BOOK I PART III
Thus it appears upon the whole, that every
kind of opinion or judgment, which amounts
not to knowledge, is derived entirely from the
force and vivacity of the perception, and that
these qualities constitute in the mind, what we
call thebeliefOf the existence of any object.
This force and this vivacity are most conspic-
uous in the memory; and therefore our confi-
dence in the veracity of that faculty is the great-
est imaginable, and equals in many respects
the assurance of a demonstration. The next
degree of these qualities is that derived from
the relation of cause and effect; and this too is
very great, especially when the conjunction is
found by experience to be perfectly constant,
and when the object, which is present to us, ex-
actly resembles those, of which we have had
experience. But below this degree of evidence
there are many others, which have an influence