"He has clearly overthrown all those Metaphysical Whymsies, which infected mens Brains with a Spice of Madness, whereby they feign'd a Knowledge where they had none, by making a noise with Sounds, without clear and distinct Significations."
— Molyneux, William (1656-1698)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Benj. Tooke
Date
1692
Metaphor
"He has clearly overthrown all those Metaphysical Whymsies, which infected mens Brains with a Spice of Madness, whereby they feign'd a Knowledge where they had none, by making a noise with Sounds, without clear and distinct Significations."
Metaphor in Context
This is manifest in every Branch of Learning. Logick has put on a Countenance clearly different from what it appeared in formerly: How unlike is its shape in the Ars Cogitandi, Recherches de la Verite, &c. from what it appears in Smigletius, and the Commentators on Aristotle? But to none do we owe for a greater Advancement in this Part of Philosophy, than to the incomparable Mr. Locke, Who, in his Essay concerning Humane Understanding, has rectified more received Mistakes, and delivered more profound Truths, established on Experience and Observation, for the Direction of Man's mind in the Prosecution of Knowledge, (which I think may be properly term'd Logick) than are to be met with in all the Volumes of the Antients. He has clearly overthrown all those Metaphysical Whymsies, which infected mens Brains with a Spice of Madness, whereby they feign'd a Knowledge where they had none, by making a noise with Sounds, without clear and distinct Significations.
(Dedication)
(Dedication)
Categories
Provenance
Reading Yolton's Way of Ideas (p. 5); found again reading Dioptrica Nova in the Folger Library.
Citation
William Molyneux, Dioptrica Nova, A treatise of Dioptricks in Two Parts: Wherein the Various Effects and Appearances of Spherick Glasses, both Convex and Concave, Single and Combined, in Telescopes and Microscopes, Together with their Usefulness in Many Concerns of Humane Life, are Explained (London: Benjamin Tooke, 1692).
Reading a copy at the Folger Library, text from EEBO-TCP <Link>
Reading a copy at the Folger Library, text from EEBO-TCP <Link>
Date of Entry
03/15/2004
Date of Review
05/13/2013
