False presupposition: what many deny is not thereby uncertain for the sound
To see the sophism's emptiness more clearly, note how many false things it assumes.
First it assumes that whatever many deny, or many doubt, is doubtful and uncertain for us. Admit that, and nothing certain remains. Almost nothing so certain and evident has escaped doubt — or flat denial — from many.
Then it would not be certain from the sight of heaven and earth that God is, because Epicureans and atheists deny it. First principles of the sciences would not be certain, because Pyrrhonians who suspended all assent doubted them too. And Rome's own church authority would not be certain for Romanists, because the rest of Christians deny it.
What is doubted without desert, and denied without reason, does not cease to be certain for those who judge rightly. The error and doubt of idle, perverse, foolish people about things certain in themselves do not touch the certainty of sound minds rightly disposed.
Latin
XX. Sed ut istius sophismatis vanitas clarius appareat, notandum in eo multa praesupponi quae omnino falsa sunt. Et primo quidem supponit illud omne nobis esse dubium & incertum quod a multis negatur, & de quo sunt multi qui dubitant. At si hoc admittatur nihil prorsus certum remanebit. Vix enim quicquam est tam certum & evidens, de quo non fuerit a multis dubitatum; imo quod a multis negatum non fuerit. Ita nobis certum non erit ex caeli & terrae aspectu Deum esse, quoniam Epicurei & Athei hoc negant. Neque prima principia scientiarum nobis certa erunt, & indubitata, quoniam Pyrrhonii, qui assensum omnem tollebant, de istis quoque dubitarunt. Neque Pontificiis, ut diximus, certa erit Ecclesiae suae authoritas, quoniam a reliquis Christianis negatur. Itaque dicendum id de quo immerito dubitatur, & quod sine ratione negatur, non desinere certum esse recte sentientibus. Nec enim hominum male feriatorum, perversorum atque stultorum error & dubitatio circa res in se certas, quicquam obest certitudini hominum sani judicii, & quorum mens recte affecta est.
About this text
Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu - Sedan Theological Theses, newly rendered from the 1675 London Latin. Covers De Theologia through Angelorum & Hominum Sanctorum Cultu Romana I-LXXVII and Pars Secunda (Reformata) I-XL. Not the collected folio.
English follows locked Pitt Latin through Imaginum CLOSED + Sanctorum Cultu Romana CLOSED + Pars Secunda Reformata I-XL. 1675 PDF ~384-390 (book ~370-376); Vision OCR + pdftotext + tess. No modern English. This slice densifies Sanctorum Pars Secunda I-XL. Next: Pars Secunda XLI–fin (~CI). Claim stays claimed (book densify not done).
Catalogue & scope
ESTC R17887; Wing L802. IA bub_gb_eOkHAW4G0-wC (+ EEBO 1675 for gap leaves). Densify through Sanctorum Cultu Romana I-LXXVII + Pars Secunda Reformata I-XL (Pars Secunda not closed; not whole folio).
Witnesses
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Theologia I-XLIII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
- Checked print Internet Archive PDF of the 1675 Pitt folio (Latin)
- Checked print pdftotext of De Theologia pages (Latin)
- Checked print Internet Archive DjVu OCR of the 1675 Pitt folio (Latin)
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Fide I-XXII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Authoritate Scripturae Pars I I-XLVII + Pars II I-XXXV + Pars III I-VIII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Scripturae plenitudine densify (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.