of different Names, are supposed to stand for different Things. Now every Idea a man has, being visibly what it is, and distinct from all other Ideas but itself, that which makes it confused is, when it is such, that it may as well be called by another Name, as that which it is expressed by, the difference which keeps the Things (to be ranked under those two different Names) distinct, and makes some of them belong rather to the one, and some of them to the other of those Names, being left out; and so the distinction, which was intended to be kept up by those different Names, is quite lost.
§ 7. The Defaults which usually occasion this Confusion, I think, are chiefly these following.
First, when any complex Idea (for ’tis complex Ideas that are most liable to confusion) is made up of too small a number of simple Ideas, and such only as are common to other Things, whereby the differences, that make it deserve a different Name, are left out. Thus he, that has an Idea made up of barely the simple ones of a Beast with Spots, has but a confused Idea of a Leopard; it not being thereby sufficiently distinguished from a Lynx, and several other sorts of Beasts that are spotted. […]
§ 8. Secondly, Another default, which makes our Ideas confused, is, when though the particulars that make up any Idea, are in number enough; yet they are so jumbled together, [360]that it is not easily discernible, whether it more belongs to the Name that is given it, than to any other. […]
§ 9. Thirdly, A third defect that frequently gives the name of Confused, to our Ideas, is when any one of them is uncertain, and undetermined. Thus we may observe Men, who not forbearing to use the ordinary Words of their Language, till they have learn’d their precise signification, change the Idea, they make this or that term stand for, almost as often as they use it. […]
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§ 11. Confusion, making it a difficulty to separate two Things that should be separated, concerns always two Ideas; and those most, which most approach one another. Whenever therefore we suspect any Idea to be confused, we must examine what other it is in danger to be confounded with, or which it cannot easily be separated from, and that will always be found an Idea belonging to another Name, and so should be a different Thing, from which yet it is not sufficiently distinct: being either the same with it, or making a part of it, or, at least, as properly call’d by that Name, as the other it is ranked under; and so keeps not that difference from that other Idea, which the different Names import.
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§ 13. Our complex Ideas being made up of Collections, and so variety of simple ones, may accordingly be very clear and distinct in one part, and very obscure and confused in another. In a Man who speaks of a Chiliaëdron, or a Body of a thousand sides, the Idea of the Figure may be very confused, though that [362]of the Number be very distinct; so that he being able to discourse, and demonstrate concerning that part of his complex Idea, which depends upon the Number of Thousand, he is apt to think, he has a distinct Idea of a Chiliaedron; though it be plain, he has no precise Idea of its Figure, so as to distinguish it, by that, from one that has but 999 sides: The not observing whereof, causes no small Error in Men’s Thoughts, and Confusion in their Discourses.
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§ 15. Having frequently in our Mouths the Name Eternity, we are apt to think, we have a positive comprehensive Idea of it, which is as much as to say, that there is no part of that Duration, which is not clearly contained in our Idea. ’Tis true, that he that thinks so, may have a very clear Idea of Duration […]: But it not being possible for him to include in his Idea of any Duration, let it be as great as it will, the whole Extent together of a Duration, where he supposes no end, that part of his Idea, which is still beyond the Bounds of that large Duration, he represents to his own Thoughts, is very obscure and undetermined. […]
§ 16. […] when we talk of the divisibility of Matter in infinitum, […] we have but very obscure, and confused Ideas of Corpuscles, or minute Bodies, so to be divided, when by former Divisions, they are reduced to a smalness much exceeding the perception of any of our Senses; and so all that we have clear, and distinct Ideas of, is of what Division in general, or abstractly is, and the Relation of Totum and Pars: But of the bulk of the Body, to be thus infinitely divided after certain Progressions, I think, we have no clear, nor distinct Idea at all. […] we [364]have no more a clear Idea of infinite Parts in Matter, than we have a clear Idea of an infinite Number […]: endless Divisibility giving us no more a clear and distinct Idea of actually infinite Parts, than endless Addibility (if I may so speak) gives us a clear and distinct Idea of an actually infinite Number. They both being only in a Power still of increasing the Number, be it already as great as it will. So that of what remains to be added, (wherein consists the Infinity,) we have but an obscure, imperfect, and confused Idea. […]
Of Real and Fantastical Ideas
§ 1. BESIDES what we have already mentioned, concerning Ideas, other Considerations belong to them, in reference to things from whence they are taken, or which they may be supposed to represent; and thus, I think, they may come under a threefold distinction; and are
First, Either real, or fantastical.
Secondly, Adequate, or inadequate.
Thirdly, True, or false.
First, by real Ideas, I mean such as have a Foundation in Nature; such as have a Conformity with the real Being, and Existence of Things, or with their Archetypes. Fantastical or Chimerical, I call such as have no Foundation in Nature, nor have any Conformity with that reality of Being, to which they are tacitly [366]referr’d, as to their Archetypes. If we examine the several sorts of Ideas before-mentioned, we shall find, that,
§ 2. First, Our simple Ideas are all real, all agree to the reality of things. Not that they are all of them the Images, or Representations of what does exist, the contrary whereof, in all but the primary Qualities of Bodies, hath been already shewed. But though Whiteness and Coldness are no more in Snow, than Pain is; yet those Ideas of Whiteness, and Coldness, Pain, etc. being in us the Effects of Powers in Things without us, ordained by our Maker, to produce in us such Sensations; they are real Ideas in us, whereby we distinguish the Qualities, that are really in things themselves. […]
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§ 4. Secondly, Mixed Modes and Relations, having no other reality, but what they have in the Minds of Men, there is nothing more required to those kind of Ideas, to make them real, but that they be so framed, that there be a possibility of existing conformable to them. These Ideas, being themselves Archetypes, cannot differ from their Archetypes, and so cannot be chimerical, unless any one will jumble together in them inconsistent Ideas. […]
§ 5. Thirdly, Our complex Ideas of Substances, being made all of them in reference to Things existing without us, and intended to be Representations of Substances, as they really are, are no farther real, than as they are such Combinations of simple Ideas, as are really united, and co-exist in Things without us. On the contrary, those are fantastical, which are made up of such Collections of simple Ideas, as were really never united, never were found together in any Substance; v. g. a rational [368]Creature, consisting of a Horse’s Head, joined to a body of humane shape, or such as the Centaurs are described. […]
