"Each hath its proper culture; and as land that is suffered to lie waste and wild for a long tract of time will be overspread with brushwood, brambles, thorns, and such vegetables which have neither use nor beauty; even so there will not fail to sprout up in a neglected, uncultivated mind, a great number of prejudices and absurd opinions, which owe their origin partly to the soil itself, the passions and imperfections of the mind of man, and partly to those seeds which chance to be scattered in it by every wind of doctrine, which the cunning of statesmen, the singularity of pedants, the superstition of fools, or the imposture of priests shall raise."
— Berkeley, George (1685-1753)
Author
Work Title
Date
1732
Metaphor
"Each hath its proper culture; and as land that is suffered to lie waste and wild for a long tract of time will be overspread with brushwood, brambles, thorns, and such vegetables which have neither use nor beauty; even so there will not fail to sprout up in a neglected, uncultivated mind, a great number of prejudices and absurd opinions, which owe their origin partly to the soil itself, the passions and imperfections of the mind of man, and partly to those seeds which chance to be scattered in it by every wind of doctrine, which the cunning of statesmen, the singularity of pedants, the superstition of fools, or the imposture of priests shall raise."
Metaphor in Context
That I shall very easily, replied Alciphron, for I profess myself one of the number, and my most intimate friends are some of the most considerable among them. And perceiving that Euphranor heard him with respect, he proceeded very fluently. You must know, said he, that the mind of man may be fitly compared to a piece of land. What stubbing, ploughing, digging, and harrowing is to the one, that thinking, reflecting, examining is to the other. Each hath its proper culture; and as land that is suffered to lie waste and wild for a long tract of time will be overspread with brushwood, brambles, thorns, and such vegetables which have neither use nor beauty; even so there will not fail to sprout up in a neglected, uncultivated mind, a great number of prejudices and absurd opinions, which owe their origin partly to the soil itself, the passions and imperfections of the mind of man, and partly to those seeds which chance to be scattered in it by every wind of doctrine, which the cunning of statesmen, the singularity of pedants, the superstition of fools, or the imposture of priests shall raise. Represent to yourself the man of mind, or human nature in general, that for so many ages had lain obnoxious to the frauds of designing, and the follies of weak men; how it must be overrun with prejudices and errors, what firm and deep roots they must have taken, and consequently how difficult a task it must be to extirpate them. And yet this work, no less difficult than glorious, is the employment of the modern free-thinkers. Alciphron having said this made a pause, and looked round on the company.
(p. 34)
(p. 34)
Categories
Provenance
Reading; found again reading John Richetti, Philosophical Writing: Locke, Berkeley, Hume (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1983), 166.
Citation
At least 9 entries in ESTC (1732, 1752, 1755, 1757, 1767).
Alciphron: or, the Minute Philosopher. In Seven Dialogues. Containing an Apology for the Christian Religion, Against Those Who Are Called Free-Thinkers. (Dublin: Printed for G. Risk, G. Ewing, and W. Smith, 1732). <Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Vol. II>
See also Alciphron: or the Minute Philosopher (London: J. Tonson, 1732). <Link to Google Books>
Alciphron: or, the Minute Philosopher. In Seven Dialogues. Containing an Apology for the Christian Religion, Against Those Who Are Called Free-Thinkers. (Dublin: Printed for G. Risk, G. Ewing, and W. Smith, 1732). <Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Vol. II>
See also Alciphron: or the Minute Philosopher (London: J. Tonson, 1732). <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
03/31/2011
Date of Review
01/27/2012
