BOOK I PART IV
philosophers, they promise to diminish our ig-
norance; but I am afraid it is at the hazard of
running us into contradictions, from which the
subject is of itself exempted. These philoso-
phers are the curious reasoners concerning the
material or immaterial substances, in which
they suppose our perceptions to inhere. In or-
der to put a stop to these endless cavils on both
sides, I know no better method, than to ask
these philosophers in a few words, What they
mean by substance and inhesion? And after
they have answered this question, it will then
be reasonable, and not till then, to enter seri-
ously into the dispute.
This question we have found impossible to
be answered with regard to matter and body:
But besides that in the case of the mind, it
labours under all the same difficulties, it is bur-