"I fansy I pretty well guess what it is that some Men find mischievous in your 'Essay': 'Tis opening the Eyes of the Ignorant, and rectifying the Methods of Reasoning, which perhaps may undermine some received Errors, and so abridge the Empire of Darkness; wherein, though the Subject wander deplorably, yet the Rulers have their Profit and Advantage."
— Molyneux, William (1656-1698)
Date
March 16, 1696/7; 1708
Metaphor
"I fansy I pretty well guess what it is that some Men find mischievous in your 'Essay': 'Tis opening the Eyes of the Ignorant, and rectifying the Methods of Reasoning, which perhaps may undermine some received Errors, and so abridge the Empire of Darkness; wherein, though the Subject wander deplorably, yet the Rulers have their Profit and Advantage."
Metaphor in Context
I fansy I pretty well guess what it is that some Men find mischievous in your Essay: 'Tis opening the Eyes of the Ignorant, and rectifying the Methods of Reasoning, which perhaps may undermine some received Errors, and so abridge the Empire of Darkness; wherein, though the Subject wander deplorably, yet the Rulers have their Profit and Advantage. But 'tis ridiculous in any Man to say, in general, your Book is dangerous: Let any fair Contender for Truth sit down and shew wherein 'tis erroneous. Dangerous is a Word of an uncertain Signification, every one uses it in his own Sense. A Papist shall say 'tis dangerous, because, perhaps, it agrees not so well with Transubstantiation; and a Lutheran, because his Consubstantiation is in hazard; but neither confider, whether Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation be true or false, but taking it for granted that they are true, or at least gainful, whatever hits not with it, or is against it, must be dangerous.
(p. 146; cf. Past Masters, VIII, p. 402)
(p. 146; cf. Past Masters, VIII, p. 402)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in Past Masters
Citation
3 entries in ESTC for uniform title Some Familiar Letters Between Mr. Locke and Several of His Friends (1708, 1737, 1742).
Text from Familiar Letters Between Mr. John Locke, and Several of His Friends. In Which Are Explain'd, His Notions in His Essay Concerning Human Understanding, and in Some of His Other Works, 4th ed. (London: Printed for F. Noble; T. Wright; and J. Duncan, 1742). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>. ESTC note: "A reissue of the 1737 Bettesworth and Hitch edition, with the addition of the 'life', and a cancel titlepage."
See also Some Familiar Letters Between Mr. Locke, and Several of His Friends. (London: Printed for A. and J. Churchill at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster Row, 1708). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>
Text from Familiar Letters Between Mr. John Locke, and Several of His Friends. In Which Are Explain'd, His Notions in His Essay Concerning Human Understanding, and in Some of His Other Works, 4th ed. (London: Printed for F. Noble; T. Wright; and J. Duncan, 1742). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>. ESTC note: "A reissue of the 1737 Bettesworth and Hitch edition, with the addition of the 'life', and a cancel titlepage."
See also Some Familiar Letters Between Mr. Locke, and Several of His Friends. (London: Printed for A. and J. Churchill at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster Row, 1708). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
05/03/2005
