A Treatise of Human Nature

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BOOK I PART III


Secondly, The same course of reasoning will
make us conclude, that there is but one kind of
necessity, as there is but one kind of cause, and
that the common distinction betwixt moral and
physical necessity is without any foundation in
nature. This clearly appears from the prece-
dent explication of necessity. It is the constant
conjunction of objects, along with the determi-
nation of the mind, which constitutes a physi-
cal necessity: And the removal of these is the
same thing with chance. As objects must either
be conjoined or not, and as the mind must ei-
ther be determined or not to pass from one ob-
ject to another, it is impossible to admit of any
medium betwixt chance and an absolute neces-
sity. In weakening this conjunction and deter-
mination you do not change the nature of the
necessity; since even in the operation of bodies,
these have different degrees of constancy and

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