6. How general words are made.
The next thing to be considered is,--How general words come to be made. For,
since all things that exist are only particulars, how come we by general terms; or where find we those general
natures they are supposed to stand for? Words become general by being made the signs of general ideas: and ideas
become general, by separating from them the circumstances of time and place, and any other ideas that may
determine them to this or that particular existence. By this way of abstraction they are made capable of
representing more individuals than one; each of which having in it a conformity to that abstract idea, is (as we call
it) of that sort.
