Whence came the idea? This is now _the question_. In answering it I
shall assume no ground but that which all parties say is true. The
Christian, the Deist and Atheist will admit that we have learned all we
know, and that we have learned only through the aid of the five senses:
seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling are the porters of the
mind. One or another of these bring to the mind every thought that it
receives. We obtain thoughts of odor _only_ by the sense of smell; of
flavor only by the taste; of color by the eye alone. In these matters we
have no intuition. We brought no ideas into the world with us. In all
these things we are creatures of education. Simple or single ideas, like
simple words, represent simple thoughts or realities, and compound ideas
represent compound thoughts or realities. Therefore it follows that
every thought comes from a corresponding reality. To deny this is equal
to the affirmation that we can clearly see objects in a vacuum, that we
can see something where there is nothing.
Having stated premises in which all are agreed, I now state my first
proposition: