Of the nearer and more Immediate Causes of popular Errors, both in
the wiser and common sort, Misapprehension, Fallacy, or false
Deduction, Credulity, Supinity, Adherence unto Antiquity, Tradition
and Authority.
[Sidenote: _The belief of_ Centaures _whence occasioned._]
The first is a mistake, or a misconception of things, either in their
first apprehensions, or secondary relations. So _Eve_ mistook the
Commandment, either from the immediate injunction of God, or from the
secondary narration of her Husband. So might the Disciples mistake our
Saviour, in his answer unto _Peter_ concerning the death of _John_, as
is delivered, _John_ 21. Peter _seeing_ John, _said unto_ Jesus, _Lord,
and what shall this man do?_ Jesus _saith, If I will, that he tarry till
I come, what is that unto thee? Then went this saying abroad among the
brethren, that that Disciple should not die._ Thus began the conceit and
opinion of the _Centaures_: that is, in the mistake of the first
beholders, as is declared by _Servius_; when some young _Thessalians_ on
horseback were beheld afar off, while their horses watered, that is,
while their heads were depressed, they were conceived by the first
Spectators, to be but one animal; and answerable hereunto have their
pictures been drawn ever since.
[Sidenote: _Equivocation and Amphibologie, how they differ._]
[Sidenote: Pythagoras, _his Allegorical precepts moralized._]
And, as simple mistakes commonly beget fallacies, so men rest not in
false apprehensions, without absurd and inconsequent deductions; from
fallacious foundations, and misapprehended _mediums_, erecting
conclusions no way inferrible from their premises. Now the fallacies
whereby men deceive others, and are deceived themselves, the Ancients
have divided into Verbal and Real. Of the Verbal, and such as conclude
from mistakes of the Word, although there be no less than six, yet are
there but two thereof worthy our notation, and unto which the rest may
be referred; that is the fallacy of Equivocation and Amphibology which
conclude from the ambiguity of some one word, or the ambiguous Syntaxis
of many put together. From this fallacy arose that calamitous Error of
the Jews, misapprehending the Prophesies of their _Messias_, and
expounding them alwayes unto literal and temporal expectations. By this
way many Errors crept in and perverted the Doctrine of _Pythagoras_,
whilst men received his Precepts in a different sense from his
intention; converting Metaphors into proprieties, and receiving as
literal expressions, obscure and involved truths. Thus when he enjoyned
his Disciples, an abstinence from Beans, many conceived they were with
severity debarred the use of that pulse; which notwithstanding could not
be his meaning; for as _Aristoxenus_, who wrote his life averreth, he
delighted much in that kind of food himself. But herein, as _Plutarch_
observeth, he had no other intention than to dissuade men from
Magistracy, or undertaking the publick offices of state; for by beans
was the Magistrate elected in some parts of _Greece_; and, after his
daies, we read in _Thucydides_, of the Councel of the bean in _Athens_.
[SN: {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI AND OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI AND OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}.] The same word
also in Greek doth signifie a Testicle, and hath been thought by some an
injunction only of Continency, as _Aul. Gellius_ hath expounded, and as
_Empedocles_ may also be interpreted: that is, _Testiculis miseri
dextras subducite_; and might be the original intention of _Pythagoras_;
as having a notable hint hereof in Beans, from the natural signature of
the venereal organs of both Sexes. Again, his injunction is, not to
harbour Swallows in our Houses: Whose advice notwithstanding we do not
contemn, who daily admit and cherish them: For herein a caution is only
implied, not to entertain ungrateful and thankless persons, which like
the Swallow are no way commodious unto us; but having made use of our
habitations, and served their own turns, forsake us. So he commands to
deface the Print of a Cauldron in the ashes, after it hath boiled. Which
strictly to observe were condemnable superstition: But hereby he
covertly adviseth us not to persevere in anger; but after our choler
hath boiled, to retain no impression thereof. In the like sense are to
be received, when he adviseth his Disciples to give the right hand but
to few, to put no viands in a Chamber-pot, not to pass over a Balance,
not to rake up fire with a Sword, or piss against the Sun. Which
ænigmatical deliveries comprehend useful verities, but being mistaken by
literal Expositors at the first, they have been mis-understood by most
since, and may be occasion of Error to Verbal capacities for ever.
This fallacy in the first delusion Satan put upon _Eve_, and his whole
tentation might be the same continued; so when he said, _Ye shall not
die_, that was, in his equivocation, ye shall not incurr a present
death, or a destruction immediately ensuing your transgression. _Your
eyes shall be opened_; that is, not to the enlargement of your
knowledge, but discovery of your shame and proper confusion; _You shall
know good and evil_; that is, you shall have knowledge of good by its
privation, but cognisance of evil by sense and visible experience. And
the same fallacy or way of deceit, so well succeeding in Paradise, he
continued in his Oracles through all the World. Which had not men more
warily understood, they might have performed many acts inconsistent with
his intention. _Brutus_ might have made haste with _Tarquine_ to have
kissed his own Mother. The _Athenians_ might have built them wooden
Walls, or doubled the Altar at _Delphos_.
The circle of this fallacy is very large; and herein may be comprised
all Ironical mistakes, for intended expressions receiving inverted
significations; all deductions from Metaphors, Parables, Allegories,
unto real and rigid interpretations. [SN: _De hæresibus._] Whereby have
risen not only popular Errors in Philosophy, but vulgar and senseless
Heresies in Divinity; as will be evident unto any that shall examine
their foundations, as they stand related by _Epiphanius_, _Austin_, or
_Prateolus_.
Other wayes there are of deceit; which consist not in false apprehension
of Words, that is, Verbal expressions or sentential significations, but
fraudulent deductions, or inconsequent illations, from a false
conception of things. Of these extradictionary and real fallacies,
_Aristotle_ and _Logicians_ make in number six, but we observe that men
are most commonly deceived by four thereof: those are, _Petitio
principii, A dicto secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter, A non causa pro
causa_; And, _fallacia consequentis_.
The first is, _Petitio principii_. Which fallacy is committed, when a
question is made a _medium_, or we assume a _medium_ as granted, whereof
we remain as unsatisfied as of the question. Briefly, where that is
assumed as a Principle to prove another thing, which is not conceded as
true it self. By this fallacy was _Eve_ deceived, when she took for
granted, a false assertion of the Devil; _Ye shall not surely die; for
God doth know that in the day ye shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be
opened, and you shall be as Gods_. Which was but a bare affirmation of
Satan, without proof or probable inducement, contrary unto the command
of God, and former belief of her self. And this was the Logick of the
_Jews_ when they accused our _Saviour_ unto _Pilate_; who demanding a
reasonable impeachment, or the allegation of some crime worthy of
Condemnation; they only replied, _If he had not been worthy of Death, we
would not have brought Him before thee_. Wherein there was neither
accusation of the person, nor satisfaction of the Judge; who well
understood, a bare accusation was not presumption of guilt, and the
clamours of the people no accusation at all. The same Fallacy is
sometime used in the dispute, between _Job_ and his friends; they often
taking that for granted which afterward he disproveth.
The second is, _A dicto secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter_, when from
that which is but true in a qualified sense, an inconditional and
absolute verity is inferred; transferring the special consideration of
things unto their general acceptions, or concluding from their strict
acception, unto that without all limitation. This fallacy men commit
when they argue from a particular to a general; as when we conclude the
vices or qualities of a few, upon a whole Nation. Or from a part unto
the whole. Thus the Devil argues with our Saviour: and by this, he would
perswade Him he might be secure, if he cast himself from the Pinnacle:
For, said he, it is written, _He shall give his Angels charge concerning
thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou
dash thy foot against a stone._ [SN: Psal. 91.] But this illation was
fallacious, leaving one part of the Text, _He shall keep thee in all thy
wayes_; that is, in the wayes of righteousness, and not of rash
attempts: so he urged a part for the whole, and inferred more in the
conclusion, than was contained in the premises. By the same fallacy we
proceed, when we conclude from the sign unto the thing signified. By
this incroachment, Idolatry first crept in, men converting the
symbolical use of Idols into their proper Worship, and receiving the
representation of things as the substance and thing it self. So the
Statue of _Belus_ at first erected in his memory, was in after-times
adored as a Divinity. [SN: _The Original of Idolatry._] And so also in
the Sacrament of the _Eucharist_, the Bread and Wine which were but the
signals or visible signs, were made the things signified, and worshipped
as the Body of Christ. And hereby generally men are deceived that take
things spoken in some Latitude without any at all. Hereby the _Jews_
were deceived concerning the commandment of the Sabbath, accusing our
Saviour _for healing the sick_, and his Disciples _for plucking the ears
of Corn upon that day_. And by this deplorable mistake they were
deceived unto destruction, upon the assault of _Pompey_ the great, made
upon that day; by whose superstitious observation they could not defend
themselves, or perform any labour whatever.
[Sidenote: _The_ Alcoran _endures neither Wine nor Universities._]
The third is, _A non causa pro causa_, when that is pretended for a
cause which is not, or not in that sense which is inferred. Upon this
consequence the law of _Mahomet_ forbids the use of Wine; and his
Successors abolished Universities. By this also many Christians have
condemned literature, misunderstanding the counsel of Saint _Paul_, who
adviseth no further than to beware of Philosophy. On this Foundation
were built the conclusions of Southsayers in their Augurial, and
Tripudiary divinations; collecting presages from voice or food of Birds,
and conjoyning Events unto causes of no connection. Hereupon also are
grounded the gross mistakes, in the cure of many diseases: not only from
the last medicine, and sympathetical Receipts, but Amulets, Charms, and
all incantatory applications; deriving effects not only from
inconcurring causes, but things devoid of all efficiency whatever.
The fourth is, the Fallacy of the Consequent; which if strictly taken,
may be a fallacious illation in reference unto antecedency, or
consequency; as to conclude from the position of the antecedent to the
position of the consequent, or from the remotion of the consequent to
the remotion of the antecedent. This is usually committed, when in
connexed Propositions the Terms adhere contingently. This is frequent in
Oratory illations; and thus the _Pharisees_, because He conversed with
Publicans and Sinners, accused the holiness of Christ. But if this
Fallacy be largely taken, it is committed in any vicious illation,
offending the rules of good consequence; and so it may be very large,
and comprehend all false illations against the settled Laws of Logick:
But the most usual inconsequencies are from particulars, from negatives,
and from affirmative conclusions in the second figure, wherein indeed
offences are most frequent, and their discoveries not difficult.