"Though therefore it be the Mind that makes the Collection, 'tis the Name which is, as it were, the Knot, that ties them fast together."
— Locke, John (1632-1704)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706
Metaphor
"Though therefore it be the Mind that makes the Collection, 'tis the Name which is, as it were, the Knot, that ties them fast together."
Metaphor in Context
10. The near relation that there is between Species, Essences, and their general Names, at least in mixed Modes, will farther appear, when we consider, that it is the Name that seems to preserve those Essences, and give them their lasting duration. For the connexion between the loose parts of those complex Ideas, being made by the Mind, this union, which has no particular foundation in Nature, would cease again, were there not something that did, as it were, hold it together, and keep the parts from scattering. Though therefore it be the Mind that makes the Collection, 'tis the Name which is, as it were, the Knot, that ties them fast together. What a vast variety of different Ideas, does the word Triumphus hold together, and deliver to us as one Species! Had this Name been never made, or quite lost, we might, no doubt, have had descriptions of what passed in that Solemnity: but yet, I think, that which holds those different parts together, in the unity of one complex Idea, is that very word annexed to it: without which, the several parts of that, would no more be thought to make one thing, than any other shew, which having never been made but once, had never been united into one complex Idea, under one denomination. How much therefore, in mixed Modes, the Unity necessary to any Essence, depends on the Mind; and how much the continuation and fixing of that Unity, depends on the Name in common use annexed to it, I leave to be considered by those who look upon Essences and Species, as real established Things in Nature.
(III.v.10, text from EEBO-TCP, cf. p. 434 in Nidditch)
(III.v.10, text from EEBO-TCP, cf. p. 434 in Nidditch)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Locke began composition as early as 1671 (Drafts A and B).
I find over 25 entries in the ESTC (1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706, 1710, 1715, 1721, 1726, 1731, 1735, 1741, 1748, 1753, 1759, 1760, 1765, 1768, 1775, 1777, 1786, 1788, 1793, 1795, 1796, 1798). See also the many abridgements issued in the period.
First published as An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. In Four Books. (London: Printed by Eliz. Holt, for Thomas Basset, at the George in Fleetstreet, near St. Dunstan's Church, 1690). <Link to EEBO><EEBO-TCP>
Searching first in a Past Masters edition based on the 12th Edition of Locke's Works and proofread against the 1959 Fraser edition. More recent searches in EEBO-TCP.
Reading John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, ed. Peter Nidditch (Oxford, Oxford UP, 1975)--against which I have checked the text searched in Past Masters. Note, Nidditch's text is based on 4th ed. of 1700.
I find over 25 entries in the ESTC (1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706, 1710, 1715, 1721, 1726, 1731, 1735, 1741, 1748, 1753, 1759, 1760, 1765, 1768, 1775, 1777, 1786, 1788, 1793, 1795, 1796, 1798). See also the many abridgements issued in the period.
First published as An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. In Four Books. (London: Printed by Eliz. Holt, for Thomas Basset, at the George in Fleetstreet, near St. Dunstan's Church, 1690). <Link to EEBO><EEBO-TCP>
Searching first in a Past Masters edition based on the 12th Edition of Locke's Works and proofread against the 1959 Fraser edition. More recent searches in EEBO-TCP.
Reading John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, ed. Peter Nidditch (Oxford, Oxford UP, 1975)--against which I have checked the text searched in Past Masters. Note, Nidditch's text is based on 4th ed. of 1700.
Date of Entry
01/04/2016
