of the thing defined.
All these rules become obvious to anyone giving strict
attention to the matter.

[98] (1) I have also stated that the best basis for drawing a
conclusion is a particular affirmative essence. (2) The more
specialized the idea is, the more it is distinct, and therefore
clear. (3) Wherefore a knowledge of particular things should
be sought for as diligently as possible.

[99] (1) As regards the order of our perceptions, and the manner
in which they should be arranged and united, it is necessary that,
as soon as is possible and rational, we should inquire whether
there be any being (and, if so, what being), that is the cause
of all things, so that its essence, represented in thought, may
be the cause of all our ideas, and then our mind will to the
utmost possible extent reflect nature. (2) For it will possess,
subjectively, nature's essence, order, and union. (3) Thus we
can see that it is before all things necessary for us to deduce
all our ideas from physical things - that is, from real entities,
proceeding, as far as may be, according to the series of causes,
from one real entity to another real entity, never passing to
universals and abstractions, either for the purpose of deducing
some real entity from them, or deducing them from some real
entity. (4) Either of these processes interrupts the true
progress of the understanding.

[100] (1) But it must be observed that, by the series of causes
and real entities, I do not here mean the series of particular
and mutable things, but only the series of fixed and eternal