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SweetFreedom Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

For the purpose which we find it actually to answer?

Does "for the purpose which we find it actually to answer" mean "for the purpose which we find it (the purpose) indeed to answer (this question)"?

Background info:

In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot
against a stone, and were asked how the stone
came to be there; I might possibly answer that, for
anything I knew to the contrary, it had lain there
forever. Nor would it perhaps be very easy to show
the absurdity of this answer. But suppose I had
found a watch upon the ground, and it should be
inquired how the watch happened to be in that
place; I should hardly think of the answer, which I
had before given, that for anything I knew, the
watch might have always been there . . . the watch
must have had a maker: that there must have ex-
isted, at some time, and at some place or other, an
artificer or artificers, who formed it for the purpose
which we find it actually to answer; who compre-
hended its construction, and designed its use. . . .
Every indication of contrivance, every manifesta-
tion of design, which existed in the watch, exists in
the works of nature; with the difference, on the side
of nature, of being greater or more, and that in a
degree which exceeds all computation.
  

Top answer

SweetFreedom Does "for the purpose which we find it actually to answer" mean "for the purpose which we find it (the purpose) indeed to answer (this question)"? No. To 'answer a purpose' means to 'serve a purpose', 'to be used for'.

  • SweetFreedom Does "for the purpose which we find it actually to answer" mean "for the purpose which we find it (the purpose) indeed to answer (this question)"?
  • No.
  • To 'answer a purpose' means to 'serve a purpose', 'to be used for'.
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3 Answers
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SweetFreedomDoes "for the purpose which we find it actually to answer" mean "for the purpose which we find it (the purpose) indeed to answer (this question)"?
No. To 'answer a purpose' means to 'serve a purpose', 'to be used for'.
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Sorry, failed to understand you.
I think I have to solve the problems one by one.
What does "it" (find it)refer to?
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SweetFreedomWhat does "it" (find it)refer to?
The watch.

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