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fifts in its approaching, as nearly as poffible, in its nature, to the language of algebra. And hence the effects which long habits of philofophical speculation have, in weakening, by difufe, thofe faculties of the mind, which are neceffary for the exertions of the poet and the orator; and of gradually forming a style of compofition, which they who read merely for amusement, are apt to cenfure for a want of vivacity and of ornament.

SECTION III.

Remarks on the Opinions of fome modern Philofophers on the Subject of the foregoing Section.

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FTER the death of Abelard, through whose abilities and eloquence the fect of Nominalifts had enjoyed, for a few years, a very fplendid triumph, the fyftem of the Realifts began to revive; and it was foon fo completely re-established in the schools, as to prevail, with little or no oppofition, till the fourteenth century. What the circumstances were, which led philofophers to abandon a doctrine, which feems fo ftrongly to recommend itself by its fimplicity, it is not very eafy to conceive. Probably the heretical opinions, which had fubjected both Abelard and Rofcelinus to the cenfure of the church, might create a prejudice alfo against their philofophical principles; and probably too, the manner in which these principles were stated and defended, was not the cleareft, nor the moft

most satisfactory *. The principal cause, however, I am difpofed to think, of the decline of the fect of Nominalists, was their want of fome palpable example, by means of which they might illuftrate their doctrine. It is by the use which algebraists make of the letters of the alphabet in carrying on their operations, that Leibnitz and Berkeley have been moft fuccessful in explaining the ufe of language as an inftrument of thought; and, as in the twelfth century, the algebraical art was entirely unknown, Rofcelinus and Abelard must have been reduced to the neceffity of conveying their leading idea by general circumlocutions; and must have found confiderable difficulty in ftating it in a manner fatisfactory to themselves: a confideration, by the way, which, if it accounts for the flow progress which this doctrine made in the world, places in the more ftriking light, the genius of thofe men whofe fagacity led them, under fo great difadvantages, to approach to a conclusion so just and philosophical in itself, and so oppofite to the prevailing opinions of their age.

In the fourteenth century, this fect seems to have been almost completely extinct; their doctrine being equally reprobated by the two great parties which then divided the schools, the followers of Duns Scotus and of Thomas Aquinas. Thefe, although they differed in their manner of explaining the nature of univerfals, and oppofed each other's opinions with much asperity, yet united in rejecting the doctrine of the

The great argument which the Nominalists employed against the existence of univerfals was: "Entia non funt multiplicanda præter neceffitatem."

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Nominalists, not only as abfurd, but as leading to the most dangerous confequences, At last, William Occam, a native of England, and a fcholar of Duns Scotus, revived the antient controverfy; and with equal ability and fuccefs vindicated the long-abandoned philofophy of Rofcelinus. From this time the difpute was carried on with great warmth, in the universities of France, of Germany, and of England; more particularly in the two former countries, where the fovereigns were led, by fome political views, to intereft themselves deeply in the contest; and even to employ the civil power in fupporting their favourite opinions, The emperor Lewis of Bavaria, in return for the affiftance which, in his disputes with the Pope *, Occam had given to him by his writings, fided with the Nominalists. Lewis the Eleventh of France, on the other hand, attached himself to the Realists, and made their antagonists the objects of a cruel perfecution t.

The Proteftant Reformation, at length, involved men of learning in difcuffions of a more interesting nature; but even the zcal of theological controversy could hardly exceed that with which the Nominalists and Realifts had for fome time before maintained their refpective doctrines.. "Clamores primum ad ravim," (fays an author who had himself been an eye-witness of these literary difputes,)" hinc improbitas, fannæ,

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minæ, convitia, dum luctantur, et uterque alterum "tentat profternere: confumtis verbis venitur ad

* Occam, we are told, was accuftomed to fay to the Emperor: "Tu me defendas gladio, et ego te defendam calamo." BRUCKER, vol. iii. p. 843.

MOSHEIM's Ecclefiaftical Hiftory.

pugnos,

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pugnos, ad veram luctam ex ficta et fimulata. Quin etiam, quæ contingunt in palæstra, illic non "defunt, colaphi, alapæ, confputio, calces, moríus, "etiam quæ jam fupra leges palæstræ, fustes, ferrum, “faucii multi, nonnunquam occifi *." That this account is not exaggerated, we have the teftimony of no less an author than Erafmus, who mentions it as a common occurrence: "Eos ufque ad pallorem, ufque ❝ad convitia, ufque ad fputa, nonnunquam et ufque "ad pugnos invicem digladiari, alios ut Nominales, "alios ut Reales, loqui †.”

The difpute to which the foregoing obfervations relate, although for fome time after the Reformation, interrupted by theological difquifitions, has been fince occafionally revived by different writers; and, fingular as it may appear, it has not yet been brought to a conclufion in which all parties are agreed. The names, indeed, of Nominalists and Realifts exift no longer; but the point in difpute between these two celebrated fects, coincides precifely with a queftion which has been agitated in our own times, and which has led to one of the most beautiful speculations of modern philofophy.

Of the advocates who have appeared for the doc

* LUDOVICUS VIVES.

The Nominalifts procured the death of John Hufs, who was a Realift; and in their letter to Lewis King of France, do not pretend to deny that he fell a victim to the refentment of their fect. The Realifts, on the other hand, obtained, in the year 1479, the condemnation of John de Wefalia, who was attached to the party' of the Nominalists. Thefe contending fects carried their fury fo ́ far as to charge each other with "the fin against the Holy Ghost.” MOSHEIM'S Ecclefiaftical Hiftory.

trine of the Nominalifts, fince the revival of letters, the most diftinguished are, Hobbes, Berkeley, and Hume. The first has, in various parts of his works, reprobated the hypothefis of the Realifts; and has ftated the opinions of their antagonists with that acutenefs, fimplicity, and precifion, which diftinguifh all his writings *. The fecond, confidering (and, in my opinion, justly) the doctrines of the antients concerning univerfals, in fupport of which fo much ingenuity had been employed by the Realifts, as the great fource of mystery and error in the abftract fciences, was at pains to overthrow it completely, by fome very ingenious and original fpeculations of his own.

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"The universality of one name to many things, hath been the "cause that men think the things themselves are univerfal; and so "feriously contend, that befides Peter and John, and all the reft * of the men that are, have been, or fhall be, in the world, there is yet fomething elfe, that we call Man, viz. Man in general; deceiving themfelves, by taking the universal, or general appellation, for the thing it fignifieth: For if one fhould defire the painter to make him the picture of a man, which is as much as to fay, of a man in general; he meaneth no more, but that the painter fhould chufe what man he pleaseth to draw, which must "needs be fome of them that are, or have been, or may be; none “of which are univerfal. But when he would have him to draw the picture of the king, or any particular person, he limiteth the painter to that one perfon he chufeth. It is plain, therefore, "that there is nothing universal but names; which are therefore "called indefinite, because we limit them not ourfelves, but leave "them to be applied by the hearer: whereas a fingular name is "limited and restrained to one of the many things it fignifieth; as "when we fay, this man, pointing to him, or giving him his proper name or by fome fuch other way."

HOBBES'S Tripos, chap. v. § 6.

Mr.

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