Every universal would be a pure figment of the intellect.
It insists that all thought is personal and purposive and that "pure"' thought is a figment.
In the metaphysical state of mind, then, to retain our instance, political authority was based on the sovereignty of the people, and social facts were explained by the figment of a falling away from a state of nature.
It is clear that in the original form of the tradition the name of the foundling was Scyld or Sceldwea, and that his cognomen'Scefing (derived from sceaf, a sheaf) was misinterpreted as a patronymic. Sceaf, therefore, is no genuine personage of tradition, but merely an etymological figment.
It is false to suggest that sequence is a fact and causal connexion a figment; apart from causal connexion, there could be no consciousness of sequences.