(AP:3) I have further, where occasion offered, taken care to remove the
prejudices, which might impede the comprehension of my demonstrations.
(4) Yet there still remain misconceptions not a few, which might and may
prove very grave hindrances to the understanding of the concatenation of
things, as I have explained it above. (5) I have therefore thought it
worth while to bring these misconceptions before the bar of reason.
(AP:6) All such opinions spring from the notion commonly entertained, that
all things in nature act as men themselves act, namely, with an end in view.
(7) It is accepted as certain, that God himself directs all things to a
definite goal (for it is said that God made all things for man, and man
that he might worship him). (8) I will, therefore, consider this opinion,
asking first why it obtains general credence, and why all men are naturally
so prone to adopt it ? secondly, I will point out its falsity; and, lastly,
I will show how it has given rise to prejudices about good and bad, right
and wrong, praise and blame, order and confusion, beauty and ugliness, and
the like. (9) However, this is not the place to deduce these misconceptions
from the nature of the human mind: it will be sufficient here, if I assume
as a starting point, what ought to be universally admitted, namely, that
all men are born ignorant of the causes of things, that all have the desire
to seek for what is useful to them, and that they are conscious of such
desire.
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