Chap. IX. A N T r E N T METAPHYSICS. 453 



CHAP. IX. 



Tb€ Non-Exijlmce of the Material World no Difcovery oj our Scots Phi' 

 lojopher — But^ that ive have no Idea of Caufe and EfFe^, a Difcovery 

 claimed by him — But this no difcovery of his in the Senfe in ivhich he 

 feems to undcrjland it — In the Senje to ivhich his folloivers have eX' 

 tended ity it is a Difcovery^ but afalfe one — That ive have the Idea 

 of Caufe and Effe^^ in Matters of Science, proved by the Authority of 

 Arifiotle — and by the Reajon of the Thing — Definition of Caufe — The 

 general comprehends the particulars under it, ivhich therefore depend 

 for their Exifence upon the general — Difference betivixt Demonftra-' 

 five and Indu6iive Reajoning — Nature of Caufality m Matters of 

 Science — very different from Caulality in Fafls of Natural or Civil 

 ^j/?c?rj— Truth, Divine as well as Eternal. 



IN the preceding chapters, I have fhown that, upon the fuppofition 

 of there being no material world, human knowledge has no folid 

 foundation ; and, that even thofe fciences which feem to have the 

 greateft certainty, fuch as geometry and arithmetic, are like our 

 dreams, in which our reafonings are fometiraes very juft and conclu- 

 five, but unlupported by fadt and reality. 



The dodrine of the non-entity of matter was not, as I have obfer- 

 Ted, a difcovery of our Scots philofopher. But what I am now 



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