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.” 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”; so the whole chain of opinions alternate, in the question of true, or false, is called “doubt.”