iv CONTENTS. 



Different kinds o( Caufes — The Do^lrlne of Caufes a great Difcovery of Arlftotle — Of 

 Being, and the /Occidents of Being Page 26 



CHAP. V. 



Mind, the chief Subject of Metaphyfics, but not the on]y—Bei)jgj and its general At- 

 tributes, the Subjedl of Metaphyfics — The Vniverfe alfo, and the firft Caufes and 

 Principles of Things — Full Definition of Metaphyfics — The Properties of this Sci- 

 ence, and the feveral Names by which it is known— Encomium of it by Ariftotle— • 

 The Subje£l of it the fame with the Dialectic and the Sophiftical Art — The Know- 

 ledge of it neceflary for detecting the Fallacies of the Sophifts. p. 40 



BOOK II. 



Of the. Principles conftituting the Universe^ 



CHAP. I. 



The Science of Metaphyfics takes in the whole Univerfe, as it treats of the Caufes and 

 Principles of Things— "Thefe reducible to three Heads —Of Matter and Form — Thefe 

 eafily diftinguifhable in Works of Art % alfo in the Works of Nature — Of Mat- 

 ter — difficult to form an Idea of Matter — the fame difficulty with refpeft tQ. 

 Subftance — Mr Lock's Notions concerning Matter and Subjiance — Whether the 

 firft Matter has a real Exiftence — Whether it has a feparatc Exiftence — Di- 

 greffion concerning the reality of Ideas — Diftin£lion made upon that Head — O- 

 pinion of the Pythagoreans, Plato, and Ariftotle, concerning Matter — Matter not to 

 be perceived by the Senfes, nor to be apprehended even by the Intellcft, except by 

 Analogy — No perfeiSl Idea, or Knowledge of the Eflence of any natural Subftance 



p. 45 



C H A P, IL 



Defcription of Form — Siibjlantial Forms of the Peripatetics explained — Form not per- 

 ceived by our Senfes, nor even by the Intelleft, otherwife than by Analogy — That 

 Analogy explained — Forms really exifting in individuals, but not feparated from Mat- 

 ter, except in the Mind of fome Intelligent Being — We have no clear Idea of either 

 the Matter or Form of natural Subftances — All human Knowledge only by Simili- 

 tudes and Refemblances — Privation not afeparate Principle of Nature, but included 



in 



