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46 u s e c t i o n v u Concerning our Reasonings about Design and Wisdom in the Cause, from the Beauty or Regularity of Effects. I. There seems to be no necessary Connection of our pleasing Ideas of Beauty with the Uniformity or Regularity of the Objects, from the Nature of things, 㛳1 antecedent㛳 to some Constitution of theAuthorof our Nature,whichhasmadesuchFormspleasanttous.OtherMinds㛳2 may㛳 be so fram’d as to receive no Pleasure from Uniformity; and we actually find that the same regular Forms 㛳3 seem not㛳 equally to please all the Animals known to us, as shall probably appear 㛳4 afterwards㛳.Therefore let us make what is the most unfavourable Supposition to the present Argument㛳5 , viz.㛳 That the Constitution of our Sense so as to approve Uniformity, is merely arbitrary in the Author of our Nature; and that there are an infinity of Tastes or Relishes of Beauty possible; so that it would be impossible to throw together fifty or a hundred Pebbles,which should not make an agreeable Habitation for some Animal or other, and appear beautiful to it. And then it is [48] plain, that from the Perception of Beauty in any one Effect, we should have no reason to conclude Design in the Cause: for a Sense might be so constituted as to be pleas’d with such Irregularity as may be the effect of an undirected Force.* But * 㛳6a By undirected Force, or undesigning Force, is to be understood, That Force with which an Agent may put Matter into Motion, without having any Design or Intention to produce any particular Form. 㛳7b This b 㛳 Conatus ad motum, without an actual Line of Direction, seems such a gross absurdity in the Cartesian Scheme, that it is 㛳8c below the Dignity of common Sense to vouchsafe to confute itc 㛳. But Men Sense, Arbitrary in its Author. section v 47 then, as there are an Infinity of Forms 㛳9 possible㛳intowhichanySystem may be reduc’d, an Infinity of Places in which Animals may be situated, and an Infinity of Relishes or Senses 㛳10 in these Animals㛳 is suppos’d possible; that in the immense Spaces any one Animal should by Chance be plac’d in a System agreeable to its Taste, must be improbable as infinite to one at least: And much more unreasonable is it to expect from Chance, that a multitude of Animals agreeing in their Sense of Beauty should obtain agreeable Places. [49] II. 㛳11 There is also㛳 the same Probability, that in any one System of Matter an Undirected Force 㛳12 will㛳 produce a regular Form, as any one given irregular one, of the same degree of Complication: But still the irregular Forms into which any System may be rang’d, surpass in multitude the Regular, as Infinite does Unity; for what holds in one small System will hold in a Thousand, a Million, a Universe, with more Advantage , viz. that the irregular Forms possible infinitely surpass the Regular . For Instance, the Area of an Inch Square is capable of an Infinity of regular Forms, the Equilateral Triangle, the Square, the Pentagon, Hexagon, Heptagon, &c. but for each one regular Form, there are an Infinity of Irregular, as an Infinity of Scalena for the one equilateral Triangle, an Infinity of Trapezia for the one Square, of irregular Pentagons for the one Regular, and so on: and therefore supposing any one System agitated by undesigning Force, it 㛳13 is㛳 infinitely more probable that it 㛳14 will㛳 resolve itself into an irregular Form, than a regular.Thus, that a System of six Parts upon Agitation shall not obtain the Form of a regular Hexagon, is at least infinite to Unity; and the more complex have so many confus’d Notions of some Nature, or Chance impressing Motions without any Design or Intention of producing any particular Effect, that it may be useful to shew, that even this very absurd Postulatum, tho it were granted them, is insufficient to answer the appearances in the Regularity of the World; and thisiswhat is attempted in the first fourteen Articles of this Section. These Arguments would really be useless, if all Men were persuaded of what to a Man of just Thought will appear pretty Obvious, that there can be no Thought-less Agent; and that Chance and Nature are mere empty Names, as they are us’d on this Occasion, relative only to our Ignorance.a 㛳 Undirected Force. [18.225.209.95] Project MUSE (2024-04...

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