The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 03 (of 11) — Thomas Hobbes — John Shaqi
The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 03 (of 11)
Thomas Hobbes · en
_Continual success_ in obtaining those things which a man from time to
time desireth, that is to say, continual prospering, is that men call
FELICITY; I mean the felicity of this life. For there is no such thing
as perpetual tranquillity of mind, while we live here; because life
itself is but motion, and can never be without desire, nor without fear,
no more than without sense. What kind of felicity God hath ordained to
them that devoutly honour Him, a man shall no sooner know, than enjoy;
being joys, that now are as incomprehensible, as the word of school-men
_beatifical vision_ is unintelligible.
[Sidenote: Praise.]
The form of speech whereby men signify their opinion of the goodness of
any thing, is PRAISE. [Sidenote: Magnification.] That whereby they
signify the power and greatness of any thing, is MAGNIFYING. [Sidenote:
Μακαρισμός.] And that whereby they signify the opinion they have of a
man’s felicity, is by the Greeks called Μακαρισμός, for which we have no
name in our tongue. And thus much is sufficient for the present purpose,
to have been said of the PASSIONS.
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CHAPTER VII.
OF THE ENDS, OR RESOLUTIONS OF DISCOURSE.
Of all _discourse_, governed by desire of knowledge, there is at last an
_end_, either by attaining, or by giving over. And in the chain of
discourse, wheresoever it be interrupted, there is an end for that time.
If the discourse be merely mental, it consisteth of thoughts that the
thing will be, and will not be; or that it has been, and has not been,
alternately. So that wheresoever you break off the chain of a man’s
discourse, you leave him in a presumption of _it will be_, or, _it will
not be_; or, _it has been_, or, _has not been_. All which is _opinion_.
And that which is alternate appetite, in deliberating concerning good
and evil; the same is alternate opinion, in the enquiry of the truth of
_past_, and _future_. [Sidenote: Judgment, or sentence final.] And as
the last appetite in deliberation, is called the _will_; so the last
opinion in search of the truth of past, and future, is called the
JUDGMENT, or _resolute_ and _final sentence_ of him that _discourseth_.
And as the whole chain of appetites alternate, in the question of good,
or bad, is called _deliberation_; [Sidenote: Doubt.] so the whole chain
of opinions alternate, in the question of true, or false, is called
DOUBT.