何可以逐步获得我们能够获得的知识，并以此形成我们的信仰；以及为何我们不可避免地对知识的认知是有限度的；以及为何我们的知识是可以增进的（尽管我们对知识的认知有限度）。他认为“我们一切的知识，……最终都来自经验”。基于这句话，人们把洛克归类为经验主义者。
洛克的哲学思想对后来的人类历史产生了巨大的影响。“白纸说”揭示了我们来到这个世界上，无需感恩任何既有的权威，唯一影响我们理念和信仰的，是后天的理智和经验，或者说是实践。这种思想，与洛克同一时期出版的《政府论》的思想互相发挥和互为表里。在《政府论》中，洛克认为，生命、自由和私有财产是人神圣不可侵犯的自然权利；为了保护人们依据自然法享有的自然权利，人们通过社会契约建立政府；当政府背叛了人民时，人民有权利收回自己的权力，并有权利重新组建新政府。这些思想成为现代民主社会的思想支柱，对后来的政治发展起到了极大的推动作用。洛克的自由主义思想被美国奉为神圣，成为民族理想。他的思想深深影响了托马斯 杰弗逊等美国政治家，在美洲引发了轰轰烈烈的美国独立战争。洛克的影响在法国则更为剧烈。伏尔泰是第一个将洛克等人的思想传到法国去的人，法国后来的启蒙运动乃至法国大革命都与洛克的思想有直接关系。洛克开创的经验主义被之后的贝克莱以及休谟等人继承和发展，成为欧洲的主流哲学思想之一。
以上是《人类理解论》一书的学术思想价值和社会政治价值。下面我们再谈一下《人类理解论》的语言文学和文字价值。《人类理解论》自出版以来，早已成为西方大学里的教科书，除了作为宗教、政治、心理等学科的必读书和研究对象之外，这本书也是研究文学、英语语言的人的必读书和研究对象。洛克作为思想大家，他对英语这门语言的驾驭、杰出的思辨力和逻辑力，也是十分出色、令人叫绝的。英国文学史上著名的约翰逊博士（Dr.Johnson），即塞缪尔 约翰逊（Samuel Johnson，1709—1784），是英国历史上最有名的文人之一，集文学评论家、诗人、散文家、传记作家于一身。他耗费9年时间独力编纂的《约翰逊字典》（A Dictionary of the English Language），是英语史上一部赢得广泛赞誉、影响久远的字典，其中许多内容都直接引证、节取自《人类理解论》。同时，英语文学史上的亚历山大 蒲柏（Alexander Pope，1688—1744，18世纪英国最伟大的诗人、杰出的启蒙主义者）、劳伦斯 斯特恩（Laurence Sterne，1713—1768）被认为是最不为规则所囿的18世纪英国小说家）等都是深受洛克的思想、风格和语言影响的人。
我们可以这样归纳：洛克属于所有时代，属于所有的人。2012年9月以上导读主要由以下三位共同执笔：郭英剑，男，英语语言文学博士，美国宾夕法尼亚大学比较文学博士后，现任中央民族大学外语学院院长、教授、博士生导师。郭英剑教授主要从事英美文学、文学翻译、英语教学、比较文学研究和高等教育研究。高宏存，男，文学博士、文化产业管理博士后，现为国家行政学院社会文化部副教授，兼任中共北京市委干部理论教育讲师团特约报告人。主要从事中外文化比较研究、文化政策与管理研究等。鞠方安，男，英语语言文学学士，历史学博士。中国人民大学出版社外语分社社长，中国翻译协会专家会员。主要兴趣领域为英语语言文学、中外文化比较、历史学和翻译学等。约翰 洛克
Chronology
1632 29 August: Born Wrington,Somerset.
1646 Admitted to Westminster School，London.
1652 Elected to studentship at Christ Church，Oxford.
1656 Graduates BA.
1658 Graduates MA.
1660 Writes first tract on the Civil Magistrate.
1661 Father dies.
1661-2 Writes second tract on the Civil Magistrate.
1664 Censor of Moral Philosophy at Christ Church.Writes ‘Essays on the Law of Nature’.
1667 Joins household of Lord Ashley,future first earl of Shaftesbury.Writes ‘An Essay concerning Toleration’.
1668 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society.
1671 Writes first drafts of ‘Essay concerning Human Understanding’.
1673-4 Secretary to Council of Trade and Foreign Plantations.
1675 Graduates MB.
1675-9 In France (Paris and Montpellier).
1680-82 Writes ‘Two Treatises of Government’.
1683-9 In Holland.
1689 Returns to London；anonymous publication of ‘A Letter concerning Toleration’and of ‘Two Treatises of Government；’publication of ‘An Essay concerning Human Understanding’(dated 1690).
1690 Moves from London to Oates，Essex ；anonymous publ ication of ‘Second Letter concerning Toleration’.
1691 Publication of ‘Some Consideration of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and Raising the Value of Money’.
1692 Anonymous publication of‘Third Letter concerning Toleration’.
1693 Publication of ‘Some Thoughts concerning Education’.
1694 Publication of second edition of ‘Essay concerning Human Understanding’.
1695 Publication of ‘Further Considerations concerning Raising the Value of Money’and of third edition of ‘Essay concerning Human Understanding’;anonymous publication of ‘The Reasonableness of Christianity’and of ‘Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity’.
1696 Appointed to the Commission for Trade and Plantations (Board of Trade).
1697 Publication of‘A Letter’and‘A Reply’to Bishop Stillingfleet;anonymous publication of ‘Second Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity’.
1698 Publication of a further ‘Reply’to Stillingfleet.
1699 Publication of fourth edition of ‘Essay concerning Human Understanding’.
1700 Resigns from Board of Trade．Publication of French translation of ‘Essay concerning Human Understanding’.
1701 Publication of Latin translation of ‘Essay concerning Human Understanding’.
1704 28 October: Dies Oates,Essex.
The Epistle Dedicatory
To the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery,Baron Herbert of Cardiff,Lord Ross Of Kendal,Par,Fitzhugh,Marmion,St.Quintn,and Shurland;Lord President of his Majesty’s most Honourable Privy-Council;and Lord Lieutenant of the County of Wilts,and of South Wales.
MY LORD,
This treatise,which is grown up under your Lordship’s eye,and has ventured into the world by your order,does now,by a natural kind of right,come to your Lordship for that protection which you several years since promised it.’Tis not that I think any name,how great soever,set at the beginning of a book,will be able to cover the faults are to be found in it.Things in print must stand and fall by their own worth,or the reader’s fancy.But there being nothing more to be desired for truth than a fair unprejudiced hearing,nobody is more likely to procure me that,than your Lordship,who are allowed to have got so intimate an acquaintance with her,in her more retired recesses.Your Lordship is known to have so far advanced your speculations in the most abstract and general knowledge of things,beyond the ordinary reach or common methods,that your allowance and approbation of the design of this treatise,will at least preserve it from being condemned without reading;and will prevail to have those parts a little weighted,which might otherwise perhaps be thought to deserve no consideration,for being somewhat out of the common road.The imputation of novelty,is a terrible charge amongst those,who judge of men’s heads,as they do of their perukes,by the fashion;and can allow none to be right but the received doctrines.Truth scarce ever yet carried it by vote anywhere at its first appearance: new opinions are always suspected,and usually opposed,without any other reason,but because they are not already common.But truth,like gold,is not the less so,for being newly brought out of the mine.’Tis trial and examination must give it price,and not any antique fashion: and though it be not yet current by the public stamp;yet it may,for all that,be as old as nature,and is certainly not the less genuine.Your Lordship can give great and convincing instances of this,whenever you please to oblige the public with some of those large and comprehensive discoveries you have made,of truths,hitherto unknown,unless to some few,to whom your Lordship has been pleased not wholly to conceal them.This alone were a sufficient reason,were there no other,why I should dedicate this Essay to your Lordship;and its having some little correspondence with some parts of that nobler and vast system of the sciences your Lordship has made,so new,exact,and instructive a draught of,I think it glory enough,if your lordship permit me to boast,that here and there I have fallen into some thoughts not wholly different from yours.If your Lordship think fit,that,by your encouragement,this should appear in the world,I hope it may be a reason,some time or other,to lead your Lordship further;and you will allow me to say,that you here give the world an earnest of something that,if they can bear with this,will be truly worth their expectation.This,my Lord,shows what a present I here make to your Lordship;just such as the poor man does to his rich and great neighbour,by whom the basket of flowers or fruit is not ill taken,though he has more plenty of his own growth,and in much greater perfection.Worthless things receive a value,when they are made the offerings of respect,esteem,and gratitude: these you have given me so mighty and peculiar reasons to have,in the highest degree,for your Lordship,that if they can add a price to what they go along with,proportionable to their own greatness,I can with confidence brag,I here make your Lordship the richest present,you ever received.This I am sure,I am under the greatest obligations to seek all occasions to acknowledge a long train of favours,I have received from your lordship;favours,though great and important in themselves,yet made much more so by the forwardness,concern,and kindness,and other obliging circumstances,that never failed to accompany them.To all this you are pleased to add that which gives yet more weight and relish to all the rest: you vouchsafe to continue me in some degrees of your esteem,and allow me a place in your good thoughts,I had almost said friendship.This,my Lord,your words and actions so constantly show on all occasions,even to others when I am absent,that’tis not vanity in me to mention what everybody knows: but it would be want of good manners,not to acknowledge what so many are witnesses of,and every day tell me,I am indebted to your Lordship for.I wish they could as easily assist my gratitude,as they convince me of the great and growing engagements it has to your Lordship.This I am sure,I should write of the understanding without having any,if I were not extremely sensible of them,and did not lay hold on this opportunity to testify to the world,how much I am obliged to be,and how much I am,
Dorset Court My Lord,
24th of May,1689 Your Lordship’sMost Humble,andMost Obedient Servant,JOHN LOCKE
The Epistle to the Reader
Reader,
I here put into thy hands,what has been the diversion of some of my idle and heavy hours: if it has the good luck to prove so of any of thine,and thou hast but half so much pleasure in reading,as I had in writing it,thou wilt as little think thy money,as I do my pains,ill bestowed.Mistake not this,for a commendation of my work;nor conclude,because I was pleased with the doing of it,that therefore I am fondly taken with it now’tis done.He that hawks at larks and sparrows,has no less sport,though a much less considerable quarry,than he that flies at nobler game: and he is little acquainted with the subject of this treatise,the UNDERSTANDING,who does not know that,as’tis the most elevated faculty of the soul,so’tis employed with a greater,and more constant delight,than any of the other.Its searches after truth,are a sort of hawking and hunting,wherein the very pursuit makes a great part of the pleasure.Every step the mind takes in its progress towards knowledge,makes some discovery,which is not only new,but the best too,for the time at least.
For the understanding,like the eye,judging of objects only by its own sight,cannot but be pleased with what it discovers,having less regret for what has escaped it,because’tis unknown.Thus he who has raised himself above the alms-basket,and not content to live lazily on scraps of begged opinions,sets his own thoughts on work,to find and follow truth,will (whatever he lights on) not miss the hunter’s satisfaction;every moment of his pursuit,will reward his pains with some delight;and he will have reason to think his time not ill spent,even when he cannot much boast of any great acquisition.
This,reader,is the entertainment of those,who let loose their own thoughts,and follow them in writing;which thou oughtest not to envy them,since they afford thee an opportunity of the like diversion,if thou wilt make use of thy own thoughts in reading.’Tis to them,if they are thy own,that I refer myself: but if they are taken upon trust from others,’tis no great matter what they are,they not following truth,but some meaner consideration,and’tis not worth while to be concerned,what he says or thinks,who says or thinks only as he is directed by another.If thou judgest for thyself,I know thou wilt judge candidly;and then I shall not be harmed or offended,whatever be thy censure.For though it be certain,that there is nothing in this treatise,of the truth whereof I am not fully persuaded;yet I consider myself as liable to mistakes,as I can think thee;and know,that this book must stand or fall with thee,not by any opinion I have of it,but thy own.If thou findest little in it new or instructive to thee,thou art not to blame me for it.It was not meant for those that had already mastered this subject,and made a thorough acquaintance with their own understandings;but for my own information,and the satisfaction of a few friends,who acknowledged themselves not to have sufficiently considered it.Were it fit to trouble thee with the history of this essay,I should tell thee that five or six friends meeting at my chamber,and discoursing on a subject very remote from this,found themselves quickly at a stand,by the difficulties that rose on every side.After we had a while puzzled ourselves,without coming any nearer a resolution of those doubts which perplexed us,it came into my thoughts,that we took a wrong course;and that,before we set ourselves upon inquiries of that nature,it was necessary to examine our own abilities,and see what objects our understandings were,or were not fitted to deal with.This I proposed to the company,who all readily assented;and thereupon it was agreed,that this should be our first inquiry.Some hasty and undigested thoughts,on a subject I had never before considered,which I set down against our next meeting,gave the first entrance into this discourse,which having been thus begun by chance,was continued by intreaty;written by incoherent parcels;and after long intervals of neglect,resumed again,as my humour or occasions permitted;and at last,in a retirement,where an attendance on my health gave me leisure,it was brought into that order thou now seest it.
This discontinued way of writing,may have occasioned,besides others,two contrary faults,viz.that too little and too much may be said in it.If thou findest anything wanting,I shall be glad that what I have writ,gives thee any desire,that I should have gone further: if it seems too much to thee,thou must blame the subject;for when I first put pen to paper,I thought all I should have to say on this matter,would have been contained in one sheet of paper;but the further I went,the larger prospect I had: new discoveries led me still on,and so it grew insensibly to the bulk it now appears in.I will not deny,but possibly it might be reduced to a narrower compass than’tis;and that some parts of it might be contracted: the way it has been writ in,by catches,and many long intervals of interruption,being apt to cause some repetitions.But to confess the truth,I am now too lazy,or too busy,to make it shorter.
I am not ignorant how little I herein consult my own reputation,when I knowingly let it go with a fault,so apt to disgust the most judicious,who are always the nicest readers.But they who know sloth is apt to content itself with any excuse,will pardon me,if mine has prevailed on me,where,I think,I have a very good one.I will not therefore allege in my defence,that the same notion,having different respects,may be convenient or necessary to prove or illustrate several parts of the same discourse;and that so it has happened in many parts of this: but waiving that,I shall frankly avow,that I have sometimes dwelt long upon the same argument,and expressed it different ways,with a quite different design.I pretend not to publish this essay for the information of men of large thoughts and quick apprehensions;to such masters of knowledge,I profess myself a scholar,and therefore warn them beforehand not to expect anything here,but what being spun out of my own coarse thoughts,is fitted to men of my own size,to whom,perhaps,it will not be unacceptable,that I have taken some pains to make plain and familiar to their thoughts some truths,which established prejudice,or the abstractedness of the ideas themselves,might render difficult.Some objects had need be turned on every side;and when the notion is new,as I confess some of these are to me or out of the ordinary road,as I suspect they will appear to others,’tis not one simple view of it,that will gain it admittance into every understanding,or fix it there with a clear and lasting impression.There are few,I believe,who have not observed in themselves or others,that what in one way of proposing was very obscure,another way of expressing it,has made very clear and intelligible: though afterwards the mind found little difference in the phrases,and wondered why one failed to be understood more than the other.But everything does not hit alike upon every man’s imagination.We have our understandings no less different,than our palates;and he that thinks the same truth shall be equally relished by everyone in the same dress,may as well hope to feast everyone with the same sort of cookery: the meat may be the same,and the nourishment good,yet every one not be able to receive it with that seasoning;and it must be dressed another way,if you will have it go down with some,even of strong constitutions.The truth is,those who advised me to publish it,advised me,for this reason,to publish it as’tis: and since I have been brought to let it go abroad,I desire it should be understood by whoever gives himself the pains to read it.I have so little affection to be in print,that if I were not flattered this essay might be of some use to others,as I think it has been to me;I should have confined it to the view of some friends,who gave the first occasion to it.My appearing therefore in print,being on purpose to be as useful as I may,I think it necessary to make what I have to say,as easy and intelligible to all sorts of readers,as I can.And I had much rather the speculative and quicksighted should complain of my being in some parts tedious,than that any one,not accustomed to abstract speculations,or prepossessed with different notions,should mistake,or not comprehend my meaning.
It will possibly be censured as a great piece of vanity or insolence in me,to pretend to instruct this our knowing age,it amounting to little less,when I own,that I publish this essay with hopes it may be useful to others.But if it may be permitted to speak freely of those,who with a feigned modesty condemn as useless,what they themselves write,methinks it savours much more of vanity or insolence,to publish a book for any other end;and he fails very much of that respect he owes the public,who prints,and consequently expects men should read that,wherein he intends not they should meet with anything of use to themselves or others: and should nothing else be found allowable in this treatise,yet my design will not cease to be so;and the goodness of my intention ought to be some excuse for the worthlessness of my present.’Tis that chiefly which secures me from the fear of censure,which I expect not to escape more than better writers.Men’s principles,notions,and relishes are so different,that’tis hard to find a book which pleases or displeases all men.I acknowledge the age we live in is not the least knowing,and therefore not the most easy to be satisfied.If I have not the good luck to please,yet nobody ought to be offended with me.I plainly tell all my readers,except half a dozen,this treatise was not at first intended for them;and therefore they need not be at the trouble to be of that number.But yet if any one thinks fit to be angry,and rail at it,he may do it securely: for I shall find some better way of spending my time,than in such kind of conversation.I shall always have the satisfaction to have aimed sincerely at truth and usefulness,though in one of the meanest ways.The commonwealth of learning,is not at this time without master-builders,whose mighty designs,in advancing the sciences,will leave lasting monuments to the admiration of posterity: But everyone must not hope to be a Boyle,or a Sydenham;and in an age that produces such masters,as the great Huygenius,and the incomparable Mr Newton,with some other of that strain;’tis ambition enough to be employed as an under-labourer in clearing ground a little,and removing some of the rubbish that lies in the way to knowledge;which certainly had been very much more advanced in the world,if the endeavours of ingenious and industrious men had not been much cumbered with the learned but frivolous use of uncouth,affected,or unintelligible terms,introduced into the sciences,and there made an art of,to that degree,that philosophy,which is nothing but the true knowledge of things,was thought unfit,or incapable to be brought into wellbred company,and polite conversation.Vague and insignificant forms of speech,and abuse of language,have so long passed for mysteries of science;and hard and misapplied words,with little or no meaning,have,by prescription,such a right to be mistaken for deep learning,and height of speculation,that it will not be easy to persuade,either those who speak,or those who hear them,that they are but the covers of ignorance,and hindrance of true knowledge.To break in upon the sanctuary of vanity and ignorance,will be,I suppose,some service to human understanding: though so few are apt to think,they deceive,or are deceived in the use of words;or that the language of the sect they are of,has any faults in it,which ought to be examined or corrected,that I hope I shall be pardoned if I have in the third book dwelt long on this subject;and endeavoured to make it so plain,that neither the inveterateness of the mischief,nor the prevalency of the fashion,shall be any excuse for those,who will not take care about the meaning of their own words,and will not suffer the significancy of their expressions to be inquired into.
I have been told,that a short epitome of this treatise,which was printed in 1688,was by some condemned without reading,because innate ideas were denied in it;they too hastily concluding,that if innate ideas were not supposed,there would be little left either of the notion or proof of spirits.If any one take the like offence at the entrance of this treatise,I shall desire him to read it through;and then I hope he will be convinced,that the taking away false foundations,is not to the prejudice,but advantage of truth;which is never injured or endangered so much,as when mixed with,or built on,falsehood.In the second edition I added as followeth:
The bookseller will not forgive me,if I say nothing of this second edition,which he has promised,by the correctness of it,shall make amends for the many faults committed in the former.He desires too,that it should be known,that it has one whole new chapter concerning identity,and many additions and amendments in other places.These I must inform my reader are not all new matter,but most of them either further confirmation of what I had said,or explications to prevent others being mistaken in the sense of what was formerly printed,and not any variation in me from it;I must only except the alterations I have made in Book 2.Chap.21.
What I had there writ concerning liberty and the will,I thought deserved as accurate a review,as I was capable of: those subjects having in all ages exercised the learned part of the world,with questions and difficulties,that have not a little perplexed morality and divinity;those parts of knowledge,that men are most concerned to be clear in.Upon a closer inspection into the working of men’s minds,and a stricter examination of those motives and views,they are turned by,I have found reason somewhat to alter the thoughts I formerly had concerning that,which gives the last determination to the will in all voluntary actions.This I cannot forbear to acknowledge to the world,with as much freedom and readiness,as I at first published what then seemed to me to be right,thinking myself more concerned to quit and renounce any opinion of my own,than oppose that of another,when truth appears against it.For’tis truth alone I seek,and that will always be welcome to me,when or from whencesoever it comes.
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