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A N I N T R O D UCT I O N
T O LO G I C
F R OM THE ST A N D P O I N T O F
E D U CAT I O N

L .
j . R U SSE LL, M A . .
,

E CT RER I N O I I N H
L U L G C T E U S
NI VER ITY O F G LA OO W
§
L E T RER I N O I C I N H
C U L G T E SO
GLA G W T R A I NIN G O LLE G E
F

M A C M I L L AN AND CO .
, LI MITE D

ST . MAR TIN ’
S ST R E E T , LONDON
1 9 1 4
 PR E F ACE

T HI S bo o k is designed fo r th o se whose concern is

with E ducatio n I t describes the main as p ec t s o f
.

the thinkin g p rocess with the view o f giving the

te a cher a cle a r ide a o f the fundamental thin g s to aim
at in getting the chil d to think .

Certa in f eatures p erh a p s c a ll f o r a word o f e xp l an a

tion I have endeavoured to b e gin at the stan d
.

p oint o f the p erso n wh o is i g norant o f L ogic and ,

to famil iarise him with the thi n kin g p rocess b e f ore

p roceeding to an alyse it I n so doi n g I h a ve had
.
,

in view the method o f teaching by which the student

is l ed to construct his o wn science b y his o wn e fforts ,

in discussion wi t h the te a cher .

I t f ollows that the e x ercises f orm a n in te g r a l p art

o f the te x t . The y deal as far as p ossi ble with
p rob lems wh ich arise in schoo l work The y are .

’
intended o f course to test the stude nt s knowledge
, ,

b ut their main p urp ose is to su ggest t o p ics for

discussion b etween th e teache r a nd his p u p i ls .

H ence the y contain matter which wou ld usually

have b ee n tre a ted in the te x t B ut in m y o p inio n
.

the text itself re p resents resul ts to b e gained b y the

student in discussion rather than p oints to b e p u t
,

to h im in mo n o lo gic exposition .
vi P R E F ACE

The fundamenta l princip l e of all formal sciences

is t ha t of reduc t ion t o elemen t ary t ype forms and
’
this was t he b asis of Aris t otle s treat men t of t he
syll ogism I t is the principle which must be used
.

in a ny serious t reat ment and is ado pt ed here B ut , .

t he four forms chosen a s e l emen t ary by Aris t o tle

made reduc tion a difficul t process and caused th e ,

in troduc tion of various devices which tended t o

obscure t ha t prin ciple The type syllogi sms used .

’
in t his book are a combination of Aris t o tle s firs t and
second figures a n d make reduction a very simple
,

matt er They follow nat urall y from t he meanings

.

of t he u ni versal affirmative and th euniversal negat i ve

p roposi tions They can be s til l furt her reduced
.

to two one firs t figure and one second figure syll o

,

gism B ut i t seems preferable for many reasons

.
, ,

t o keep t he four forms .

As a result of adop t ing t his me t hod t he cumbrous ,

rules of t he syllogism and t he whole account of ,

dis t ribu t ion of t erms can be omi t ted wi th ou t any

,

loss of accuracy or precision Con version and .

ob versio n can be int roduced a t a poin t a t which t hey

are seen t o be necessary if progress is t o be made .

Apart from this t here is no discussion of immediat e

,

i nf erence However int eresting such inferences may

.

be t o t he professed l ogician i t seems unnec essary ,

t o discuss t hem e x haus t ively in such a boo k as t his .

For similar re a sons I have no t ent ered upon a

technical discussio n of fallacies nor upon t he his to ry ,

of L o g ic In deed the objec t h a s been t hroughou t

.
,

to g ive an e ffec t ive minimum .

I do no t sugges t that n o his t orical facts be i nt ro

d uc e d . The teacher himse l f will k now how t o
 P R E FA CE vii

stimul ate interest b y a judi cious introduc tion o f

such historical matter a s his students a re ready
to a p preciate He can g au g e interests and a nswer
.

questio ns the p rinted p age when y o u question i t , ,

”
al wa ys returns the same answer .

I t is a pleasure to ackn owledge t he very g reat

de b t which the b ook owes to the willing suggestions
and criticisms o f man y colleagues and f riends .

LE O N AR D " R U SSE
. LL .

TH E UN IVERS IT Y ,

G LA S G O W . D ecem ber , 1 9 13 .
 CONTE NTS

CHAPTE R

TH E P R OC ESSES IN VOLVE D IN A CTIO N

II . TH E P R OC ESSES IN VOLVE D IN T HIN" IN G

III . TH E GR O W TH OF TH E CO N CE P T

IV D . E FIN ITIO N AND CL AS S IFIC A TIO N

V . D E D U CTI VE I NF ERE N C E
VI . THE F O R M AL ASP E CT OF R E A S O NIN G
VI I TH E
. P RE P AR ATIO N OF TH E MATERIA L
VI I I TH E LAW S OF TH O U G HT
.

IX . TH E SY LLO G I S M

F URTH ER CO N S I D ERATIO N S RE L ATIN G To TH E

"U D GM E N T

XI . ME TH O D S OF AG R EE M E N T A ND D IFF ERE N C E
ANALO GY
TH E F RAM I N G OF H Y P OTH ESES

XI V . P R IN CIP LE OF CAU S ALIT Y

THE GE N ERAL N A TU R E OF E XP ERI EN C E

I ND EX
 CHAPTE R I .

THE P R O CE SS E S IN VO LVE D IN A CTI O N .

As I am sitt in g before t he fire reading my p ap er ,

I hear the c l ock strike It is half p ast eight and I

.
-

mus t start f or my train for I mus t be at my place

,

o f business by nine I l ook at the glass and a t the

.

cl ouds I p ut on my hat and coat take my um b rella

.
, ,

and sta rt f or the station When near the station

'

.
,

I see that the train is signall ed and a moment l ater ,

see a white line of smoke and then the engine I .

hurry for I know that t he t rain does no t s t ay lon g

,

in the station .

When I am comfort abl y seated in t he carriage ,

I re fl ect on wh a t has just happ ened What were .

the p rocesses my mind wen t thr oug h when I acted

a s I did There were so man y p rocesses that I can
only think of a f ew of them I n the first place it .
,

is n ot quite true to say that I hea rd the c l ock stri ke

I heard a p artic ul ar sound and concluded or inferred
,

that it came from the c l ock since no other thin g ,

makes just the noise I heard There was no need .

for me to l ook a t the c l ock f or p as t e xp erience h a s

,

told me that it strikes one at the h a lf hour and -

,

memory told me that it was a fter eight P as t .

A
2 AN IN T RODUCTI ON T O LOG I C

experience t old me also t ha t a train runs e very

morning a t a certain time from t he s t ation near at
hand to t he t own in whi ch I have my plac e of
business and t hat i t arrives at a cert ain time I
, .

remember al so t he way t o t he s t ation and that when ,

I go ou t I mus t t ak e my hat and coat From t he .

condition of the c l ouds and t he s t at e of t he baro

me t er I inf er t hat i t is li kely t o rain and experience
,

in t he pas t t ells me t hat i t is safer t o take an

umbrell a I do no t see t he tra in signalled : I see
.

t he signal do wn and pas t e x perience h a s shown me

,

t hat w h en t he signal is down i t is a sign th at th e

t rain will Sh ort ly come thus I infer from t he signal
th e approac h of t he t rain From t he whit e line .

o f smo k e I infer th e presence of th e t rain v ery near

the s t ation .

1 L e t us analyse t hese processes a li ttle fur t her

. .

In t he firs t plac e I should no t h a ve go t up from t he

,

fire unless I h a d some defin i te purpose in doing so .

I have in fac t t he obj ec t in View of ge tting t o my

, ,

business at a cert ain t ime T h a t is connec ted wi th .

v ery many o ther purposes w h erein are inv ol ved ,

many o ther people all o v er th e worl d I hav e t o

, .

earn my li ving and my business enables me to

,

do this because of t he way in which commerce is

organised Thus . I may go in t o an o ffice and do
,

no thing bu t wri te : and th is enables me t o ob t ain

bread clo t hes a h ouse e t c N o t t hat i t wou l d have
, , , .

done so in o t her days E g if I had li ved a t housand. . .

years a go t he connec tion of my work wi t h my bre a d

,

wo ul d hav e been much closer I mi g h t have been .

t ending t he herds or p l oughing t he fields .

2 This end in v ol v es means

. and my ability t o
 PROCESSES INVOLVE D IN ACTI ON 3

provide means t o my end de p ends on the exten t t o

which I c a n a nticip a te what will happ en if I take
cert ain ste p s I h a ve gradually l earned by e xp eri
.

ence m a ny thin g s ab out the l if e round me and ,

memory brin g s them to my a id no w Take the .

striking of the c l ock When I wa s a very young .

child the strikin g of the c l ock came a s a surp rise to

,

me I had seen c l ocks and knew h ow t o tell the

.
,

time b ut had n o t heard a c l ock s t rike But o ne

, ,

day a new c l ock was b rou ght into the house a n d I ,

he a rd it strike I won dered where the noise came

.

from a n d wh a t it meant After careful a nd anxious

,
.

wa tchin g I discovered that t he c l ock struck one

,

when the hands were at the half hour a n d in a very -

,

complicated wa y when they were a t the hour I .

thus f ormed the g eneralisation th a t when the c l ock ,

strikes one the h a n ds are at the half hour I was

,
-
.

no w abl e to use thi s knowl ed g e when I heard t he

c l ock strike one : appl yin g the rule which I had

f ormed I con cluded th a t the hands s t ood at the
,

h a lf hour But on testin g thi s I discovered a n

-
.
,

e x cep tion The cl ock s truck one al so if the hands

.

’
showed one o c l ock I was thus l ed to al ter my .

generalisation so as to inc lude this e x cep tion SO

, .

with all m y other g enera lis a tion s that when the

c l ouds are he a vy it will p ro b a bly ra in that when
the signal is down a tra in is comin g e tc " these , .

were a ll l earned by exp erien c in g the o ne th in g in

conjunction with the other man y times a nd thence ,

formin g a tent a tive g eneral rul e by applying this

tentative general ru l e ( or h yp othesis a s it is called )
to p a rtic ul ar cases and thus v erif yin g o r modi
,
4 AN IN TRODUCTI O N T O LOG IC

In thi s process of learning by experience you h a ve

all t he s t ages which are gone t hrough by t he mos t
ad v anced scien tis t in reaching his generalisations .

W h ere ver you have i t t he process is always th e ,

same and h as th e same steps of whic h th e chief

, ,

are experience of particul ar fac t s ( obser v ation and

experimen t ) grouping t hese fac t s t oge t her in to
,

general proposi tions ( induc tion comparison and

classification th e formation of h ypo t heses ) apply
, ,

ing th ese general proposi tions t o new part ic ul ar

c ases ( deduc tion ) and t hus finall y v erifyin g our
, , ,

general proposi tions .

.3 T hi s process has ano t her aspec t My exp eri .

ence proceeds by means of and resul t s in concep ts , , .

I unders t and muc h more of t he significance of a

newspaper of my office th an a ch ild does T h e
, , .

newspaper gi v es bo th of us perh aps an image of a , ,

white s h ee t wi th blac k mark s But i t may t o th e .

young child mean no th ing more than a t hing whi c h

crac kl es wonderqy w h en crushed and can be t orn ,

up in t o innumerable pieces His concep tion of i t .

( a s we sa y in ordin ary lif e ) is no t so wide as mine , ,

which includes an idea of its significance as a bringer

of news a s th e produc t of a v as t organisation
,

reac hin g ou t t o th e ends of t he earth N ow a con .

cep t is as i t were a clus t er of general rules round an

, ,

image We know what experiences will follow if we

.

reac t in cert ain ways wi th th e thing which corres

ponds t o our image The young child on seeing a .
,

small whit e cube knows t hat if h e suc k s i t i t will t as te

,

swee t T hough he could no t express all i t means he

.
,

h a s formed his concep t of sugar in precisely t he same

w ay a s t he scien tis t fo rm s his generalisations .
 P R OCESSES INVOLVE D IN ACTI ON 5

Thus m y sim pl e act of g oin g t o the o ffice involves

the formation ( a ) of concept s o f obj ec t s and ( b) of ,

general rul es regardin g these ob jects both b y me a ns ,

of a fourf o l d process a n d i t invo l ves al so t he use

of this e xp erience in p rovi ding mean s to the e ffec ting

o f m y end B ut by this time the tr a in h a s re a ched

.

my des tination and my first inves ti g ation in to the

,

subjec t matter of Logic is at a n end

-
.

E X E R CI SES .

I Show th e p a rt pla ye d by kn owledge ( o r i gno ra nce )

.

in your feelin gs o n entering Co llege ( a ) fo r th e fir st tim e ,

6
( ) so m e t i m e l a ter .

2 .Why is a to wn bred perso n timid in dea ling with

-

cows while a country bred person is not

,
-

”
3 Wh a t is it tha t c o nstitute s presen ce o f mind 2
“
.

I n wha t situa ti ons wo uld a go o d swim m er be likely to

sho w m ore presen ce o f m ind th a n a po o r o ne Why
4 Co mpa re th e tra in o f i de a s a nd a cti ons sta rted
.

( a ) in a yo ung c h ild ( 6 ) in a n a dult by he a r in g a cla p

, ,

o f thun der .

5 Ma ke a c a reful a n a lysis o f R obins on Crus oe s feel

’
.

ings a nd thoughts on seeing th e foo tprint on th e sa nd .

Wha t did h e infer from th e footprint I n wha t wa y

id h s p a st experi en ce gu ide him in th e inf erence s h e
d i
( re w

6 He sa w a la b ourer lying
.
on th e ground a slee p
How m uch o f this is inf eren c e 2
 CHAP TE R II .

THE PR O CE SS E S I N VO L VE D IN T H I N "I N G .

WE h ave seen t ha t ac ting in ordinary lif e is possible

o nl y because at each s tep we apply t he gen er a lisa
, ,

tions w hich we have gradually arrived a t by expe ri

ence The solu tion of problems whi ch arise in
.

ordinary life involves a similar application Here .

we have thinkin g or reasoning made explici t .

Huxley gives t he following example and his re ,

mark s will illus t ra te t he poin t we desire t o mak e :

I will suppose t hat one of you on coming down in,

th e morning t o t he parlour o f your house finds t ha t ,

a teapo t and some spoons which had been lef t in th e

room on t he pre vious e v en ing are gone—t he windo w
is open and you observe t he mark of a dirt y hand on
,

th e window frame and perhaps in ad di tion t o t hat

-
, , ,

you no tice t he impress of a hobnail ed shoe on t he

gra v el ou t side All t hese phenomena h ave s t ruc k
.

your att en tion ins t an tly and before two seconds

,

ha v e passed you sa y O h somebody h a s bro k en

, ,

O pen t he window en t ered t he room and run o ff wi t h

, ,

t he spoons and the t eapo t Th a t speech is ou t of

your mou t h in a momen t An d you will probably
.

add I know t here h as " I am quit e sure of i t "

,
 P R OCESSES INVOLVED IN T H IN"ING 7

Y ou mean t o say e x actly what y ou know " b ut in

reality yo u are giving e xp ression to what is in a ll ,

essenti a l p articul ars an H ypothesis You d o n o t

,
.

know it at all " it is nothin g b ut a n hypothesis

rapidly framed in y our own mind " An d it is a n
hypothesis founded on a l ong tr a in o f induc tions
and deductions .

W hat are those induction s and deduc tions and ,

h o w h a ve y ou go t at this h ypo t hesis 2 You have

ob served in the first pl ace that the window is open
, ,

b ut by a tra in of reasonin g invo l ving many induc

tions a nd deductions yo u h a ve p robab ly arrived
,

—
l on g b efore a t the General La w a nd a very g ood
on e it is — t h a t windows do n ot o p en of themsel ves
and you therefore conclude t hat something h a s
o p ened the window A second g enera l law that yo u
.

have arrived at in the s a me wa y is that teap ots and ,

s p oon s d o not go out o f the window s p ontaneously ,

a nd y o u are satisfied t h a t as the y a re n o t n o w where

,

y o u l ef t them the
, y have b een removed In t he .

third pl ace you l ook a t the m a rks on the window

,

sill and the shoe m a rks outside a n d y o u say th a t in

, ,

a ll p revious e xp erience the former kin d o f mark has

n ever b een p roduced by an y thing e l se but the hand

o f a hum a n b ein g a n d the s a me e xp erien ce shows

that no other a nimal b ut m a n at p resent wears shoes

with h o b n a ils in t hem such as would produce t he
-

marks on the g ra vel Y ou have further a g eneral l aw

.
, ,

founded on o b servation and e xp erience a nd that is , ,

I a m sorry to sa y a very un ivers a l a nd unimp each

,

abl e one that some men a re thieves and yo u assume

,

—
at o ce from all these p remises and that is what
n
—
constitu tes your hypothesis that t he man who
8 AN IN TRODUCTI ON T O LOG I C

made th e marks ou tside and on th e window sill -

,

opened th e window go t in t o t he room and s t ole

, ,

your teapo t and spoo ns You h a ve now arri ved at

.

a Vera Ca usa you have assumed a Cause which i t

is plain is compe t en t t o produce all t he phenomena
you ha ve observed you can explain all t hese
phenomena only by t he hyp o th esis of a t hief But .

t ha t is a hypo t he tical conclusion of th e j us tice of ,

which you ha v e no absolu te proof at all i t is only

rendered highly probable by a series of induc ti v e and
deduc ti v e reasonings .

N ow in t his supposi ti tious case I h ave t aken

, ,

p h enomena of a very common kind in order th at ,

you migh t see what are t he diff eren t s teps in an

ordinary process of reasoning if you will only t ak e ,

t he t rouble t o analyse i t carefully All th e O pera .

tions I have described you will see are involved in

, ,

t he mind of any man of sense in leading him t o a

conclusion in t hi s case I sa y you are led
. to
your conclusion by exac tly t he same t rain of reason
ing a s t hat which a man of science pursues when h e
is endeav ouring t o disco v er t he ori gin and laws of
t he mos t occ ul t p h enomena The onl y diff erence is .
,

t hat t he nat ure of th e inquiry being more abs t ruse ,

every s tep h a s t o be mos t carefully wat ched so t hat ,

t here may no t be a single crac k or flaw in your

” 1
h ypo t hesis .

2 If we wat c h t he scien tis t at work we s h all see

.

how similar is the me t hod he pursues Le t us t ake .

a young s tuden t in t he laborat ory He has dis .

co vered by observ ation t hat iron rus t s readily when

mois t and t he problem is Why does i t rus t , Here
1
Hux l ey E s a y p 19 3
, s s, ( E v erym a
. n E d ) . .
10 AN IN T RODUC TI ON T O LOGI C

making t he e x perimen t we find t hat th e water ,

gradually rises in t he j ar and finall y when abou t , ,

one fif th of the j ar is filled wit h water th e rising

-
,

s t ops However much iron we have in t he j ar onl y

.
,

one fif th of t he air is used u p Here is a new fac t

-
.

what is i t s signi ficance Suppose we t ak e t he air

which is left in t he j ar and pu t some new iron in t o i t , ,

will t he ir on rus t We fin d t hat i t wil l no t We .

conclude t ha t iron rus t s because some t hing in t he

air is added t o i t bu t t hat no t all air is ac tive in
,

rus ting iron Ai r perh aps is made up of t wo t hings

.
,

one whi ch does one w h ich does no t cause iron t o

, ,

rus t B ut what of t he wat er wi t h whi c h we mois

.

tened th e fil ings " That is th e subj ec t of furt her

experimen t s in whic h we discover th e part played
,

1
by it in th e rus ting .

3 Here we have a more comp l ica t ed process bu t

.
,

s til l in essent ials t he same process We have t o .

apply t he resul t s of pas t generalisations in discovering

t he mos t probable cause Al t hough our e xperience .

does no t tell us a t once what has caused t he rus t i t ,

does t ell us t o look for some thing whic h was in con

t ac t wi t h t he iron Wat er and air are t he t wo mos t
.

probable agents Here is t he formation of a .

“
h ypo th esis P erhaps a ir did i t
. We mus t tes t .

this h ypo t hesis If air did i t t hen air is added t o

.
,

th e Iron and hence 1s used up when I ron rus t s At

, ,
.

t his poin t t he scien tis t in t erferes wi t h nat ure in ,

order t o be sure what condi tions are presen t in hi s

experimen t He isolat es t he mois t iron and a
.

definit e quan ti t y of air and discovers t ha t his ,

hypo t hesis was correc t The re p e ti tion of t he ex .

Ar mstr o n g Th e Tea ch ing f Scient fic M th od p 3 7 1

1
,
o z e , . .
 P R OCESSES INVOLVED IN T HI N"IN G 11

p e rment
i wi t h differen t p ieces o f iron and differen t
a p p aratus confi rms this res u l t a n d b rin g s to lig ht a
,

new fact n amely that app a ren tly onl y a p a rt o f the

, ,

air is con cerned in the chan ge B ut i f only a p art .

is concerned then the rem a inder wil l n ot rus t iron

,
.

This su ggests a n e xp eriment f or the s a ke of verifying

o ur resul t — without which we shoul d n ot h a ve c o m
p l ete co n fidence in it — a n d o n performing the e x e ri
p
men t our e xp ec t ation s a re re a lised
,

I n t his we h a ve the foll owin g s te p s ( )

a P a st
genera lisations are m a de use o f in f ormin g p robab le
h yp otheses ( b) E a ch hyp o thesis in turn is tes ted
.
,

by deducin g what woul d resul t if the h yp othesis

were true a n d finding o ut whether this a ctu a lly does
,

resul t T his p rocess fin a lly l eaves us wit h onl y one

.

hyp o thesis ( c ) The successful h yp othesis is verified

.

by re p eated e xp erimen t a n d o b serv a tion Of course .

,

in the case of a n event which happ ened in the p as t ,

we a re more restric ted f or the testin g of our hypo

thesis t han in the case of a n event which can be .

m a de to happ en at any time such a s the rusting of ,

the iron it is in the l at ter cases th a t e xp erimen t is

p ossibl e .

4 I t will a lread y have b ecome c l e a r that L ogic is

.

concerned wi th these p rocesses invo l ved in thought

a n d action In wh a t wa y does it discuss them
. In
a ll o ur t hou g ht we h a ve b een occu p ied in proving

things Al l o ur action has p resupp osed th a t cert a in

.

thin g s are a dmitted a s p roved The chil d proved .

that when the c l ock struck one it wa s either the hal f

’
hour or one o cl ock The ordinary man acce p ts the .

fact th a t the signal is down as a proof that t he line

is c l ear The scientis t h as pro ved by weighing and
.
12 AN I N T RODUCTI ON T O LOGI C

by h is series of experimen t s th at air is th e chief fac t or

,

in t he rus t ing of iron N ow as Huxley says t he onl y

.
, ,

di ff erence be tween t he ordinary man and the scien tis t

is th at t he latter examines t h ings wi t h greater care
t he scien tis t demands more rigid proofs t han t he
ordinary man The problem is wha t cons tit u t es
.
,

—
proof proof such as t o satisfy t he mos t scrupul ous
scien tis t 7 T hat is t he cen t ral problem of L ogic .

EX ERCI SES .

D escri be a n inst a n ce o f rea soning yo u h a ve gone

1 .

throug h in o rdi na ry life Bring out its va rious steps

. .

2 Descri be a s a ccura t ely a s yo u c a n the re a soning

.

by which yo u decided h ow to solve ( a ) a geometric a l

problem which wa s fa irly f a mili a r , ( 6 ) one which a t first
sight seem ed to a fford n o clue .

3 . We h a ve describ ed the e xperiment de a lin g with

iron rust in such a wa y a s to bring o ut the processes
,

involved in the se a rch f or a c a use Describe it a ga in .

,

from th e point o f View o f a person wa tch ing the experi

ment Wha t inferences wo ul d h e dra w
.

4 In a detective sto ry ( e g one o f the Sherlock

. . .

Holmes series ) a n a lyse a nd test the va lue of the evidence

,

leading to th e con clusions Discuss whether before the

.
,

solution 1s given the re a der I s in possession of su cient

,
I

in fo rm a tion to en a ble him to find the solution for him

self .

5 Discuss th e m e a ning o f the word

. eviden ce in ,

re l a tio n to th e dra win g o f con c lusions ( o r in fe re nce ) .

Wha t is m e a n t by ci rcumsta ntia l eviden ce 21

6 What is inference
.
 P R OCESSES INVOLVED IN T H IN"ING 13

SUGGES TI ONS F OR R E AD ING .

Arm strong : The Tea ch ing o

f Scientific M ethod .

Ch s XVIII ,
. .XIX XX .
, .

T H Huxley : E ssa ys ( Ma n s P la ce in Na ture

. .
’
,

E veryma n E dn Le ctures IV X
.
, .
-
.

E " R ussell : Lessons on Soil

. .
( Ca m bridge Na ture .

Stud y Se ri es ) .

Cona n Do yle Th e A dventures of Sh erlock Holmes .

Wilkie Co llins The M oonstone .

G " Chesterton Th e I nno cence of F a th er B rown

. . .
 C HAP T ER III

THE GR O WTH OF THE C O N CE PT .

All t hin king is based on resul t s in concep t s , .

shall ge t a clearer idea w h at t hinking is by a

short discussion of t he way in which a child comes t o
ha ve concep t s .

A child wa s t ak en in t o a concert h all where t here -

were t ip up seat s Happening t o ge t up i t found

-
.
,

th at t he sea t s wung bac k It pressed t he seat do wn

.

again bu t sa w t hat it remained down onl y so long as

,

i t wa s h e l d swinging back on being released T h e

, .

c hil d t hen no ticed t hat all t he o t her seat s in th e row

were in a vertical posi tion and i t s experience wi th
its own seat roused its curiosi t y as t o t he o t hers It .

passed along t he row pressing do wn each seat in

,

turn and le tt ing i t swing bac k T his ha ving been .

done se veral times i t returned t o it s own seat O n

, .

inquiring what such seat s were called i t was t old ,

t hat t hey were tip up seat s The chil d t hus formed

-
.

t he concep t of a tip up seat -

.

T his is an ins t ance of t he way in which concep t s

are formed in general .

2 At t he earlies t s t ages a child a tt ends o nl y t o

.
,

what arrest s its att en tion I t mo ves its he a d t o t he

.
 THE GRO WT H OF THE CONCEPT 15

li g ht o r towards a soun d As i t grows o l der and

,
.
,

cr a wls ab out its curiosity is insatiabl e It han dl es

,
.

thing s e xp erimentin g with them in v a rious ways

,
.

The b ri g htness o f the fir e draws its atten tion it

g oes n earer and ( say ) gets b urned Af ter a few .

such e xp erien ces the b ri g htness b ecomes a warning

,

n ot to go to o n e a r thus o n e ch a ra cteristic b ecomes

a sign of p ossi bl e e xp eriences to b e got from the
o b ject : i e o f other characteristics Simil a rly
. . .

with artic l es of food a fter it h a s h a ndl ed and tasted

a lum p o f su g a r the shap e a n d co l our o f the su g ar
,

su ggest or sta nd f or it s other qu a lities A roun d .

shap e b ecomes the si gn o f p ossibl e e xp eriences—o f

roll in g throwin g etc
, , .

As it re a cts with various o b jects it gradua lly ,

comes to the discovery th a t certain of them p re ,

sentin g l a rgely the s a me sets o f characteris tics can ,

be dep en ded on to a c t in simil a r way s : thus a ny

chair c a n be used fo r c limbin g on It hears thin g s .

c a lled by n a mes a nd l ater call s thin g s by names

, ,

itself Its knowledg e of various o b jects is thus

.

org anised Certain ch a ra cteristics a re central a nd

.
,

the rest a re group ed round them M y concept o f a .

horse is thus all th a t a horse mean s for me org anised ,

o r grou p ed round certain cen tral o r f un d a men t a l .

mea nin gs The more I kn ow a b out horses the

.
,

more a horse me a n s for me the richer m y conce p t ,

b ecomes a nd I b ecome the more ready to de a l

,

successfully with the various situations in which

horses pl ay a n imp ortant part A com ple x conce p t .

is more use ful th a n a va gue one b ecause it su ggests ,

more p ossibilities of thought o r a ction in de a lin g ,

wi th thin gs An d it can suggest these p ossibilities

.
,
16 AN I NT RODUCTI O N T O LOGIC

j us t because i t is organised i e connec ted wi t h t he , . .

ob vious and fundamen t al charac t eris tics by which

I recognise th e t hing .

’
3 T he c h ild s kn owledge is associa t ed wi t h and
.
,

is fixed by means of images t hus its knowledge of ,

cat s is bound up wi t h or we migh t sa y grouped , , ,

round an image T he part ic ul ar image it h a s will

, .
,

depend on i t s knowledge and will in t urn con dition ,

i t s knowledge L e t us loo k a t this If i t s own cat

. .

is whi te and h as a long t ail t hen before it has seen

, ,

any o t her cat s th ese charac teris tics wil l probably

,

form part of i t s image I t h as an image of an in .

di vidual thin g If i t hears of o t her cat s i t will

.
,

expec t th em t o be whi t e and t o hav e long t ails , .

B ut wh en i t comes t o know o t her cat s t he char a c ters ,

whi ch a t firs t formed part of i t s image of a cat ,

recei ve mo dification T he new image is a sort .

of composi te pho t ograph emphasising t hose char ,

a c teristic s w hi ch appear t he same in all t he cat s t he

child knows and blurring t hose whi c h vary in

,

differen t cat s I t becomes less concre t e and more

.
,

general or abs trac t We may have left fin all y only

.

a v ague represen t ation of shape B ut t his vague .

shape s till plays th e par t which t he original image

’
did i t is bo und up wi t h t he c hild s who l e knowledge
of cat s In some cases t here may be li ttle more lef t
.

t han t he sound of t he word .

4 A t own c hild h as a fairly complex concep t of a

.

railway s t ation a t ram car a large Sh Op a crowd of

,
-
, ,

people and a poor conce pt of a farm yard a pee wi t -

, ,

a tramp st eamer a gold mine , .

As we have seen t hese concep t s ha v e arisen ,

graduall y through experience T h e t own child h a s

, .
 18 AN INT RODUCTI ON T O LOGI C
” 1
Agarden is t o walk in T h e t as k of leading .

t he child from such a concep t t o a logical concep t is

one of t he main t as k s of t he educat or l ogic s t udies
t he condi tions which have t o be fulfilled by a lo gical
concep t That is what we are now t o discuss
. .

EXE RCI S E S .

1 xhi bit the va rious st a ges of the growth o f your

. E
”
con ce pt co llege so fa r a s it is a t present form ed
, .

Sta te ( a ) a ny m odi fica tion which e xperience h a s m a de

in the tenta tive con ce p t fo rm ed in e xpe cta tio n ( 6 ) thos e ,

e lem en ts whi ch sti ll rem a in m ere e xpectations Where .

did your e xpe ct a tions com e from Q Wha t im a ges a re "

a ssoci a te d with th e c o n ce p t 3
‘

2 I n wha t wa y h a s your c on ce p t
. schoo l a ltered
since you left scho o l 2
3 In th e c a se o f a n .
. o gra p hi c a l m a p comp a re the ,

c oncep t of a n a vera ge boy o f ten with tha t of a trained

4 Wh a t kin d o f
. concept of manhood is a youn g
c hild likely to ha ve 7
’
5 Ta ke a p oem e g Wordsworth s Nuttin g o r the
.
, . .
,
”
first six st a nz a s o f R esolution a n d Inde penden ce a nd ,

descri be ( a ) the im a ges ( b) th e m e a ning a ssoci a te d with

,

the va rio us con ce pts I n wha t res pects would these be

.

likely to di ffer in the c a se o f the town a nd country c hild

res pectively
SUGG E S TI ON S F OR R E AD I NG .

" Ada ms
. : E xp osition a nd I llustra tion in Tea ching .

Ch . IV .

I E Miller :
. . Th eP sycho logy of Th inking Ch s XV . .X VII .
-
.

Thorndike Th e P rincip les of Tea ch ing Ch I V

. . .

1 Ch a m b er l a in Th e Ch ild pp 146
, , .
- 147 Suc h d efin i ti o ns a r e
.

gi ven b y y ung child en o r ,

 CHAP TER IV .

D E F IN ITI O N AND C LA SS I F IC A TI O N .

1 . The statements we make about a ny obj ec t fall

into two main c l asses A b ook is red o r l arge o r .
, ,

o p en h a s leaves etc
,
it is on a shelf o r on the
, ,

tabl e etc The first set o f p redi c a tes are its p ro

, .

ti es o r qu a lities the seco n d set show its relation

p er

to other o b jects It is not easy to dis tinguish

.

b etween them e g This b ook is l a rger than that

. .
,

seems to e xp ress b oth a rel a tion b etween the two

b ooks a nd a pro p ert y o f the firs t b ook So with
, .

”
A is the f ather o f B Indeed we o f ten d o e xp ress
.

the p ro p erties a thin g h a s b y c omp a r mg I t with ( o r ,

rel atin g it to ) other O b jects All me a surin g o r .

weighin g does this .

I n the p resen t discussion we hav e to d o with the

p ro p erties of O b jects whether they a re made known ,

by means o f rel a tion s o r n ot .

2 E very c l ass n ame — horse house governmen t

.
, , ,

—
pro p osition applies to certain o b jects a nd it ap p lies ,

to these o b jects because the y p ossess certain p ro

p er t ies E ver y adjective c a n serve a s a c l ass name

.

thus red round etc apply to all objects which have

, , .
,

these qualities So also in general can e very word

.
20 AN IN T RODUCTI O N T O LOGI C

or combination of words w h ich can serv e ei t her a s

th e subj ec t or t he predicat e of a proposi tion B ut .

i t will be con venien t here t o confine our a tten tion

t o names w hich are used primarily as names of
obj ec t s .

Chi l dren are occupied from t heir earlies t years in

lear ning t he names of objec t s Wh at is th at l .

is one of th eir mos t frequen t ques t ions Thus a name .

wi t h th em refers primarily t o thin gs And i t is ex .

trem ely import an t for children t o hav e as wide and

accura te knowledge a s possible of t he di ff eren t t hings
in th e world around th em and of t heir names When , .

t hey come t o th e teacher t hey have a great amoun t of

t his knowledge " and one of t he chief func tions of
education is t o deepen and sys t ematise i t O ne of .

t he main me t hods of att aining thi s is t o att emp t t o

gi v e accurat e defini tions : of a season a s hip an , ,

island a z one a noun a t riangle e tc

, , , , .

3 Le t us imagine t ha t we have collec t ed t oge t her

.

all t he obj ec t s t o which a name applies The obj ec t s .

called by t he name box woul d be v ery misc el

l a n eo us large and small wooden iron cardboard
, , , , ,

etc . Wood will deno t e v ery many things made ,

of oak as h beech birc h mahogany walnu t e t c

, , , , , , .

T h e name ship will deno t e obj ec t s such as sailing

ships pad dl e and screw s t eamers N o tice t he word
,
.

”
deno t e T he collec tion of obj ec t s called or
.

deno ted by a name is called t he denota tion of th e

name .

I t is clear t ha t th ese obj ec t s are no t called by one

name t hrough mere acciden t I t is because t hey .

h a v e cert ain quali t ies in common A name does no t .

merely deno t e cert ain obj ec t s : i t deno tes cert ain

 DE FIN ITI ON AND CLASS I FI CATI ON 21

objects which have in common the qualities which

the name stands fo r And when we are defining a .

name it is these qualities on which our attention is

,

chiefly fi xed N otice th a t we a re not enga ged in

.

giving n a mes to thin g s : we a re endeavouring t o

fin d out jus t wh a t a re the uses of the names at
p resent given to things We a re ende a vouring t o .

c l a ri fy the va gue con ce p ts we have gained in o ur

ordinary e xperience and to make them l ogical ,

conce pts .

. 4 W e must somehow com p a re and classify the

p roperties p ossessed b y the various o b jec t s in the
”
c lass Ta ke fo r e x a mpl e the n ame man
.
( O ur .

a n a lysis will ho l d good o f a ny o t her name ) The .

p rop erties fa ll into three group s .

( ) Those which all men have and which no

a ,

other objec ts have ( i e which only men . .

have ) E g Cap a b le of l a ughter cap able

. . .
,

of
using tool s .

( 6 ) Those which a ll men have bu t which a re ,

p ossessed also by thin g s which a re no t

men E g H aving a b ody of a certain
. . .

structure .

( 0) Those which onl y some men have .

Cl early any p roperty in ( a ) woul d serve t o mark

o ff t he objec t from a ll other objec t s B ut in general .

such a p rop ert y is n ot enough for our purposes We .

fee l somehow that a great many other charac teristics

are signific a nt in te llin g us what the O b ject is .

Indeed we feel that every one of the p roperties which

a ll men have in common mus t have c l ose re l ation t o ,

the n a ture of man O nl y men a re ration a l and

.
22 AN I N T RODU CTI ON T O LOGI C

capable of using t ools bu t a ll men ha v e many

o th er c h arac teris tics If we o mit all reference t o
.

t hese o t her charac teris tics we s h all miss a grea t

,

par t of th e meaning of man .

5 Are we th en simply t o collec t t oge th er all t he

.

propert ies in bo th ( a ) and ( b) and call t hat th e d efini

,

tion of man " T his woul d gi ve us t oo clumsy a

defini t ion and in addi tion does no t bring us any
, ,

nearer to unde rs t anding t he nature of man We .

wan t t o mak e a selection .

T h ere is a very import an t feat ure of all though t

w h ich will h elp us t o see h ow t his selec tion is t o be
made I t is th a t fac ts group t hemsel ves round one
.

cen t ral fac t I may be pu zz led t o accoun t for cert ain

.

sounds un til I discover by what ins t rumen t th ey are

made I may be puzzled t o accoun t for th e move
.

men ts of a part ic ul ar person un t il I hear th at h e is a

de t ec t i v e inves t iga t ing a crime In general th e .

various th ings we see abou t us in ordinary lif e can be

summed up in short p h rases Wh at mig ht see m t o .

a sa v age th e curious sight of a grimy man u tte ring

loud cries and s t anding on a cart cont aining s trange
,

blac k bags is in terpre te d by us a t once as a coal

,

man sellin g coa I t is indeed this propert y of

fac ts which enables us t o ha v e concep t s .

In th e same way th e v arious quali t ies of an objec t

thr ow lig ht on one ano th er Man can coun t use .
,

t ools laugh is responsible for his ac tions All these

, ,
.

propert ies seem t o be closely connec ted wi t h h is

rationali ty Again a t riangle has i t s angles equal t o
.

t wo righ t angles has any two sides t oge th er grea ter

,

t han th e third e tc All t hese are exp licable as

, .

c onsequenc es of t he fac t t ha t th e sides are th ree in

 DE FINITI ON AND CLASS IFICATI ON 23

numb er and are straigh t W e have n o w a me a ns o f

,
.

dea ling with the manifol d a nd compl e x qu a lities o f a n

ob ject Careful a nd dil ig en t inqui ry will all ow us to
.

lessen the numb er b y g roup ing them round a few

significant qualities This is a difficult p rocess a nd
.
,

the resul ts a re p a rtly recorded in l a n guage The .

chil d l earns the resul ts whil e he is l e a rning to s p eak

hence his con cep ts a re aff ec ted by the work o f
generation s of scientists .

6 Su pp ose we have grou p ed t he mu l titude o f

.

qu a lities round a few p rominent and centra l ones .

These will f orm o ur defin ition o f the O b jec t Some .

o f them wi ll b el on g onl y to the o bj ect whil e others ,

will b el ong a l so to certain other objec ts In the c a se .

o f a s hip some o f the qualities will b el on g only t o

,

s hip s whil e others wi ll b e common also to a ll other

,

vessel s A ship is a p a rtic ul ar kind of vessel M an

. .

is a p articul ar kind of a nima l .

Thus by its p ossession of qualities in common wi th

,

o ther o b jec t s the o b jec t we are defin in g fall s in t o a

,

c la ss wider th a n itself It is distinguished from a ll

.

the ob jects in this wider c l a ss b y p ossessin g certain

qu a lities p eculiar to itse lf .

In this wa y definition resul ts in Cla ssifica tion

, .

This p rocess m a y b e c a rried further A trian gl e is .

a p a rticul a r c losed pl ane fi gure with straig ht sides .

This is the cla ss into which it fa lls But this c l ass .

fa lls into the wider c l ass o f c l osed pl ane figures and

this aga in into the cl a ss o f p lane fi gures in g eneral ,

which f a ll s finall y into the c l ass of figures I t is .

c lear tha t l angua g e has a lr eady performed thi s

c l assification fo r us We see this cla ssific a tory habit
.

in various modern words steam ship air ship -

,
-
24 AN I N TR ODUCTI O N T O LOGI C

mono plane bi plane

-
in p h rases such as
,
-
The
”
Bri tish Association for t he Ad v ancemen t of Science ,

etc .

7 "nowing all th is we can in endea v ouring t o

.
, ,

define a t h ing shor t en our wor k by as king

, In t o ,

what wider class does i t fall 2 Thus e g we co ul d , . .

sa y a t once t ha t a ship is a vessel The next ques tion .

wo ul d be In what way does i t differ from t he o t her

obj ec t s in t hat class 2 A ship is a float ing v essel .

T he t es t whe t her t his de finition was sufficien t would

be ob t ained by as kin g fin ally Are ships t he only ,

floating vessels 2 If w e decide th at t hey are t hen ,

we can accep t t he defini tion as sat isfac t ory .

8 O ur purpose we said wa s t o sys t ematise our

.
, ,

kn owledge of obj ec t s There is s t ill one set of pro .

p e rtie s w hi ch are impor t a nt and w hi ch we have so ,

far neglec t ed namely t hose in ( c ) which are pos

, ,

sessed by only some of th e obj ec t s deno t ed by t he

name An examination o f th e mos t import an t of
.

th ese propert ies wil l enable us t o discover sub

classes and so give us de t ail ed knowledge O th er
, .

wise our knowledge will remain vague and general

,
.

E g so me ships are propelled by sails some by

. .
,

pad dl es some by screws ,

some are broad some ,

narrow O ur aim should be as comple te an under

.

s t anding as possible of t he significance of t hese

differences e g in t he case of ships of th e differen t
. .
,

uses t o whi ch t he v arious kinds are pu t in th e case

of birds of th e differen t habit s of life t o which t heir
,

di ff erences in s t ruc ture give rise e tc This discus , .

sion of t he sub di visions which fall under any class

-

is called D ivision The s tuden t S hould work ou t for

.

h imself th e conditions t o be followed in sub division -

,
26 AN IN T ROD UCTI ON T O LOGIC

some wonderful and many obscure B ut th e

, .

t riangle i t self h a s more t han are known t o anyone .

How many of these propert ies a re we t o unders t a nd

by t he word connotat ion 2 I t has been foun d con
v en ien t t o give di ff eren t names ( a ) t o t he quali t ies

commonl y inc l uded in t he definition of t he name ,

6
( ) t o t he quali t ies kn own t o any par t ic u l ar person ,

( )
c t o t he su m t o t al of t hose possessed by t he objec t .

The s t uden t should endeavour t o find names whic h

woul d be a t once appropriat e and concise for t hese
t hree .

As a matt er of prac t ical impor t ance i t shoul d be ,

no ticed t hat misunders t an dings in dispu te s may and

oft en do arise th rough di fferen t persons associat ing
differen t quali ties wi t h t he same name : and t he
teacher shoul d be part icularly careful t o remember
how li mi ted th e child s knowledge is In teac hing
’
.

we hav e t o pass from t he qualit ies known t o t he

c h ild t o an accoun t of t he quali ties t he obj ec t
it self possesses ( c ) s y s t ematised and rendered precise
,

by means of t he definition ( a ) .

1 0 A good defin ition as we have seen should be

.
, ,

one which t hrows t he greates t possible amoun t of

lig ht on th e properties of th e obj ec t This however .
, ,

is in many cases difficult and only t o be ob t ained as

,

th e result of careful investigation in t o t he inner

s t ruc ture and nature of t he obj ec t Good de finit ions
.

are indeed t he result of science and depend on ,

scien t ific hypo thesis In many cases we are com

.

p e ll e d t o accep t provisionally a defi n i tion which

merely serves t o mark o ff t he thing defined from

e verything el se D efini tions w hi ch simply do t his
.

are called D escrip tions or D escrip tive D efinitions .

 DE FIN ITI ON AND CLASS I FI CATI ON

We h a ve them in a ll the biol o gical scI enc es W hile .

the p ro p erties included in such a definition do n o t

throw li gh t on the other p ro p erties yet the y serve a s ,

a n inde x o r m a rk o f those p ro p ert ies Such d efin i .

tions are fo r temp orary use a nd as o ur knowl edge

grows o ur definitions b ecome more a n d more p erfect
, .

Flowers a re distin guished chie fly b y means of their

shap e and the p osition o f their parts At one time
,
.

there seemed to b e very littl e connection between

the shap e o f a flower a n d it s other chara c teristics .

The theory of evolution h a s thrown g reat light o n

this conn ection in many c a ses a nd where this is so , ,

the defin ition s b ecome more than mere desc rip

tions B ut o ur knowledg e is s till very imp erfect "
.

and the definitions remain fo r the most p art merel y

, ,

descriptive .

1 1 There are certain conditions the reason fo r

.
,

which will n ow b e evident which can a nd mus t be

,

satisfied by every definition .

( a ) We have seen th a t it s h ould serve to m a rk o ff

the term defined f rom every thin g e l se a nd that it ,

shoul d c ontain only ch a racteristics which are p os

sessed by a ll objects denoted by the term .

Thus if an isl and is de fined as a p iece o f land

”
en tirely surrounded by wat er the defin ition is
,

fa ul ty unl ess ( I ) Al l isl a n ds a re so a nd ( 2 ) All such,

p ieces of l and are isl a nds I n g eneral if A is defined

.
,

as a bc the definition is faul ty un less All A is a bc

,

and All a bc is A .

( b) In the seco n d pl ace we sa w that in our defin i

,

tion we wanted o nly the central p ro p erties A .

defini tion is faulty if it cont a ins more p ro p erties

than are necessary E g A square is a plane fi gure
. . .
28 AN I N T RODUCTI ON T O LOG IC

bo unded by four equal s t raigh t lines wi t h all i t s ,

”
angles righ t angles .

( )
c The proper t ies mus t be such a s really do th row
ligh t on t he t erm t o be defined There are several .

t hings t o avoid in order t o satisfy t his condi tion .

We mus t no t define a t erm by propert ies which

can only be unders t ood when we unders t and th e
t erm we are defining Suc h a definition wo ul d
.

imply t he t erm defined and w o ul d be called circula r

, .

Tak e t he following from P unch

Tourist ( poin t ing t o molehill s ) Wh a t are
th ese 2
Giles T h em s o o mpty toomp ties
’
-
.

Tourist : An d wha t are ump t y tump ties 2 -

Giles O omp ties wo t t he to o mp ties mak es .

Tourist B ut w h a t are tump ties 2

Giles : Wh o y wo t mak es t he o omp ties you fool

, , .

Here th e explanat ion mak es a full circle Again .

,

Fear is w h a t you feel wh en you are afraid t o face

”
danger . A swing is wha t you swing on Swing .

”
ing is w h at you do on a swing We are temp ted t o
.

res t in suc h defin i tions w h enever we are dealin g wi th

some t hing wi th w hich we are perfec t ly familiar bu t ,

w hich is no t easily classified .

T he propert ies mus t be more general th an t he

t erm i t self When we are endeav ouring t o explain
.

a new word or a new obj ec t t o a c hild we mus t use ,

only words which are famil iar t o him I t is of no .

use t o explain a chronome ter as a mechanical

ins t rumen t for t he precise measuremen t of time or
a bis h op as a h igh dignit ary of t he c h urc h B ut .

from a scien tific poin t of view th ese could be regarded

,

as good defini tions .

 DE FIN ITI ON AND CLASS IFI CA TI ON 29

They mus t n ot b e mere metap hors A m eta p h o ri .

cal descri p tion is n ot useless b ut it is n o t a de fin ition

,
.

I t m a y suggest much fo r o ur considera tion a s a ,

resul t of which we m a y by our own activity arrive

, ,
'
a t a correct definition E g A discont ented man
. . .

is o ne that is fallen o ut with the worl d and will b e ,

reve ng ed on himself F ortune has denied him

.

somethin g and he n ow t akes p et and will be mi ser

, ,
”
a bl e in s p ite ( E ar
. l e ) H ere m.a n y thin g s are p re
sented fo r our thoug ht a n d we feel we unders t and
,

b etter the re a son s why a m a n is discontented : bu t this

is not a defin ition I t may l e a d to a defin ition
. .

The p rop erties must n ot b e merely negative .

”
Sl eep is what yo u d o when y o u are n o t aw a ke .

B ut often a defin ition which is a pp aren tl y ne g ative

is really n ot so F or in stan ce lines a re either
.
,

straight o r curved a straight l ine is o ne which does

n o t ch a nge its direction ( a pp arent ly a negative

defin ition b ut re a ll y amounting to

, o ne which

keep s the same direction A curved line is o n e

which is not straight ( app arently ne g ative but ,

really amoun tin g to one whi ch ch a n ges its direc

tion H ence in some c a ses it is a mat ter of c on
v enience whether the form is p ositive o r n e g ative .

I n some cases it seems di fficul t to g ive anythin g but

a n e g ative de finition D arkn ess is the absence o f
.

lig ht A b a chel or is a man wh o is n ot married

.
.

What is desired is th a t t he defin ition should alway s

,

refer to definit e p ositive characteristics whether its ,

form be neg a tive o r n ot and it is advisab l e t o make

the defin ition affirmative wherever p ossi bl e .

These three conditions may b e call ed those o f

( ) accuracy ( 6 ) p recision ( c ) c l earness
a , , .
30 AN INT RODUCTI O N T O LOGI C

Accuracy is satisfied w h en t he de finition marks o fl

th e t hing defin ed from all o ther t hings and refers t o ,

al l t he t hings defin ed P recision is a tt ained when

.

t his marking o ff is done by means of t he fewes t and

mos t cen t ral charac t eris tics possib l e and clearness
may be regarded as a resul t of th ese t wo conditions .

EXE RC I SES .

1 . Divide into three gro ups (a s in Section 4) the p ro

p er ties p ossessed by ( a ) ho r ses ( 6 ),
w a tch es .

2 Give a descri ptive de finition o f Gl a s gow the sun

.
, ,

a motor c a r Co uld a scienti fic definition be given o f

- .

an y of th s e e 2

3 Wh a t is ( a ) the den ota tion ( b) the de finition o f m a n

.
, , ,

penn y ra ilwa y tra ck king 2

,
-
,

4 The three kin ds o f conn otation mentione d in Section

.

9 a re ordinar il y c a lled ( a ) con ven ti o n a l ( b) subj ective , ,

( c ) o bj ective connota tion I llustra te in th e c a s e o f th e

.

o b jects m entioned in Questions 1 2 3 , , .

5 D o the defin itio ns yo u h a ve a lre a d y given be a r o ut

.

the st temen t tha t in m ost o f o u definitions we cl sify

a r as 2

6 What questio ns woul d yo u a sk in tryin g to define a

.

word 2 I s there a ny shorter m etho d tha n tha t of m erely

collecting a ll the pro perties a nd then divi ding them into
g rou p s 2

7
. A term c a n be de fined by giving its genus a nd
”
differenti a . E xpl a in .

8 Are th e f o llowin g de fin itions goo d 2

.

A ki ng is a c o nstitution a l ruler .

A circle is the l o cus o f points e quidista n t from a

po int .
 DE FIN ITI ON AND CLASS I FI CATI ON 31

P a rli a m ent is a b ody o f m en chosen by th e peo ple

to m a ke l a ws .

A b ra ke is a m ech a ni c a l d evi c e fo r reduc ing

m o ti on by m ea ns o f fri c ti on .

Histo ry is a n a cc o un t of events which ha ppened

in th e p a st .

A n a il is a pi e ce o f iron wi th a he a d , to drive
thr o ugh thin gs a nd keep them to gether .

A penta gon is a figure with five e qua l s i des .

Stupi d ity is slo wn ess of m ind in wo rd a nd deed .

A ra ti ona l in tegra l fun c ti on o f a: is one in which

there a re n o powers but inte gra l ones, a nd
where th e c oe i cients o f th e va ri ous po wers
"

d o no t i nvo lve x I s this a nega ti ve d efini

.

ti on 2

9 . Wha t a re vi rtues a nd defects of th e fo ll owing if

th e
reg a rd ed a s d e fin i ti ons 2

R e venge is a kind o f wild j usti c e " whi c h th e

m o re m a n s n a ture run s to th e m ore o ught
’
,

l a w to weed it o ut ( B a c on ) . .

A plod din g student h a s a stra nge fo rc ed a ppe tit e

to lea rn in g a nd to a chieve i t b rin gs n o thi ng
,

but pa ti en ce a nd a b ody ( E a rl e ) .

10 D iscuss th e fo ll o win g de fin iti ons

.

Th e subj ec t o f th e verb is wha t is sp o ken a bo ut .

A verb is a d oin g wo rd .

A rela ti ve prono un is a wo rd th a t refers to so m e

n o un goin g be fo re c a lle d its a n tece d en t .

A ph ra se is a gro up o f wo rd s .

1 1 D iscuss th e f o llo win g

.

Hea t is a m o d e of m oti on .

A fo rtress is a stronghold .

A li qui d is a n ythin g tha t run s .

Th e clim a te o f a c o untry is its a vera ge we a ther .

12 Ma ke a sub di visi on o f c l o sed pl a n e figures so a s

.
-
,

to in c lud e a ll th e figures d ea lt wi t h in o rdin a ry ge om etry

,

di v i ding a c c o rding to n um ber a nd stra ightness o f s i des ,

a nd a c c o rdin g a s n one a ll or s o m e o f th e si d es a re e qua l

, , .
32 AN I N T RODUCTI O N T O LOGIC

13 . fo llowing di visio
I s th e n a ccura te 2

a re pr o pe ll ed e ither by ste a m o r by s a i l "

Ship s
som e a re bro a d som e long s o m e fla t
, ,

b ottom ed " s om e a re b a r ques som e c utters

, ,

som e ya chts .

14 Suggest wa ys in which childre n m ig ht be led to

.

give th e followin g definiti ons

Th e su bj ect of a se nte nce is the first n ou n .

A p a rtic iple is a p a rt of a ver b ending in ing .

The infinitive is the p a rt of the verb with to

before it .

Intra nsitive verb s d o n ot p a ss over .

P o etry is writi ng which rh ym es .

A cuckoo is a b ird th a t does n o t l a y its own e ggs .

A ch a lleng e is a question with f orc e .

15 D is tin guish betwe en di vision in the l ogic a l sense

.
,

a n d in th e s en s e in di c a ted by such a s en te n ce a s Grea t

B rita in c a n be divided in to E n gl a n d Wa les a nd Scot
,
”
l a nd .

16 Wh t a re ( a ) s yn o ym s ( b) homo yms
. a n ,
n 2
34 AN IN T RODUCTI O N T O LOGI C

N ow we h a v e argued t hus with ourselves a t t he

v arious poin t s
Clue I t may be an animal or a t ree .

Tes t D oes i t mo ve 2
N o trees mo ve .

T hi s mo ves
.

T his is no t a t ree .

All men mo ve .

T his moves .

This may be a man .

At t his poin t we co ul d say This is a man only

, ,

if we knew t hat w h a te ver mo v es is a man We do .

no t know t his and hence we had t o apply a furth er

,

tes t
All t hings wi t h a par ticul ar shape are men .

This has t his particular shape .

T his is a man .

T his passing from a few properties of an objec t t o

th e nature of th e objec t is called I nference T h at .

aspec t of i t in which we mak e use of our pre vious

knowledge t o sugges t clues and in w hich when we
, ,

hav e decided on t he mos t probable we use our ,

pre vious knowledge t o sugges t t es t s is cal led ,

We employ t he same process in endeav ouring to

solve a problem in connec tion wi t h an objec t which
is alr eady famili ar t o us We have t o t hin k of t he
.

o bj ec t in a new way in terms of some thing whic h

shall t hr ow ligh t on our problem This is well .

illu s t rat ed by th e follo wing Ca n you farm pro

fita bl y on t he bank s of t he N ile 2 T h ink of t he N ile
a s a ri v er wi th suc h and suc h a ri v er basin and a s a
 DEDUCTI VE IN FE R ENCE 35

river wi th an annual overflow How shall you .

b ridge t he N ile 2 Think of the Nile as so wide and

deep and with such a nd such a b ottom How far .

c a n yo u sail u p the N ile 2 Think o f the Nil e a s so

deep with such and such fall s and cat aracts Shall
,
.

a town pum p its drinkin g water from the Nile 2

Think of the N ile ab o ve the t own onl y and of its
” 1
sources of contamination .

The same holds in solving p robl ems e g in , . .

’
Arithmetic . The s tudent s recurring question is
What rul e d o I use 2 He shoul d be l ed t o recognise
the discovery of the rul e a s the p ro blem and hence
as somethin g which ought n ot to be given to him .

”
Generally e x am pl es are arranged under
, heads ,

so t hat t here is n o doub t as to the ru le these shoul d

be recognised as merely p re liminary e x ampl es to ,

afford the s tudent p ra c tice in seeing t he rul e exem

p lifie d in various c a ses and t he import ance shoul d
be emp hasised of miscell aneous e x am pl es where
, ,

the student is thrown b ack u p on himself .

The brin gin g to b ear of a g enera l ru l e on a parti

onl ar case is as we have said deduction
, ,
We have .

p roved that the o b ject we sa w in the distance was a

man by me a n s of deductive inference b y b ringing
, ,

the p articul ar case b ef ore us under a general rul e .

We p rove a p ro p osition in g eometry b y the ap p lica

tion of genera l rul es Here then is one of our
.
, ,

instrument s of p roo f : deduc tive in ference O nce .

we are in possession o f general rul es ( Wh a t moves is

either man or animal When the signal is down th e
train will shortly come When the c l ock s t rikes one
it is the half hour ) we can pro ve cert ain resul t s by
-

1 T
h orndike P rincip les of Tea ching p 152 ( of pp 16 0
, , . . .
36 AN INT RODU CTI ON T O LOG IC

t he application of t he se t o our part icular sit uat ions .

We are satisfied when we can do t his P roof seems .

compl e t e N ow a s we sa w t he central problem for

. ,
”
L ogic is What cons titu tes proof
,
2 D educ t i v e
inference is one of t he ins t rumen t s of proof once we ,

are in possession of general rul es Hence if we .

,

inquire under wh at con ditions can we mak e a

deduc t i v e inf erence—w h en can we apply a general
,

—
rule t o a particular case 2 we S hall hav e answered
one of t he ques tions L ogic has t o raise ( We shall .

s t ill be lef t wi th t he problem as t o where t he general

,

rul es come from and we s h all h ave t o answer th a t

lat er ) .

This s tudy is known as Formal L ogic : i t will

lead us t o examine more carefully t he nature of
t houg ht We s h all find t hat t houg ht i t self h a s a
.

definite nature which is expressed in th ose principles

,

wh ich we apply whenever we t hink T h ey are .

principles whic h are commo n t o a ll th e sciences .

For since all t he sciences are t he resul t of th ough t

,

abou t t he prope rties of obj ec t s we should expec t

,

th em all t o express th e nature of th ough t "us t as .

a great wri ter impresses h is o wn mind on all his

boo ks—o r a great burglar his own charac ter on all
his burglaries so t hough t s t amps wi th i t s o wn
-

impress a ll th e produc t s of its own ac t i vi ty If th en .

we were t o examine all t he principles in v ol ved in t he

various sciences and disent angle th ose princip l es
, ,

which t hou g h appearing in differen t dr ess are ye t

, ,

essen tiall y t he same we s h ould h a v e brought to

,

ligh t t he principles which belong t o t hought i tself .

We hav e already become familiar wi th some of t hem

in th eir applicat ion w e h av e no w t o consider
 DEDUCTIVE INF E R ENCE 37

them in themselves F o r it is only by consider

.

ing the p rincipl es o f thoug ht that we c a n decide

under wh a t conditions we can make a deduc tive
inference .

E X E R CI SES .

1 Wha t kind of co nsidera tion m ust be tho ught of in

.

a nswerin g th e f o ll owing questi ons in Ge o gra phy

Why is th e E a st Co a st o f E n gla nd drier tha n th e

West 2
Why is th e c hina cla y o f Co rnwa ll sent to th e
-

P o tteries a nd n ot m a nuf a ctured int o p or

,

o l in
c a o n th e s po t 2

Why is c otton gro wn on th e D ec c a n 2

Why a re there n o la rge inla nd to wns in Irel a nd ,

such a s Birm in gha m in E ngla nd o r Mother ,

well in S otl d
c a n 2

Why a re th e rivers o f Sp a in o f little use for

n viga ti on
a 2
( M o rt R egio na l,Geog p y )
ra h .

No te the pro cesses in your mind in a nswerin g these

questions .

2 Discuss th e fo ll owing a nd the light it thr ows on th e

.

use o f c on c epts
I no ti ced in th e fa rm ya rd a la rge pile o f sm a ll
-

wo od en tra ys sta cked a nd tha tched o ver

,

like a h a y ri ck a nd I c o ul d no t im a gine wha t

-
,

they were for A d a y o r so la ter I n oti ced

.

a sm a ll pile o f th e sa m e tra ys in a p o t a to field .

I immedia tely c oncluded tha t they h a d s ome

thing to d o wi th pota toes At first I thought .

tha t they were for ca rrying th e po ta toes

such being my ignora n ce o f p ota to digging -
.

On in q uiry I f ound tha t they were used

,

for sto ring th e p o ta to see ds during the -

”
winter .
38 AN INT RO DU CTI O N T O LO GIC

3 . Show h o w xercises in p a rsing a re e xercises

a ll e

in deductive inferen ce .

4 Discuss th e f oll o win g a nd the li ght it thr o ws o n

. ,

the se a rch for a ca us e :

Swa nse a sme lts copper which it used to get from ,

Devon Wh y wa s the coppe r no t s m elte d

.

in Devon 2 A ns Bec a use there is no co a l .

in Devon Q But why n ot b ring co a l from

. .

Swa nse a 2 A ns B ec a use it is che a per to

.

ta ke the ore to Swansea Q Wh y " A ns . . .

Bec a us e coa l is he a vier No t so bul k for .

bulk it is lighter .

SUGG E S TI ONS F OR READ I NG .

I . E . Mill er Th e P sycho logy of Th inking . pp . 2 51-2 60

.

Le cture

Lewis Ca rro ll A lice in Wonderla nd .

 C HAP TER VI .

THE FO R M AL A S P ECT O F R E A S O N IN G .

1 . Before we proceed there is a p oin t which mus t

b e c l early understood I t may p erhap s b e a p
.

p ro a c h e d by b ringin g o ut wh a t is mean t by th e
“
word formul a in Ma thematics .

There is a general formul a which enab l es us t o

square a ny number E xam pl es will in dicate what
.

it is
2 =
6 8 70 x 6 6 + 4 .

2 =
83 86 x 80 + 9 .

To square 84 W hat is the neares t ten 2

.

This is got by sub trac ting 4 When we a dd .

ge t 8 8 The s quare is
.

88 x 8 0 + 16 .

To square 8 7 W hat is the ne a res t t en 2 9 0

. .

This I s got by ad din g 3 W hen we su btrac t 3 we .

g et 8 4 The s quare is
.

90 x 8 4 + 9 .

Thus e .
g
.

68 2
+ 2) ( 6 8 —2 ) + 4
—
.

2
65 + 5) ( 6 5 5 ) + 2 5 .
40 AN IN T RODUCTI ON T O LOGI C

T he general formula is ,

2
( ( a
2 =
a + b) a -
b) +6 ,

which applies t o all numbers and is a simple , c on se

quenc e of t he iden t i t y ,

( ) (a
2 —6 2 = a +b a -
b) .

2 We see here the value of suc h a general rule or

.

formula I t t hrows ligh t on what at firs t migh t

.

appear t o be very mys t erious and v ery difficul t t o

pro ve I t does no t limi t us as a particular rule
.

would Hence we unders t and t he reason for what

.

we are doing and in ad dition we are able t o deal

,

confiden tly wi t h all cases A general formula of .

t his kin d aids bo t h th eory and prac tice .

What have we done t o all t he numbers above

t reat ed 2 We have t hrown th em all in to t he same
form I t was only because t hey co ul d be t hrown
.

in t o t he same form t hat t hey co ul d be so t reat ed .

We prove t his by using a symbol which s t ands for

any square The expressions in Algebra are t hen
.

general Al gebra t hus lays s t ress on t he forms in t o

.

whic h numbers can be pu t . In t his sense Al gebra ,

is a forma l science .

3 L e t us loo k a t proposi tions

. T ak e th e follow ing .

examples
If a h orse is four foo ted t hen four foo t ed things
-
,
-

are somet imes horses .

If all men are mort al t hen some mort als are men , .

If children are alw ays inquisit i v e t hen an ,

inquisi t ive being is some times a c h il d .

All th ese can be brough t under t he same form th a t ,

of th e second whic h we can express generally ,

If All S is P t hen Some P is S , .

42 AN INT RODUCTI O N T O LOG I C

s h ould h av e t o say O nl y mo t or cars mak e th at

,
-

noise .

B ut if you were no t able t o con vince me by simply

poin ting this ou t you wo ul d proceed t o t ak e o t her
,

cases You migh t t ake t he simple case

. All horses ,
”
are qu a dr upeds and as k me if I t hin k t hat every
,

t hing wi t h four legs is a horse 2 You would go on ,

t hrough v arious ins t ances un t il I was qui t e con ,

v in ced t hat when I say

,
All mo t or c ars mak e ,
-

”
that noise I do no t s ay t hat what ever mak es t hat
, ,

noise is a mo t or car -
.

’
6 N ow what have a horse s four legs t o do wi t h
.

t he noise made by a mo t or car t hat your men tioning -

,

t hem should help me 2 Clearly t hat was no t w h at

you wan ted me t o att end t o What you in t ended me .

t o think of was what we mea n when we mak e a

,

s t a temen t of th e same for m as All horses are quad

”
rup ed s , All mo t or cars mak e th a t noise -
In .

o ther words you were really drawing my att ent ion

,
” “
t o t he meanin g of t he form All S is P Your .

sugges tion was t ha t if my s t at emen t adequat ely

expressed th e reason in t he case of t he mo t or car -
,

t hen a similar s t at emen t ough t t o hold in t he case

of horses and in general where ver th e same form is
, ,

me t wi t h .

I shoul d indeed finall y be con vinced t hat I had

no t said qui te what I mean t t o say " t hat what I
mean t wa s t hat t he noise I heard was one peculiar
,

t o mo t or cars i e t hat only mo t or cars make t hat

-
. .
-

noise .

7 Ca n we s t at e clearly what principle is in v olved

.

here 2 It is t his t hat all reasoning all inference , ,

when comple tely expressed has a formal side in th e ,

 F ORMAL ASPECT OF R EASON ING 43

sense e xplained If y our reasons are good in this

.

c a se they must be g ood in any case which presen ts

,

the same f orm If no t they are n ot good in this

.
,

case either They a re either a ctuall y wrong or else

.
,

u have n t com pl ete l y e xp ressed a ll o u mean

y o o y .

’ ”
E g . He is poor b ecause he is honest
. Here .

we reco gnise th a t honesty is no t the comple te reason

f o r his poverty " f o r if it were so in t his case i t ,

woul d have to b e so in a ll c a ses : and we do not

intend t o assert that all hones t men are poor Hence .

something more is im plied than is e xp ressed He is .

poor because being in the circums t ances he is in or

, ,

b ein g the p erson he is he is honest W e mean t hen , .

,

that any person of his n a ture or in his circumst ances , ,

wh o wa s honest wo ul d b e p oor , And we cou l d g o .

o n t o p oin t out just what p art icu l ar f e a t ures in his

nature o r in his circumstances combined with his

, ,

hon esty cause his p overty

, .

8 Thus in reasonin g s on various matters we see

.

similar forms invo l ved " and when we di scuss a

p articul ar reasoning we oft en in e ff ec t simp ly dis
ent a n gl e the form In a ll p ro p osition s of the same
.

”
form as Al l men are mort a l All horses are ,
”
qu a dru p eds we h a ve cert ain characteristics " e g
, . .

”
it foll ows t hat Some mortal s are men Some ,
”
quadrup eds are horses e tc W e sh a ll understand , .

these prop osition s b etter when we have succeeded

in a tten din g to the form which is expressed in all of
them The form o f the p roposition is thus a charac
.

teristic which we p ick o ut f o r a cert ain p urpose We .

must then p revent irrel evant considerations from

interfering with this We have seen this process in .

the pre vio us chap ter Suppose someone were to .

44 AN IN T RODUCTI ON TO LOG I C

a sk us, Will a w hi te ca t weig hing 8 pounds coun ter

balance t wo weigh ts each o f 4 pounds 2 R emember ,

i t s a P ersian cat
’
We shoul d th in k of t he in t ro
.

duc tion of t he fac t t hat t he cat is P ersian and white , ,

as silly since for our purpose we wan t t o know onl y ,

i t s weigh t For differen t purposes di fferen t t hings

.

are relevan t And t here is an a spec t of all reasonin g

.

in w hich i t is su fficien t t o att end t o th e form whic h

t he reasoning t akes N ow t he proposi tions All men
.

” ”
are mort al All horses are quadrupeds
, e tc are , .
,

all of the sa me form a s All S is P ( or briefly of the ,

form All S is P w h ere S and P s t and for some

th ing in t elligible whose nat ure we do no t t rouble t o
specify any furth er S and P are symbols " t heir .

use enables us t o express wi t h t he maximum of

clearness jus t wha t is t he form embodied in such
propositions as th ose gi ven abo v e and t o s tudy i t ,

wi thou t being hampered by irrel evan t considera tions .

Formal Logic s tu di es t he form in t o which pro

positions and reasonings can be t hrown Accord .

ingly m w h a t follows our a tten tion will be occupied

,

wi th symbolic proposi tions such as All S is P ,

”
All A is B e tc The procedure of Formal L ogic
, .

is in this respec t similar t o t hat of Al gebra w h ic h ,

work s wi t h symbols which s t and for numbers If .

Algebra endea v oured t o wor k wi th par ticular num

bers i t s opera tions woul d be encumbered wi th so
,

much irrele vance th a t i t woul d mak e v ery li ttle

progress T he reader will fin d i t ec onomical t o
.

acquire an earl y familiari ty wi t h t he use of symbols

in Formal L ogic .
 CHAP TER VII .

THE P R E P ARA TI O N OF THE M A TE R I AL .

1 . Wh enever we recognise an o b jec t we make a

.

judgment Whenever we l ook at an object in th e

.

light of a g eneral p rinci pl e fo r the sa ke o f solving

,

some p ro blem in connection with it we make a ,

judgment Indeed all attempts to t hink abou t

.

objec ts give ri se t o judgmen ts Concep ts are .

formed a s we saw in the p rocess of making judg

, ,

ments and testin g them b y exp erience Wh en we

, .

are dealin g with things for whi ch our concep ts are

al ready more or l ess adequate the judgments we,

make can be described a s concep ts in use In using .

a concept in this way we do in general modify i t "

and thus what from one p oint o f view can be call ed I I
the use of a concept can from ano ther point of view
be call ed the formation of a concept In what .
"
fo ll ows we shall attend more t o t he former as p ec t .

But the l atter as p ect mus t no t be forgotten When .

I sa y then That is a dirty t ab l e c l o th or That

, ,
-
,
”
ta b l e c l oth is dirty I am using my concep t dirty
-
,

t abl e cloth as defining t he important th ing abou t

-

the situation in which I am pl aced When a b urgl a r

.
,

t rying t o ge t in to a house notices a windo w unbo l ted

,
46 AN IN T RODUCTI O N T O LOGI C

and says T h ere is an unbol t ed window or T h a t

, ,
”
window is un bolted he is defining by means of , ,

t he concep t unbolt ed window th a t aspec t of his ,

situation which will enable him t o proceed Wh en .

” ”
I sa y I t is raining
,
I t is half pas t eigh t I am
,
-
,

t hro wing ligh t on my situat ion by means of th e

concep t s in v ol ved as cen t res from w hich t o s t art in
,

t hinkin g or ac ting Similarly w h en t he ma th em a

.
,

ticia n aft er pu zz ling o v er a problem suddenly

, ,
”
discovers Tha t is a righ t angled t riangle
,
or -
,
”
T hat t riangle is righ t angled h e is defining t he -
,

import an t aspec t of his si tuation by means of th e con

”
cep t rig ht angled t riangle
,
-
To define a situation .

by means of a concep t is t o mak e a judgmen t I t .

s h ould be no ticed t hat in our formulation of th e

judgmen t we may break up t he concep t unbol ted
window is t he aspec t of his si tuation on w hich t he
burglar sei z es because of i t s v alue for him he may
,

sa y , T h ere is an unbol t ed windo w or he may ,

sei z e on one elemen t wi t hin this namely unbol ted , , .

I t is t he unbol ted window which h elps him ou t

of his si tuation " i t is t he unbol tedness of t he
win dow which makes th e window useful In t his .

case breaking up th e concep t he formulat es t he

,
”
judgmen t Tha t window is unbol ted
, .

2 The mat erial wi t h

. which L ogic deals is
th e judgmen t Wh a t is t he form any judgmen t
.

t akes 2 If t here are v arious forms wha t are ,

th ey 2
Th a t I s our firs t t ask P erhaps t he bes t way of .

se tting abou t i t woul d be t o examine all t he judg

ment s which occur in ordinary speech and t hough t ,

and t ry t o classify t hem .

 PREPARATI ON OF THE MAT ERIAL

In t he fir s t pl ace we mus t ask D o all sen tences ,

e xpress judgmen ts 2 "nowing what we do a b ou t

judgments we can answer
,
Any sentence whose
,

main o b j ec t is t o exp ress a fact ( or define a situation ) ,

”
e xp resses a judgment E g a question indirectl y
. . .

conve y s information but that is n o t its main object

, .

Is it rain ing 2 conveys to yo u the inf ormation

that I desire to know whether it is rainin g o r no t
b ut its c hief objec t is t o e licit information So .

with a command o r a wish Some interj ec tions.

con vey in f ormation a nd this can be regarded

,

” ”
as their main p urpose as Fire "
, Thie ves "
O thers are more in the nat ure of commands as ,

L ook out Help

A clear tes t as t o whether a sen te n ce e xpresses a
jud gment is : Is it cap a b le of being true or fal se 2
If so it e xp resses a j udgment Thus it would be
, .

imm0p er t o re g ard Woul d I were a king as

either true or f al se The charac teristic thing ab ou t
.

a jud gmen t is tha t i t claims t o be t rue E very .

judgment is an a ssertion .

Ca n we c l assif y t hose sent ences which express

judgment s so as to b rin g out the various forms of
,

the judgment 2 Le t us t a ke a few examples at

random
It ra ins .

The g ra ss is g reen .

Some coun t ries are pros p erous .

The p rime minister made an import ant a n

n oun c em ent to day -
.

It is e xp ected that t here will b e a general break

u p of the ice in a few days .

No one kn ows t he precise de t ail s .

48 AN INT RODUCTI O N T O LOGIC

If h e h ad known he would h a ve exercised more

,

care .

’
France views wi th anxie ty Germany s projec ted
increase in her army .

Viole t s grow on t hat ban k in Marc h .

I t is ei t her all or no t hing .

Capit al and labour were bitterly opposed .

4 I t is clear a t any rat e t ha t t here is an enormous

.

v arie ty in t he manner in w hich judgmen ts a re

expressed T he work of classifying t hem mus t
.

h av e in v ol ved grea t labour on t he part no t of one ,

m a n bu t of many and we s h all h ere simply accep t

,

t he resu lt s of t hat labour .

"udgmen t falls in t o three main kinds ca tegorical ,

hypot he tical and disj unc t ive, .

Cat egorical judgmen t s assert a fac t direc t ly hypo ,

th e tical j udgmen t s assert a fa ct under a con dit ion ,

while disj unc ti v e judgment s asser t an alt ernat i ve .

We shall discuss t hem in t urn confining o ur ,

atten tion meanwhile t o cat egorical judgmen t s .

5 Categorical judgmen t s are many and v aried

. .

We h av e seen th at in a ll of t hem we are defining a

gi ven si tuation by means of a concep t and t hat in ,

our formul at ion of th e judgmen t we may break up

t he concep t In many of t he ca tegorical judgmen ts
.

we make we analyse th e concep t in t o t wo elemen t s

, .

T h e grass is green T h at windo w is unbol t ed

. .

Thus many of t hem t ake a form in which some t hing

is assert ed or denied of some t hing else In a large .

class however t here is no e xp lici t subjec t a t all

, , .

I t rains It is warm In o t hers t here does no t

. .

seem t o be one subjec t alone bu t se veral Capi t al , .

and labour are oppos ed T his is no t merely Capita l

.
,
 AN INT ROD UCTI ON T O LOGIC

objec t s All E ur opeans are whi t e or a part of a

group Some coun t ries are prosperous We
hav e t hen six forms made use of by Formal L ogic
,
.

We can symbolise t hem as follows

Affirma tive S is P N egati ve S is no t P
. .

All S is P
’
. No S is P .

Some S is P . no t P Some S is .

N o tice t he form all t hese proposi tions t ake In all .

th ere are t hree part s Subjec t ( symbolised by S)

, ,

P redicat e ( symbolised by P ) and Copu l a is or is n ot

, , .

At presen t we draw a tten t ion t o th e l a s t poin t

t he copula must for th e sak e of logical form be part
, ,

of th e v erb t o be Thus e g in All t rees ha v e

. . .

”
lea ves t he copula mus t be made explici t :
, All
”
t rees are th ings having lea ves .

It is ext remely import an t t o be quit e precise in

this matt er .

E X ER CI SE S .

1 Give circum stances in which the f oll owin g j udg

.

ments would be signific a n t

The wind ow is broken .

The room is sm a ll .

The b all is round .

Sta te the concep ts a nd indi cate In wh a t wa y the y would

,

serve a s st a rtin g p oints f o r thou ght o r a ction in the

circumstances you ha ve given What IS the relation o f .

the predic a te to the who le conce pt 2

2 What a re the con cepts I n the f o llowin g
.

There Is a full moon to night -

.

I t I s ha lf p a st eight
-
.

The genera l pra ised th e soldiers for their b ra very .

I t is better to t a ke th e long ro a d through the

va lley tha n th e short one over the hills .

Trea t these pro positions a s in Question 1 .

 P R EPAR ATI ON OF THE M AT E RIAL 51

7 . Cert ain
e xpl anations remain to be made .

( )
a S is P . S is n o t P .

These are call ed sin gul ar p ropositions because the ,

subject is a singl e thin g .

The P residen t of th e United St ates is a D emoc ra t .

Thi s ch a ir is b roken .

N otice that cert a in p rop ositions seem to be

singul ar whi ch are really n o t—i e they are sin gul ar . .

in form bu t no t in meaning E g The P residen t

. . .

”
o f t he United Stat es is chosen by the p eo pl e This .

is s a id n ot onl y of the present P resident b ut o f all

P residents . It s form mus t t hen b e altered so as t o ,

b ring out it s true meaning All P residents of the

”
Unit ed St ates are chosen by t he p eo pl e where form ,

and meanin g are in agreement .

A pro p osition is a singul ar proposition if its

subject can refer t o one and o nl y one in di vidual
, , .

O therwise i t is no t and it s form must be altered

, .

E XER CI S ES .

Sta te which o f th e following a re singul a r pro positions

A tria ngle c a nn o t ha ve a ll its a ngles o btuse .

A tr i a n gle is dra wn o n th e dia gon a l o f a squ a re .

An is la nd is a b ody of l a nd entir ely s urr oun ded by

wa ter .

An isl a nd is s itua ted a t the m outh of th e ri ver .

Th e d og b a rke d ex ci tedly .

Th e shee p a nd th e c o w h a ve n o cuttin g tee th .

Th e tell er of t a les is of ne cessity a m onopo list .

A river must not be thought of m erely a s a stre a m

of wa te r.

A m a n tha t is young in ye a rs m a y be ol d in hours ,

if h e h a ve lost n o tim e .

He tha t ha th wife a nd c hildren h a th given

hosta ges to fortune .
 AN IN T RODUCTI ON T O LOGI C

8 . b
( ) All S is P . No S is P . S is here a class
name .

All E uropeans are whit e .

N o ri vers are sal t .

These proposi t ions are called uni versal affirmati v e

and negat ive In t hese t he predicat e is affirmed or
.

denied of e very member of th e class S A c l ass name .

may be used eit her dis t ribu tivel y or collec ti v ely .

Wh en a predi cat e is affirmed or denied of e very

member of the c l ass deno t ed by t he subjec t of a
uni versal proposi tion t hen t he class name is used ,
-

dis t ribu ti vely When t he pre di ca t e is affirmed or

.

denied no t of e v ery member bu t of t he class a s a ,

whole th e class name is used collec t iv ely E g

,
-
.
'
. .

All t he sol diers were di sembarke d in fi v e boa t s ,

Al l th e soldiers were supplied wi t h a new rifle .

Now in L ogic class names are always used dis -

tributiv ely Hence in t he c ase of t he sen t ence

.
,
”
Al l t he sol di ers were disemb ar ked in fi ve bo at s ,

we s h all h av e t o make some al t eration of t he form

since this if i t appeare d a s a logical sen t ence would
, ,

hav e to mean E ach so l dier was disembark ed in

,
” “
fi ve boat s E g I t will be correc t t o sa y
. . .The ,

wh ole army was disembarked in fi v e boa t s a -

singular proposi tion .

”
In All S is P All S is t he range o v er which
,

th e predicat e P is asserted If All S includes .

SI S2 S3
, , S t hen t he proposit ion assert s t ha t
n,
” ” ”
SI is P S2 is P
, Sn is P , .

”
In N o S is P t he pre di cat e P is denied of e very
,
”
member in S The p roposi tion assert s SI is no t P
.
,
”
S2 is no t P Sn is no t P , I t wo ul d be .

conduci v e t o sym me t ry if we co ul d h av e wri tt en

 PRE PA RATI ON OF THE M ATERIAL 53

this sim ply All S is n ot P B ut t his form in .

”
ordinary s p eech does no t me a n N o S is P All .

E n glishmen are n o t p atriots me a ns N o t all

E n glishmen are p at rio t s i e thou g h many are . .
,

ye t some a re not The form No S is P is more

.

natural : but we sho ul d always t hin k of it for the ,

p urposes of Formal Logic as meaning Sk is no t P ,

assert ed of every memb er in S .

E XER CI SE S .

1 . followin g propositions in to logical form

P ut th e
All th e an gles o f a tri a ngle a re e qu a l to two right
a ngles .

B ut a tri a ngle h as three a ngles .

Hence a tri angle h a s a ltogether six right a ngles .

2 P o int o ut whic h of th e foll owin g pro positions a re

.

true univers a ls a nd put them into logic a l form

,

All ro a ds le a d to London .

’
All ro a ds don t le a d to London .

E a ch m a n prep a red to depa rt .

An y b oo k which fell in to h is h a n ds wa s ea gerly

re a d .

All th a t glitters is n o t gold .

3 Put into lo gic a l form a ll th e pro positions given in

.

th e exercis es in Sec tion 7 which a re not singula r .

9 .
( )
c Some S is P no t P . Some S is .

Some coun t ries are civilised .

Some men are not industrious .

These p ro p ositions are called particul ar : a fi r ma tiv e

and negative .

There is one thing which will s t rike the s tudent

”
a s odd and that is the meaning of some , Wh en .
54 AN IN T RODUCTI ON T O LOGI C

we sa y ordinarily Some coun t ries are ci vilised

, ,

we mean some are and some are no t In o t her

, ,
.

words we mean some only or some no t all And

, , , .

when we say ordinarily Some men are no t indus ,

”
trious we mean some are and some are no t
, ,
B ut if .

so t hen t here would seem t o be no difference in mean

,
” ” “
ing be t ween Some S is P and Some S is no t P
“
.

Hence in L ogic Some S is P means ,Some S ,

a t leas t is P leaving open t he ques tion a s t o w h e t her

,

All S is P Similarly . Some S is no t P means , ,

Some S a t leas t is no t P .

” ” “ “
Mos t S is P Few S is P ,A few S is P , ,

e tc fall under t he head of part ic ul ar proposit ions

.
,
.

”
Mos t S means t he maj ori t y of S we shall
,

h ere for simplici t y represen t i t by

, Some S , .

Few S is P means Mos t S is no t P and th e , ,

”
minori ty of S is P "we shall t rea t i t as assert ing th e
”
two proposi tions Some S is P Some S is no t P
, ,

Wh a t will be our t reat men t of A fe w S is P 2

E xE R CI SE s .

P ut into logic a l form the followin g senten ces

Most of the women a nd c hil dr en were s a ved few
o f the men A few of the b o a ts h a d b een
.

provisioned " but a lmost a ll were without

wa ter An e xperience such a s this is unfor
.

gettable n ot a ll the description in the world

c a n con ve y a n ade qu a te ide a of it A man .

lives through horrors intensified by the suf

ferin g a ll roun d him .

10 T h ere are cert ain forms we shall oft en mee t

.

wi t h whic h mus t be pu t in t o logical form

, .
 P R E PARATI O N OF THE MAT ERI AL 55

a( ) O n l y S is P O nl y Ir ishmen
. are in t ha t
regiment This .N one but I rishmen a re in that
regimen t No persons who are not Irish are in
that regiment Thus O nl y S is P
. N one bu t
”
S is P and is rep resent ed in logical form b y
,
”
N othing which is n o t S is P or more short ly , , ,
”
No not S is P = NO " is P
-
. where " = not ,
” “
is sometimes P is always
“
b
( ) S S n o t . P .

”
S is generally P etc The ques tion t o a sk
, .

alway s is How much of S is P 2 Thus the firs t of

,
”
these say s that Some S is P The second that .

Some S is n o t P N otice how rigorousl y we keep

.

to o ur six forms .

( )
0 W herever y o u have S y o u have P You
can only have S in t he a b sence of P I f S is .

”
a bsen t P is generally found
, These can be wri tten .
,
”
The p resen ce of S a lwa ys means the presence of P .

The p resence of S al wa y s means the a b sence of P .

The absence of S sometimes means t he presence

”
of P . Wit h t hese hint s it will b e seen t hat they,
“
can be re p resen ted by the forms All ( S) is ( P ) , ,

No ( S) is Some ( n ot S) is ( P ) where ( S) -

means cases of the p resen ce of S and ( no t S)

, ,
-

means c a ses of the ab sence of S

, .

O ther forms will b e met with in which t he s tuden t ,

must use his o wn in genuit y .

1 1 All t hi s is a p reparation of the material for t he

.

sake of simp lific a tion W e had in t he fir st place .

c a refully to sel ect cert ain forms a s o ur s t andard

forms a nd to assign t o each of these forms one and
, ,

onl y one me a ning We had t hen to t hrow the

, .

judgments of ordinary life in t o one or o ther of t hese

f orms Sentences which e xpress judg men ts in
.
56 AN I NT R O DU CTI O N TO LOG I C

ordinary life are our specimens bu t t hey hav e to be ,

— —
prepared cu t and dried before we can use th em .

We are doing wi t h our mat erial j us t w h a t t he

bo t anis t or z oologis t or geologis t does wi t h his .

O r t o t ak e ano t her ill us t ration we are sawing our

, ,

trees in t o plan k s of cert ain forms in order t he more ,

readily t o ge t to work In pu tting proposit ions in t o

.

logical form we do no t ge t all t he meaning of t he

proposition nor is th e form always nat ural bu t
we can and mus t always see th at we do ge t enoug h
, ,

of t he meaning for our purposes .

The subj ec t and pre dicat e of a logical proposi tion

are called terms .

1 2 What we h a v e said is su ffi cien t t o indicat e

.

t hat Formal L ogic does no t claim t o discuss th e

wh ole nature of reasoning We do no t pre tend t hat
.

our cu t and dried forms in any way adequa tely

represen t th e li ving processes of th ough t bu t we
do claim th a t t here is an aspec t of comple te reaso ning
whic h can be adequa tely t rea te d by Form al L ogic .

We shall mee t t his limi t ation in ano th er form in

Ch I X
. .
,
15 .

EXE RCI S E S .

1 . Putinto logi cal form the followin g

Unm a rried m en a re best friends best masters , ,

best s ervants but no t a lwa ys best subj ects

, ,

f or the y a re light to run a wa y a nd a lm ost ,

a ll fu gitive s a re o f th a t con di ti o n B aco

( n ) . .

A knight s eldom stirred from his hous e without

a f a lcon o n his wrist In the monuments of
.
 CHAP TE R VIII .

THE LA WS O F TH O U GH T .

I Cert
. w h ich arise ou t of th e nat ure
of pro posit ion are call ed L aws of
ThOu g h ey
'

T T
’

t h were once supposed t o be t he o nl y

laws of t houg ht bu t now i t is recognised th at t h is
,

is no t th e case T hey express t he mos t element ary

.

and fundament al charac t eris t ics of th e nature of

pre dicat ion in it s formal aspec t .

2 ( a ) E v ery objec t h as many propert ies

. In th e .

case of a part icular obj ec t we know some of th em ,

and are ignoran t of o t hers Cert ain propert ies are

.

so connec t ed t hat w h ere one is t he o t hers wil l be

, .

We may know t his wit hou t knowing whe t her eit her
,

of th em belongs t o a part ic ul ar obj ec t B ut if we .

disco ver th at an objec t has t he one propert y t hen ,

we can sa y wit hou t furt her examinat ion t hat i t will ,

h av e t he o th ers This indeed is as we sa w wha t

.
, ,

mak es i t possible for us t o form and use concep t s .

If now w e t hin k of t he judgments we mak e abou t

obj ec t s w h at we have already said comes t o this
,

e very subj ec t can have many predica te s and we may ,

kno w some of th e predicat es and be ignoran t of

o th ers We may know th at cert ain predicates are
.
 THE LA WS OF TH OUGHT 59

alwa y s connec ted without kn owing wh ether any o f

,

t hem apply to a p a rt ic ul ar su b jec t B ut if we dis .

cover that one of them do es ap ply to the subjec t ,

then we can sa y without further e x aminat ion t hat

, ,

the others will This is the sim plest case of dodu o

.

tive thinkin g .

Thus it is c l e a r that t he most elementary s t ate

ment we can make ab out p re di cation is
E very su b jec t c a n have man y predicat es .

.2 ( 6 ) E very singular term is pre dicab l e o f itself .

This house is this house .

The P rime Minister is t he P rime Min is ter .

”
The general formul a is A is A .

This may be called t he P rincipl e of t he Ident ity

o f Terms .

This may not seem of much importance but it is ,

lik e the l aw of t he l and negligibl e so l ong as we do

no t break i t . If we use a term in two pl a ces in such
a way that the term as it a p pears in one p l ace canno t
be predicated o f the term as it appears in t he other ,

t hen our reasoning c a nno t b e correct In o t her words .

,

a t erm mus t n o t b e used in two incompati bl e senses .

Ambiguity o f words makes t his very diffi cult to

avoid We shall meet it l ater The onl y way to
. .

avoid it in l ong or complic a ted discussions is t o fi x

c l early t he meaning of all import a nt terms at the
very b eg inning and to kee p st rictl y to the meanings
,

t h roughout the whol e discussion Technical terms .

are the resul t o f this In cert ain sub jec ts

P o l itical E con omy Art L it erat ure—we find l ong
.

, ,

discussions a s to t he various shades o f meanin g a

term possesses which m a y seem at first sight un
,

necessary but whic h are really of great import ance

, .
60 AN INT RODUCTI O N T O LOGI C

3 .
( )
c If S be any singu l ar t erm and P be any ,
”
predicat e th en th e t wo proposit ions S is P
,
S ,

”
is no t P canno t bo th be t rue T h e one cont radic t s
,
.

t he o t her O ne mus t be false In ordinary life th e

. .

law appears in t he form of t he maxim You mus t

no t con t radic t yourself B ut for t he sak e of
.

accuracy i t is imperat ive t o s t at e th e l a w in th e

above form I t is called th e L aw of N on con t ra
.
-

dic t ion .

This h orse is brown T his h orse is no t brown

. .

T his plate is made of gold T his plat e is no t made of

.

gold .

E ngland is a geograp h ical E ngland is no t a ge ogra

t erm .
p h ic a l t erm .

Consider th ese three pairs The L aw says th at

.

bo th s t at emen ts canno t be t rue .

I t may be objec t ed th at th e h orse is part ly brown

and partly no t and hence bo t h s t at emen t s are
,

t rue " or th at loo k ed at in one lig ht i t is brown ,

and in ano th er lig ht i t is no t .

Similarly i t mig ht be obj ec ted th at one side of th e

plat e is gold and th e o t her side is sil ver or th at t he
plate is m ade of a mix t ure of gold a nd silver and
t hat h ence bo t h s t at emen t s are t rue .

In t he t hird case i t mig ht be said th a t clearly

E ngland can be considered as a geograp hical t erm ,

or again a s a te rm w hic h signifies a people under

a cert ain form of go v ernmen t with a common ,

n a t ion a l life e t c and th at thus bo t h s t atemen ts

,

are t rue .

B ut a closer considerat ion will show th e mi s t ak e .

We h ave no t been sufficien tly in earnes t with t he

law The subjec t is to remain th e same and th e
.
,
 THE LA WS OF TH OUGH T 61

p redicat e is t o rem a in the same An d in order t o .

b e certain that we are keep ing the terms t he same ,

we must make them p erfectly definite .

E g The who l e horse is bro wn ( seen from a parti

. .

c ul a r p oint of View ) .

The whol e horse is no t b rown ( seen from t his same

p oint of view )
o r again A definite part of t he horse is b rown
,
.

The same p art of the horse is n o t b rown .

Thus we must keep the same point Of view and ,

s p eak about the same t hin g ( or t he same part ) t he

appl icat ion o f t he law is then c l ear .

In the third case we are c learly t rying t o giv e

,

two mean in g s to t he word E ngland .

4 ( d ) If S b e any singular term and P any p re

.
,
”
dic a te then of the two statemen t s
,
S is P S is ,

not P one mus t be true Both cannot b e fal se

,
. .

There is no middle course between affi rmin g and

denyin g P of S I f y ou refuse to a fl
. i rm that S is P ,

y o u are there b y com p e ll ed to admit t hat S is no t P .

This is call ed the L aw o f E x c luded Middl e .

Take the pre vious e x a mpl es Y o u may say again .

that t here is n o need to accept either statement .

Th e horse is p artl y b rown and partly no t e tc B ut , .

the whol e troub l e in all t he cases comes throu g h not

bein g p erfectly expl icit about the terms Which .

p art are you talkin g about 2 That part mus t eit her
be brown o r not .

Again it may be said t hat i t is sim p l y meanin gl ess

,

either t o affirm o r t o deny e g that virtue is white

, . . .

But it seems sim pl es t in such a case to sa y t hat

virt ue is not white T h at does not imp ly that
.

virt ue is coloured .
62 AN IN T RODUCTI ON T O LOGIC

Is t here any reason for t his law in addit ion t o th e

pre vious one 2 The law of non cont radic t ion says -

t hat bo t h s t at emen t s canno t be t rue B ut if our .

knowledge ex t ended no furt her than t his t here ,

woul d s t ill remain t he possibilit y t hat neit her was

t rue The law of excluded mid dl e is t herefore
.

necessary in order t o negat ive this possibili t y

,
.

The t wo laws can be t hough t of t oge t her O f t he

” ”
t wo proposit ions S is P S is no t P one mus t
, ,

be t rue and one fal se .

5 Suppose we are t al king of a definit e in di vidual

.

t hing : a rose a pen a boo k L e t us t ak e t he

, , .

following s t at emen t s
This rose is red . T his rose is no t red ,

This pen is bro k en T h is pen is no t bro k en

. .

This boo k is on th e t able This boo k is no t on t he .

t able .

Here we h ave pairs of s t at ement s one affirming , ,

one denying t he same t hin g of each subj ec t We

, .

hav e seen t hat one of eac h pair mus t be t rue and one
false .

6 Suppose for t he sak e of simplici t y t ha t we

.
, ,

hav e fi v e roses t oge t her we will call t hem a b c , , ,

d e
, . We ha v e t he follo wing pairs
a is red a is no t red
. .

b is red b is no t red
. .

0 is red c is no t red
. .

If I say All th e roses are red

, I mean simply ,

t o assert all t he firs t set N ow if I sa y Some of

.
, ,
”
t he roses are red do I assert a ny of t he firs t set 2
,

D o I for ins t ance assert t hat a is red 2 or t hat b is 2

, ,
 THE LAWS OF TH OUGH T 63

It seems no t What then d o I assert

. I assert t hat 2

either a is or b is or c is e t c
, , , .

Su pp ose I am t ol d that b is n o t red and d is n ot ,

red a nd e is n ot red Will that make m y statement

, .

f alse 2 Cle a rly n ot fo r I c a n still f a ll b a ck on the

,

p ossib il it y that a and c a re red How then coul d .

m statement b e p roved f a l se 2 O nl y by cu tt in g
y
0 even these p ossib il ities : in ot her words by show ,

in g that non e of them a re red The statement t hat .

some of the roses a re red c a n b e contradic t ed onl y

by the sta tement that non e o f the roses a re red .

7 Let us l o ok at t his a g ain

. If a c a nd d are .
, ,

red then it foll ows that Some of the roses are red
,

is true B ut if a is red is true t hen a is no t

.
“
,
“

red is fal se If c is red is true t hen c is n ot

.
,
”
red is fal se So with d is n ot red. It woul d .

seem then t hat Some o f the roses are n ot red

is fal se B ut if this were so then it woul d b e false
.
,

to say that b a nd e are no t red " and hence b and 6

woul d h a ve to b e red sim pl y because a c a nd d , ,

are It f o ll ows from this that t he t re a tmen t o f true

.
,

and fal se p ro p ositions di ffers .

If a is red ,

c is red is true , ,

d is red ,

then Some roses a re red is t rue ,

b ut if a is red ,

0 is red fal se , ,

d is red ,

then we cannot sa y that Some roses are red ,

fal se .

We can only add true pro p osit ions in t his way .

64 AN INT RO DUCTI O N TO LOGIC

8 We can now deduce cert ain resul t s as

.

th e part ic ul ar and universal proposit ions .

If All S is P is false what hap pens 2 ,

is SI P .

S2 is P .

S3 is P
All S i s P means
.

S4 is P
,
.

D o we mean t hat e v ery one of t hese s t at emen t s

is false 2

N o We o nly mean th at a t leas t some of

.

are false L e t e g
. . .

Sz is P
S4 IS P
be false .

T hen by th e law of excluded mid dl e ,

S2 is no t P
S4 is n o t P
are t rue .

Hence Some S is no t P
, is t rue .

9 We can s t a t e t his sys t emat ically a s follows

.

If All S is P is false t hen i t is false t o a ssert

,

a ll t he proposi t ions
66 AN IN T RODUCTI O N T O LOGI C

10
. T h e follo wing res ul ts may be sho wn
S S P
“
( )
a If All S is P is t rue t hen ome is ,

is also t rue Some S is no t P

. is false and h ence ,

also N o S is P is fal se .

b
( ) If N o S is P is t rue t hen S ome S is no
,
t
P is also t rue Some S is P
. is false and hence ,

also All S is P is fal se .

( )
0 If S ome S is P is t rue th en NO S is P ,

is false All S is P
. may be t rue Some S is .

no t P may be t rue .

d
( ) So for Some S is no t P .

An y t wo proposit ions which canno t bo th be t rue

are said t o be incomp a tible If in ad dit ion neith er .
,

need be t rue t hey are said t o be con tra ry E g All

, . . .

S is P N o S is P
, B ut if one of th em must be t rue
.
,

t hey are said t o be con tra dictory E g Al l S is P . . .

,

Some S is no t P N o S is P Some S is P
.
, .

T h ese relat ions may be represen te d on a diagram

Contra ries
All 8 is P No 8 is P

Some 8 is P Some 8 is not P

Con t rary
proposit ions are incompat ible proposi
t ions neither of which need be t rue Cont radi c t ory
, .

proposit ions are incompat ible proposit ions one of ,

w hic h mus t be t rue .

 THE LAWS OF T H OUGH T 67

E XE RCI SES .

1 . If Som e A is B istrue prove by mea ns of th e

,

la ws of thought tha t No A is B is fa lse

,
.

”
2 If is true sho w tha t No A is B
“ “
. All A is B ,

is f a ls e .

3 If it is a bsurd to supp ose tha t

. All birds c ommuni
”
c a te by mea ns of l a ngua ge wha t is true 2 If it would
,

be no less a bsur d to deny th e f a ls i ty o f th e a ssum ption

th t No birds c n count wha t is true
a a ,
2

4 Defin e contra ries a nd c o ntradictories

. Wha t is
.

th e contra di c t o ry o f Th e b o ok is red 2 Give a

sta tement which is c ontra ry to this a nd S how why , .

5 D o th e sta tem ents

. This horse is p a rtly brown ,
”
This ho rse is not p a rtly brown c on tra dict
, on e
a nother 2 ( P ut b o th in to strict l o gic a l f o rm ) .

6 Wh a t is me a nt by
. a contradiction in terms 2
 CHAPTE R I X .

THE S Y LL O GI S M .

In order t o explain comple t ely th e significance

1 .

of t he uni versal proposit ion we mus t hav e recourse,

t o a furt her principle t h e principle of t he syllogism

, ,

wh ich can be expressed t hus

If t wo proposit ions are so relat ed t hat t he second
is t rue pro vided t he firs t is and if furth er t he firs t
,

is t rue th en t he second is t rue

, .

E g . . If A is B t hen A is C ( )
a .

B ut A is B b
( ) .

A is G ( )
c .

Here ( a ) s t at es th at t he t wo proposi t ions A is

”
B , A is G are so relat ed t hat A is G is t rue
pro v ided A is B is t rue " ( b) s t at es t hat A is
B is t rue h ence by th e principle of t he syllogism
we are enabled t o s t at e ( 0) t hat A is C is t rue
”
i e t o asser t
. . A is G The t hree t aken t oge th er
.

are called a syllogism ( a ) which assert s t he con

.

nec tion be t ween t he t wo proposi t ions is called t he ,

major pr emiss ( b) which assert s t ha t t he firs t pro

posit ion is t rue is called t he minor p remiss " ( c ) is
,

th e conclusion whic h follows from or can be inferred ,

 THE S YLLOGI S M 69

from the, twop remisses I t is c a ll ed simply the .

conclusion . I n p assin g f rom p remisses to c on c lusI On

we are s a id to m a ke a deductive inference .

2 The m a jor p remiss may take various forms

.

it may b e either a c a tegoric a l hyp othetical o r a , ,

disjunctive p ro p osition correspondin g we g et the ,

c a te g oric a l hyp othetic a l or disjunctive s yll ogism

, , .

This statement requires some e xpl anation fo r it

woul d seem a s if the only p ossibl e syllo g ism ou g ht
to b e the hypothetic a l Its genera l statement .

woul d b e
If A is B , th en C is D .

B ut A is B .

C is D .

B ut t a ke ,
e .
g .
, the fo ll owin g p remisses
All A is B .

B ut X is A .

All A convey s among other things t he

is B ,

information : I f a nythin g is A t hen it is B

and thus in this c a se If X is A then it is B , , .

We h a ve then
I f X is A then it is B , .

B ut X is A .

X is B .

W e c a n t hus rega rd Al l A is B a s the major ,

a nd X is A as the minor p remiss o f a s yll ogism ,

”
whose con clusion is X is B .

3 Ho w much inf ormation does

. All A is B
conve y 2 I t tell s us a t l e a st
( )
a I f a n yth in g is A the n it is B , .

( b) If anythin g is n ot B then it is n o t A , .

0 B
( ) ut a t hing can b e B without being A .
70 AN IN T RODUCTI ON T O LOGI C

Hence ( 1 ) If we are t old th at a th ing is B we

,

canno t sa y wh e th er i t is A or no t ( 2 ) If we are .

t old t ha t a t hing is no t A we c anno t say whe t her

i t is B or no t .

Thus we have four cases

All A is B . All A is B .

X is A . X is no t A .

X is B . N o conclusion .

All A is B . All A is B .

X is B . X is no t B .

N o conclusion . X is no t A .

4 . T h e reader can disco v er for t elf th e in t er

p re ta tio n of t he proposi t ion N o A is B leading

t o th e four cases
No A is B . No A is B .

X is A . X is no t A .

X is no t B . N o conclusion .

No A is B . No A is B .

X is B . X is no t B .

X is no t A . N o conclusion .

5 .Thus if th e maj or is a universal cat egorical

proposit ion t here are eigh t possible se ts of premisses
, ,

of w h ic h four give us a conclusion The ) s t uden t .

s h ould ge t in t o th e habi t of t hin k ing ou t eac h on

it s own merit s somewhat as follows
,

All A is B.

X is no t B .

The minor t ell s us t hat some t hing is no t B The .

maj or t e ll s us t hat if it is no t B i t is no t A Hence , .

X is no t A .
 THE SY LLO GI SM 71

E X ER C I SES .

1 Al l
. vo ters ha ve a sha re in th e m a na gem ent of th e
co untry .Wha t c a n we c on clude from th e kn owledge
( )
a th a t a p e rs on is n o t a v o te r ( b) th a t a person h a s n o
,

sha re in the m a n a gem ent of th e c ountry ( c) tha t a ,

person h a s a sha re in th e m a na gem ent of th e c ountry 2

2 If it is f a lse tha t a go o d educ a ti on is so m etim es
.

thr own a wa y on a m a n wha t conc lusion c a n you dra w

,

from th e sta tem ent tha t a p a rticula r m a n h a d a good

educ a ti o n 2

3 . There is a c a b pa ssi ng Ho w do yo u know 2

.

Be c a use o f its n o ise .All c a bs m a ke tha t no ise .

Would this reply be c o rre c t 2

4 Discuss th e fo llowin g putting them into stric t

.
,

form
Wherever you ha ve P you ha ve Q But in .

R Q is a bsent
,
Hen c e in R P is a bsent
.
, .

This district h a s n ot a grea t ra infa ll for ,

m ounta ins a re needed b ef o re y o u ha ve ra in ,

a n d here there a re n o m o u n t a in s I n ( b) wh a t
.

c onclus i on c ould be dra wn from th e inf orm a

ti on tha t there were m oun ta ins in th e dis
tric t 2

This c la use is a sub ordin a te c la use fo r it ,

begins with a rela tive pronoun a nd a ny ,

c l a use whic h b egins wi th a rel a tive pro n oun

is s ubordina te .

6 The im p ortance of this discussion arises from

.

the fac t t hat every p a ir o f c a te g orical p ropositions

which have a common term is a potential p air of
p remisses for a s yll o g ism It may b e p ossibl e t o
.

dra w a conc l usion Let us see t o how many cases

.
.

our forms wil l apply .

72 AN IN T RODUCTI O N T O LOGIC

Take th e syllogism
All A is B .

X is A .

X is B .

Suppose is t rue for every member

X is A
of t he class C " i e suppose G1 is A G2 is . .
,

A e t c ( i e All 0 is A )
, . Then we hav e t he set of
. . .

syllogisms
All A is B .

01 02 03 1s A , , , .

01 02 is B " , , .

or in o t her words All A is B All 0 is A All 0

, ,

is B If however we on l y kn ow th at th e s t a te m en t
.
, ,

X is A is t rue for some members of th e class 0 ,

t hen we have
All A is B .

01
is B ( i e Some C is B )
or G2 . . .

or in o t her words All A is B So m e G is A , Some ,

0 is B The same t hin g holds of all t he o th er

.

syllogisms .

We no w have corresponding t o eac h of our ,

original four se t s of premisses from which a con

e lusion could be drawn t wo o t her se t s making , ,

twel ve di fferen t se t s in a ll B ut t he argumen t in .

t he new cases is precisely th e same a s in t he o rI gma l

ones e g , .

A HA Is B
’
No C is B .

T h e minor t ells us th at cert ain t hings are no t B

74 AN I N T RODU CT I ON T O LOGI C

All g ood l esso n s a re direct e d to o n e e n d—the

develo pm en t o f initia tive B ut a lesson in
.

which th e c hildr en a re told e verythin g doe s

n o t de vel o p their initi a tive .

It is no t a lwa ys th e b est m a n wh o win s But .

th e m a n wh o wins is genera lly reg a rded a s th e

best m a n .

7 . All t he syllogisms wi th w hic h we h ave so far

deal t have cert ain common c h arac teris tics ( w hic h
can be disco vered by an examinat ion of th e simples t
four t ypes ) namely , ,

( )
a The maj or premiss is a uni v ersal proposi t ion .

b
( ) The common t erm is th e p r edica te of th e minor
premiss .

( )
c T h e subj ec t of th e minor premiss is al so th e
subj ec t of t he conclusion .

Fur th er we h ave deal t wi th all th e possible

syllogisms whic h presen t t hese char a c teris tics .

I t foll ows t hat if we can pu t any syllogism

in t o thi s form we shall be able t o t reat i t The
, .

problem of dealing wi th a ll fu ture syllogisms th en

reduces t o th a t of t hrowing t hem in t o t his
form . And t hat fort una tely is a v ery simple
, ,

matter .
"

( )
a If we have t wo proposi t ions wi t h a common
term bo th of w h ich are part icular t hen of course
, ,

we canno t deal wi t h th em by our presen t me th od .

We can deal only wi t h such pairs a s h a v e one pro

p o s i t ion uni v ersal .

b
( ) I f only one p roposi t ion is universal ,
i t mus t
be chosen as m aj or If bo th are uni v ersal ei ther
.
,

may be c h o sen a s major .

 THE SYLLOGI SM 75

c( ) The nex t t hin g is th a t th e common te rm mus t

,

be the p redicate of the minor B ut suppose it is .

no t Then we mus t find a p ro p osition which we

.

c a n subs t itu te f o r the minor p remiss and whose ,

p redicate is the middle ( i e common ) term Let . . .

us t a ke a n example
All A is B .

All A is 0 .

Here the firs t proposition being universal can , ,

s t a nd a s maj or premiss B ut the common term A .

is the subj ec t of the minor premiss W e w a n t it a s .

the p re dicate W hat we do is to re pl ace All A is

.

G by a p roposition whose t ru t h fo llows from the

tru th of that and which has 0 in t he subjec t and A
,

in the p redicate .

8 Le t us t ake our old p ro positions

. Al l S is P ,
” ”
No S is P , Some S is P Some S is not P , ,

a nd see if we can dea l with t hem a ll in t his way .

W e leave i t to the reader to prove ,

( )
I If A ll S is P t hen S ome P i
,s S .

( )
2 If N o S is P then N o P is S
, .

( )
3 If some S is P then S ome P is S , .

This process of passin g from a given p roposition

to a pro p osition whose truth follows from that o f
the given p roposition and whose su b jec t is the pre
,

dic a te and predi c a te the su bject o f the giv en p ro

position is call ed conversion
, .

The case of Some S is n o t P p resen ts diffi

c ulties . Ca n we infer that Some P is no t S 2
N o for i t is p ossible that All P is S ( E g Some
, . .

animals are no t Can we infer that Some

”
P is S 2 No fo r it is possible that
, No P is S .
76 AN I NT RO DU CTI O N T O LOGI C

E
( g . where v er N o S is P
. Hence i t seems th a t .

in t his c ase we are powerless .

We ge t ou t of t he difficul t y by a device What .

ever is no t P is charac t erised by t he absence of th e

,
”
propert ies P If Some S is no t P th en Some
.
,

S is charac t erised by t he absence of P It follows .

th at Some t hing charac t erised by t he absence of P

is S We have now succeeded in ge tt ing S in t he
.

predicat e t hough only by passing from P t o a new

t erm .

If we symbolise t he class charac t erised by th e

absence of P ( all t hings which are no t P ) a s th e class
no t P we ca n wri te t he process t hus
-
,

Some S is no t P . Some S is no t -
P .

T h is can now be con v ert ed Some no t P is S -

.

T he device of passing from one proposi tion to

ano th er w h ose t ruth foll ows from t hat of t he firs t ,

and whose predicate is t he con t radic tory of th e

predica t e of t he firs t is called obversion It may
, .

be prac tised on all th e proposi tions .

E XAMP LE S .

1 . Convert th e f o ll owing propositions

Some m en a re goo d runners .

No ne of the lower a nim a ls c a n communic a te

m e a n s o f l a n gu a ge .

Twenty m en kill ed twenty tigers .

Al l trees h a ve le a ves .

A m a n som e times f a ces mis f ortune b ra vely .

2 . Ob vert th e following
No m en wh o a re tra itors a re to be s p a red .

All men wh o c a n h a ndl e a ri fle a re to go .

All S is P .
 THE S YLLOGI SM 77

3. vert No n o t A is B
Con -
Then Obvert Hence
. .

”
S h ow th a t Only A is B is eq uiva lent to All B is A .

4 All things a re either c lever o r stupid or neither

.

clever nor stupid .

Neither clever no r stupid .

Show tha t
( ) aI f X i s n o t c l e ver w e d o n o t kn o w wh e the r it
is stupi d .

b
( ) If X is cl ev er w e k n o w th a t it is n o t stu pi d .

5 Ca n we pa ss ( a ) from
. All kn o wled ge is us eful to
”
No knowled ge 18 useless ( b) from All X spe a k well
,

No X spe a k b a d ly f r m X p k w ll
’
to ( )
,c o N o S e a e

to Al l X spea k b a dly .

6 From th e fo ll owing deduc e pro p os i ti ons in which

.
,

th e n ew predic a tes a re the s a m e a s th e o ld s ubj ects :

Some m en a re n o t good r unn ers .

A m a n wh o h a s l ost his em pl o yment through

a n a cciden t is n o t a lwa ys in c a p a cita ted f o r

lighte r employm ent .

All is n ot gold tha t glitters .

9 .We are now abl e t o carry out t he two rul es

( )
1 A unive rsal p remiss mus t b e chosen a s major .

( )
2 The common term ( genera ll y call ed the
middle term ) must b e made the pred icate
of the minor .

F or e x a m pl e : All men a re ratio n al : b u t some

men do n ot reason correctl y What conc lusion .

fo ll ows 2

Appl ying t he rul es we have ,

Major : All men I are I rational .

Minor : Some men l are no t I persons who

reason correc tly .
78 AN INT RODUCTI O N T O LOGI C

Th e middle term is men We mus t replace t he .

minor by a proposi tion in whic h men is th e predi c a te .

We mus t firs t O b v ert .

Some men I are I persons w h o do no t reason

correc tly .

We can now con v ert th is .

Some persons w h o do no t reason corre c tl y

I are I men .

T h is is our new minor .

Maj or : All men I are I rat ional .

Minor : Some persons w h o do no t reason

correc tly I are I men .

The minor te lls us t hat some th ings are men .

The maj or tells us th a t if a t hing is a man th en it is

rational Hence .
,

Some persons w h o do no t reason correc tly

I are I rational .

Wh a t could w e sa y abou t rationals 2 Con vert .

We ge t ,

Some ra tionals I are I persons w h o do no t reason

correc tly .

O r ob vert ing
, ,

Som e rat ionals I are no t I persons w h o reason

correc tly .

We hav e now reached a proposi t ion con taining

t he original terms .

10 O ne rul e remains
. If bo th premisses are .

univ ersal eith er may be c h osen as maj or " bu t if

,
"
wh en one is c h osen as maj or we Ican deri ve no
conclusion we mus t no t infer t ha t no conclusion
,

is possible un t il we h av e t ried th e o th er a s
maj or .

There are only th ree cases w h ere this h appens .

 THE S YLLOGIS M 79

( )
a All A is B . b
( ) All A is B .
( )
c All A is B .

All B is G . No A is G . No G is A .

( a ) All A is B .

All B is C .

Choose is B
All A as major The middl e .

te rm is B This mus t b e the p redicate o f the minor

. .

No w if All B is C then Some 0 is B ,

.

We have now ,

All A is B .

Some 0 is B .

The minor te ll s us th a t something is B but t he

major te ll s us t h a t if a thin g is B we d o n ot know ,

wh ether it is A H ence we d o n o t know whether

.

some 0 is A .

Hence no con cl usion when All A is B is tak en ,

a s major .

Try All B is 0 as majo r Then All A is B .

1s mmo r and B is al ready the p redicat e

, Thus we .

h ave
All B is G .

All A is B .

The minor te ll s us th a t somethin g is B the

m a jor te lls us that if a thin g is B then it is 0 Hen ce , .

Al l A is C .

b
( ) A ll A is B .

NO A is 0 .

Taking All A is B as m a j or we hav e , ,

All A is B All A is B
—No
. .

No A is G .
> C is A .

The minor te ll s us that somethin g is no t A B ut .

from t he major if a thin g is n o t A we d o not know

, ,
80 AN I N T RODUCTI ON T O LOGIC

whe t her i t is B Hence we do no t know whe th er

.

0 is B Hence we ge t no conc l usion when All

. ,

A is B is chosen a s the maj or .

Taking N o A is 0 a s maj or we h ave

“
,

No A is C No A is G '

—
. .

All A is B > So m e B is A . .

T he minor tells us t h a t some th ing is A from t he

maj or if a thing is A t hen i t is no t 0 Hence Some
, , .

B is no t 0 .

Similarly wi t h ( c ) .

E XE R C I S E S .

1 Wh a t c on clusion s c a n be dra wn from the f oll owin g

.

I t is a s a bsurd to suppose tha t a ll m en a re c a p a ble

o f e x ercisin g a n in te lli gen t use o f th e vote a s

it woul d be to den y tha t a ll m en use the vote .

His b ooks a re o f two kin ds thos e h e wro te to

ple a se him self a nd tho se h e wrote to e a rn a
,

livin g Now work written f or the jo y o f

.

wr itin g is good wo rk " while work written

m erely to e a rn a livin g is b oun d to be o f
inferior qu a lity .

All good less on s develo p initi a tive But lessons .

in whi ch c hildr en a re to ld everything a re n o t

good lesson s .

Only m en a re ra tion a l o nl y ra tion a l b ein gs c a n

use l a n gu a ge ( I t is g en era lly m
. ost c on ven

ien t in s yllo gistic wo rk to put Onl y S is P

, ,

into its e quiva lent form All P is S) .

All men a re ra tion a l only m en c a n use la ngu a ge .

2 I n m a n y a rgumen ts in ordin a ry lif e on e prem iss is

.
,

o m itted F o r insta n ce in An ind efin a ble s omethin g

.
,

a b out him pr o c l a imed him to be a gen tlem a n the two ,

premisses a re He h a d a n indefin a ble som ethin g a bout

,

h im Al l pe rsons with this indefin a ble s o m e th in g a b out

them a re gentlem en Point o ut the implied p remisses
.

in th e foll owin g
82 AN INT RODUCTI O N T O LOGIC

4 P ut
. the followin g a rgum ents into pro per form
Wh a tsoever their esta tes b e their house must ,

be f a ir Therefo re from Am sterda m the y

.

ha ve b a nished sea co a l lest it soil their

-
,

buildings .

Most of th e rivers flo w a cross th e Meseta to th e

west As a ru le they run in to ro cky cha nn e ls
.

cut deep in to the pla te a u a nd a re therefore

, , ,

o f little use f o r n a vi ga tion .

On this west sho re we f ound a de a d fish fl o a tin g ,

which h a d in his n os e a ho rn stra ight a nd

to rq
,

uet of l eng th two ya rds l acki ng two

,

in ches being b roken in the top where we

, ,

might perceive it ho llow into which some ,

o f our s a ilors puttin g s piders the y presently

died I sa w n ot th e tria l thereof but it

.
,

wa s rep orted unto me o f a truth by th e ,

Virtue whereof we supp osed it to b e the sea

unicorn ( H a klu yt )
. .

11 We hav e now discussed all t he cases except

.

t hose in w hich nei th er premiss is uni ve rsal i e in . .

whic h bo th premisses are part ic ul ar In t hese .

cases t he principle of t he syl logism does no t apply .

From a part ic ul ar proposition we canno t deri ve a

proposi tion whic h expresses t he required connec t ion
be tween t wo proposi tions Hence we canno t use .

the syllogism W h e th er a conclusion can be deri v ed

.

in any o t her way w e do no t here as k .

1 2 Hypo t he t ical syllogism

. Here t he maj or is a
.

h ypo t he tical proposi tion The general form of t he

.

”
m aj or is If A is B , t hen C is D
, If a coun t ry .

”
is moun t ainous i t will have a larg e rainfall
, .

”
The mat c h will ligh t if i t be s t ruc k ( This .

sh ould be writte n in th e form , If th e mat c h be

 THE S YLLOGI SM 83

s t ruck t hen it will light

,
In a hypothe tical
p rop osition t he prop osition exp ressin g the condition
,

is called the anteceden t " t hat asserted under this

condition the consequen t
,
.

L e t us l ook at o ne of the a bove prop ositions .

I f a country is mountainous it will have a l arge ,

”
rain fa ll . Su pp ose we assert th a t a count ry is
mountainous Then we must g o o n t o assert that
.

i t has a l arg e rain fall Sup pose the coun try is no t

.

mountainous Then c l early we do not know whether

.

it has a l arge rainfall If we are to l d tha t a country

.

has a l arg e rainf all c a n we say whet her it is moun

,

ta ino us or n o t 2 D oes o ur hypo t he tical proposition

assert the on ly conditions under which a coun try
has a l arge rain f al l 2 N o There may b e o t her .

conditions Hence we c a nno t say in t his case t h a t

.
, ,

the country is moun t ainous B ut if finall y the .

, ,

country h a s n o t a l arg e rain f all then it cann o t be ,

moun t ainous for if it were mount a inous i t woul d ,

have a l arg e ra inf all T hi s a n a lysis is exactly .

p ara lle l to that of the meaning o f All A is B in

Section 3 .

So in the case o f If A is B t hen 0 is D If we , .

’
know that A is B then we know furt her that C is D
, .

If we know t hat A is n ot B then we do no t know ,

whether 0 is D I f we kno w that G is D t hen we

.
,

do n o t know whether A is B Finally if we know .

,

that G is no t D we know t hat A is no t B " for

,

if A were B then 0 woul d b e D

, .

Thus t he two p ossibl e s yll ogisms are

If A is B , th en G is D . I f A is B , th en G is D .

B ut A is B . B ut C D
is not .

C is D . A is not B .
84 AN INT RODUCTI O N T O LOGI C

From t he affirmation of t he an t eceden t you can

affirm t he consequen t and from t he denial of t he
,

consequent you can deny t he an t eceden t .

Suppose we are given t he proposi tion

If you do your work you wil l pass the e x aminat ion
, .

Wha t fo ll ows ( a ) where you pass ( b) where you ,

do no t pass ( c ) where you do no t do your work 2

,

1 3 D isjun ctive s yllogism

. Here t he maj or is a
.

disjunc t i ve proposit ion The general form of th e

.

disj unc t iv e proposition is A is ei t her B or

,

Here t he ques t ion arises as t o t he meaning of

”
ei th er . or . We cert ainly mean t hat A mus t
.

be one of t he t wo bu t do we mean t hat i t cann ot be

,

bo t h 2 Some t imes we do and some t imes we do ,

”
no t E g in He is ei th er th irt y or very nearly so
. . .
,

clearly t he al t ernat ives e x clude one ano t her In .

Applican t s mus t be graduates in ei t her art s or

”
science we d o no t mean t o exclude a gradua te in
,

bo t h .

Thus th e proposi tion may mean ,

’
( )
1 A is ei t her B or C ( perhaps bo th ) .

( )
2 A is ei t her B or 0 ( no t bo t h ) .

T h e second t ells us more t han t he firs t " in t he

absen ce t h erefore of any definite indicat ion as to
, ,

whic h is in tended we mus t t ake the firs t meaning .

T h e simples t plan is t o s t at e all t he possible al te r

nati v es in suc h a way t hat t hey e x clude one ano th er "
t here is t hen no dou bt as t o t he in t erpre t a t ion of
”
ei t her . or . .

Thus ( 1 ) wo ul d be A is ei t her ( B and no t 0) or

( C and no t B ) or ( B and C ) .

( )
2 wou l d be A is ei t her ( B and no t 0) or
( G and no t B ) .
 THE S YLLOGI SM 85

We have then the followin g syllogisms

A is eit her B or C A is either B o r 0 . .

B ut A is n o t B B ut A is n o t 0 . .

'
A is O A is B
. .

If the a lternatives e x c lude one a no ther we ,

also
A is either B o r G A is ei t her B or 0 . .

B ut A is B But A is G . .

'

. A is not G .
°

A is n o t B .

14 A
. s yl lo gism whose maj or is a hyp othe tical
and whose minor is a disjunctive p ro p osition is
called a dil emm a In ordin a ry s p eech we are said
.

to be in a dil emm a when p resented with two alter

natives e a ch of which l e a ds to un pl eas a n t c onse
,

q ue n c es the h o rn s o f the dil emma E g W e must . . .

d o either P or Q If we do P X foll ows if Q t hen

.
, ,

Y : hence ei t her X or Y mus t fo ll ow W hen X .

and Y are equally un pl e a sant we are said t o be in a ,

dil emma A lit tl e girl on being given t wo app les

.
, ,

o ne much b i gg er than the other f or herself and her ,

brother e xtricated herself from t he d ilemma ( and

,

p resented it to her b rother ) by o ffering him the

choice asking
, I s y o u g reedy 2 His dilemm a
wa s ( e xp ressed f ormall y ) If I t a ke the l a rg er one
,

I sh all b e t houg ht greedy and if I t a ke the small er ,

I shall have less th a n m y sh a re But I mus t t ake .

eit her the l a rg er or t he smaller hence I shall either

”
b e t hought greed y o r h a ve l ess t h a n m y share In .

L ogic the word has a wider meaning b eing a ppl ied ,

to v a rious compl e x s yll o g isms whose major is a

com plex h yp othetical a nd whose minor is a dis
junc tive p ro p osition al though in general t he , ,
86 AN INT RODU CTI O N T O LOG IC

v arious alt ernat i ve consequences a re sim il ar in

15 .
—
To poin t ou t t hings t o s t at e a case is no t
-

reasoning in th e s t ric tly formal sense I t is a .

m a ssin g of f a c t s a nd general s t a temen t s in suc h a

way a s t o produce in th e mind of th e h earer a
willingness t o loo k a t a partic ul ar ques t ion from a
cer t ain poin t of View I t is li k e sayin g T h is is
t he way t he th ing presen t s i t self t o me—th ese are
.
,

th e considerat ions w h ic h weigh mos t wi th me in

”
discussing th e ques tion T his is no t form al reason
.

ing : bu t i t is a preparat ion for formal reasoning .

You are lef t t o draw your own concl usion or are

pu t in suc h a posit ion t hat w h en t he speaker draws
his conclusion you will be re a dy t o lis t en to
,

h im and t o a ccep t h is conclusion a s th e correc t one

, .

T his is no t formal reasoning bu t i t s effec t on us

has th e force of formal reasoning Hence if you .

w ere as k ed t o pic k ou t a passage whic h s h owed

argumen t ation you would proba bly lig ht on one
,

suc h a s th is .

T h e only formal reasoning proper is th e drawing

of conclusions w h ere we h ave explici t or implicit ,
” “
a th erefore h ence
,
consequen t ly
, it ,
” ”
follows that we conclude th a t
,
et c " or a , .

” ” ” “
because ,
since for e tc
, , .

T ak e a few passages of con t roversial lit erature

and see h ow great a proport ion t he preparat ion
bears t o th e dr awing of conclusions T he present .

passage exemplifies t he same t hing .

If t his is so i t mus t be because i t is t he only

,

eff ec t ive mode of argumen t You canno t draw .

conclusions from a complicat ed se t of circums t an ces

 THE S YLLOGI SM 87

until you l ook at them from a cert a in p oin t o f view

a nd your conc l usion wil l vary a ccording to the p oi n t
o f Vie w y o u a do p t E very question is complica ted
.

it p resen ts va rious as p ects Y o u h ave only to

.

read the l etters in t he d a ily p ap er o r the p arlia ,

ment a ry de b a tes o r the con troversi a l literature of

,

an y question which interests you to see h ow each ,

p erson has his o wn way o f viewin g the f a c ts and ,

dra ws his own concl usion therefrom T his S houl d not .

make us des p air of ever a rrivin g a t the trut h b ut

i t sho ul d make us e xtremely care f ul to endeavour
alway s to l ook a t a q uestion from all sides And i t .

shows us c l early t he limits of Form a l L ogic F o r .

this weighing of considerations is the most imp ort an t

a n d the most difficu l t p a rt o f actu a l thin kin g and ,

the val ue of the concl usions drawn depends entirely

o n t he wa y in which this has been done N ow .

Formal L ogic does not deal wit h t his part of the

process .

E X ERCI SES .

1 . P ut in to lo gica l fo rm the fo llowing

It is a s a bsurd to a ffirm tha t b irds c a n communica te
by mea ns of la ngua ge a s it is to deny tha t
they c a n count when ce it ma y be inf erred
tha t counting does no t depend on th e use o f
lan gua ge ( By o ur o rdin a ry metho ds we
.

rea ch th e pro po sition Some a nima ls which

c a n co un t a re n o t a nima ls whi ch c a n c o m
‘

m unic a te by m ea ns of la n gua ge An implied

.

premiss is then ne cess a ry It is simplest in

.

this c a se to put th e implied premiss into

hypo thetica l form ) .
 AN INT R O DUCT I O N To w ere
2 . the followin g give a rough a ccoun t of the steps
In
o f the a rgum en t a n d fin a lly put the a rgumen t in to
,

strict logic a l form .

( ) aW h en the wo l dly wis r

e Ch e ste rfi e
-
ld gives the
”
advice Neve r te ll stories h e h a s in view ,

th e soci a l b ore He is plea ding f o r the

.

rights of the individua l in con vers a tion ,

which a re a lwa ys enda n gered when s to ry

tellin g creeps in Th e te ller of ta les is o f
.

necessity a m on o p o list .

I n e xpository work whether in schoo l o r ,

on th e pl a tf o rm
’
the s pea ker s mono po ly is
,

a lre a d y gr a n te d so a n y o bj ection to story

,

te lling must b e b a sed on other groun ds .

( A d a ms p , .

b
( ) B ir m in g h a m is n o t o n the co a l fi el d so th a t -
,

the a ctua l smeltin g o f iron is no t c a rried o n

there I t s pe ci a lises in th e man uf a cture of
.

a ll kinds o f m et a l goo ds in c ludin g m a chin ery , ,

pins a nd needles screws guns a nd a m ma ni , , ,

tion B irmingha m is a lon g wa y from an y

.

im port a nt s ea port so that it c a nnot com pete

,

with other pla ces in the cruder processes of

manuf a c ture where la rge quantities a re
,

ha ndl ed a t che a p ra tes The va lue of the .

workmanship of its products co unts for

m ore tha n the va lue o f the ra w m a teri a l a nd ,

therefore s lightly incre a se d tra ns port ra tes

a re in si gni fic a n t com p a red with the tota l
va lue of the artic les ( Mo rt p .
, .

( )
c There w a s a n us a ge in E n gl a n d a n d ye t is in ,

divers countries tha t the no blem a n h a th gre a t

,

fra n c his e over the comm ons a nd keepe th them

in s erva ge tha t is to sa y their te na n ts o ught
, ,
’
by custom to la b o ur the lords l a nd to ,

g a ther a n d b rin g ho m e their c o rns a nd s o me ,

to thresh a n d to f a n a n d by se rva ge to m a ke,

their h a y a nd to hew their wo od a nd to b ring it

ho m e Thus the n o blem en a nd th e pre la tes
.
90 AN I NT R OD UCTI O N T O LOGIC

errors tha n tha n kfu l for th e occ a sion of

,

corre ctin g them If he shou ld be obliged to

.

bla m e the f a vourites of the pe ople he will be

,

co nsidered a s th e too l of power " if he cen

sures thos e in power he will be looked on a s
,

a n instrum en t o f f a ction But in a ll e xer

.

tions o f duty something is to b e ha z a rded .

( Burke )
3 . Bui ld
up the fo llowin g fa cts into a single connected
comp osition a rran ging them in wha t yo u co nsider th e
,

best order
a s n —
The sw llow a very lo g win gs lives on insects
h
—h a s gre a t po wers of fl igh t feeds in the a ir
—its feet not ada pted fo r wa lkin g o r climbing
—h a s a b road so ft bill—migrates to wa rmer
a r—
l n ds in winte d o es no t e a t fruits or grub s
there a re n o ins ects in the a ir of Britain in
-

—
winte r the swa llow is n o t swif ter in fl ight
tha n th e fa lcon or pigeon c a rrier but c a n -

—
,

turn nd wheel more r pidly h a s a long

a a

forked ta il ( Lower
. L e a vi n g Ce rtifi c a te
E x amination E n glish , ,

4 Buil d up the f o llowin g sta temen ts into a connected

.

com position Arra nge the sen tences in wha t you think
.

the best order a voidin g needless re petitions

, .

Britain is one o f the gre a test p owers o f the world

—gre a t in industry a n d commerce her —
in dustri a l su prem a c y thre a tened by Germ a n y
a nd —
the Uni ted Sta tes E n glish la ngua ge
wides pre a d—colonies a s o urce of s trength
rise of ne w powers ( e g "a p n ) colonies a —
n um erous —risk o f po pul a tion c rowdin g in to
. .

towns—co lonies f a voura bly situ a ted—certa in

e lemen ts o f d a n ger— c om petition for tr ade

g ro wm g k e e n e r —
y e o m a n c l a ss d win dl in g
B rita in n o l on ger th e wo rksho p o f th e world
—h er people highl y civilised—other gre a t
empires ha ve ris en a n d fa llen—the pros perity
 THE S YLLOGI SM 91

of a country depends c hiefly on energy

a n d p a trio tism o f its c i t i ze ns a nd their po wer

o f a d a ptin g them s elves to n ew c o nditi ons

th e f uture o f th e Bri tish E m pire is a n

in teresting specula ti o n ( 1907
.

Discuss your results f rom the point o f View o f

,

l ogic a l order .
 CHAP TE R X .

F U R TH E R C O N S I D E RA TI O N S R E LA TI N G
T O THE "UD GME N T .

l . The mat erial wi th whic h L ogic deals is a s we ,

hav e shown th e j udgmen t An d one of th e mos t

, .

fundamen t al propert ies of a j udgmen t is we hav e ,

seen t ha t i t mus t be ei t her t rue or false T h is is

, .

connec t ed wi th its mos t import an t c h arac t eris tics ,

namely
( )
a I t is based on groun ds .

( b) I t h as cons equences .

A j udgmen t based on t rue grounds is t rue any

consequences a t rue judgmen t h as are t rue But .

i t is possible t o pu t forward false groun ds for a t rue

judgmen t i e t he fac t t ha t a judgmen t is defended
. .

on false grounds does no t preven t th e judgmen t

itself from be ing t rue B ut if we gi v e false reasons
.

for a judgmen t which we know o t herwise is t rue i t ,

seems clear t hat we do no t know t he whole t ru th

abou t t he matter e g I may know by observation
. .

t hat a part icul ar e v en t has happened bu t my ,

accoun t of t he reasons for i t s happening may be

q uit e incorrec t Here I may be s a id t o know t he
.

fac t bu t no t t o judge wi t h en tire correc tness con

,
94 AN I NT RODUCTI O N T O LOGIC

consequences we are no t willing t o accep t T his is .

because in ordinary life we are no t concerned t o be

perfec tly accura te We mak e s t at emen ts whic h are
.

no t wholl y t rue wi t h cert ain un e x pressed reserv a

,

t ions a s t o t he nat ure of t he cases t o w hich t hey will

apply We probably coul d no t express clearly t he
.

li mi t s wi t hin whic h we are willin g to le t our s t at e

men t app l y bu t we have a feeling as t o what t hese
,

limi t s are In fac t we may only mak e t he s t atemen t

.
,

wi t h t he obj ec t of drawing att ent ion t o cert ain

feat ures of t he case before us which we t ak e t o be ,

th e import an t ones O ur analysis being only for .

,

prac t ical purposes is nei th er exac t nor ex h aus t i ve

, .

This is especially t he case in our use of pro v erbial

expressions E g wat ching a person w h o has
. . .

narrowly escaped being run o v er we may come t o ,

t h e conclusion t hat h is danger wa s due mainl y t o

his hesi t ation a s t o whe t her t o s t and or go
and we may express this feeling by saying T h e
”
m a n w h o hesit a t es is los t .

Various prover bs may conflic t A penny saved .

is a penny ga ined h as t o be correc t ed by P enny

w ise pound foolish
,
But t he same person would.

accep t bo th because he accep t s neit h er wi t hou t

,

cert ain reser vat ions .

T h e laws of a coun t ry a re general s t atemen t s

“
w h ic h ha v e t o be in t erpre t ed i e w h ic h are . .

no t in t ended t o be accep t ed wi t hou t res t ric t ion .

We speak abou t obeying t he spiri t rat her th an t he

le tt er of th e law or breaking a law in spiri t w h ile
,

k eepin g t o i t in le tt er T h ese p h rases are significan t .

only because e v ery law is subj ec t t o cert ain reserva

t ions and is no t absolu tely or unreserv edl y binding
, .
 F URT H E R CONS IDERATI ONS 95

4 All
. this shows ( a ) with h ow g reat care t he
genera] p ro p ositions in p ractic a l lif e have t o b e
interp reted ( b) h o w much l a b our in sif tin g ou t
,

unex p ressed qual ification s h a s to b e undertaken by

an y on e wh o desires to formul ate truths whi ch will
be compl etel y true In t he aff airs o f p rac tical l ife
.
,

compl etel y true p ro p ositions a re al most an M p os

sibility in science t he y invol ve years of c o ordinated -

l abour I t is eas y to m a ke yourself generally intelli

.

g ib l e without be ing p recise it is e x treme ly diffi t

t o att ain p recision .

5 Cert ain so call ed fallacies are due to ne gl ecting

.
-

the im pl ied qual ification s and deducin g c onse ,

quen c es . E g . .

successful business men are lucky

All .

N o man who breaks his l e g is l uck y .

No man wh o b reaks his leg is a succ essfu l

b usiness m a n .

i e N o s uccess f ul b usiness man breaks h is leg

. . .

Here it is clear we mean the word l ucky to b e t aken

, ,

in a l imited sense ( a n d a different one ) in each case .

6 If a judg ment c l a ims t o be com ple t el y true

.
,

b oth it and all its con sequences must b e acce p ted ,

however it may b e confron t ed with other true

p ropositions A p ro p osition which will not stand
.

this test is not com pl etel y t rue A t rue proposi tion .

then can never be al tered t rue once true always , ,

at all times and under all circ um s t ances This

, .

condition which must b e s a tisfied by all compl e tely

true p roposition s is call ed the La w of I dentity .

7 E very jud g men t we have seen is based o n

.
, ,

g rounds It s trut h dep ends on t heir t rut h N ow

. .

we s h owed ( p 3 5 ) t h at we do in ordinary t hinkin g

.
96 AN I NT RODUCTI ON T O LOGIC

p r o Ve a particular resul t by showing t he application

of a general rule w hic h we accep t as t rue We
, .

lef t for furt her consideration t he q ues tion a s t o t he

j us t ificat ion of t hese general rules We ge t t hem .
,

i t was sugges t ed by a gradual process of comparison

, ,

and classification of ins t ances and t he format ion ,

and t es t ing of hypot h eses We have now t o discuss.

t his process more closely We hav e two ques t ions .

t o ask ( 1 ) What is t he process by whic h w e arri v e

.

a t our generalisat ions 2

( )
2 Wha t k ind of p r oof
ha ve we for th em 2

EXE RCI S E S .

P e a c o ck s pe a ks o f
1 . premisses a ssum ed without
eviden ce o r in s pite o f it , a n d con c lu sion s dra wn from
them so lo gi c a lly tha t the y m ust necess a r ily be erro
n e c us I s it p ossible th a t th e con clusion s sho uld be
.

true 2 If so would the re a son in g b e v lu ble

,
a a 2

2 I s it p ossible f or a ll the f o ll o wi ng to be corre ct 2

.

Al l R is S . All M is Q . All Q is R . No M is S .

3 . Wh a t con clusion ca n dra w from the foll owing

y o u

( )
a All c a ts a re do gs .

All do gs a re m orta l .

All c a ts a re m o rt a l .

b
( ) All r a bb its a re c a ts .

All c a ts dwell in ho les .

All ra bbits dwell in ho les .

N ote wheth r the p o p ositi s t ue f a lse )

( e r o n a re r or .

4 . P ut into lo gic a l f o rm th e f o llowin g

The sheep h a s wo o l b ec a us e i t wa s cre a ted fo r
m a n s use m a n ne eds wo o l fo r c lothin g a n d
’
, ,

no o ther a nim a l bu t th e shee p supplies it ,

 C HAPTE R XI .

ME THO D S O F A GR E EME N T AND

D I FF E R E N CE .

1O ne of t he mos t common me th ods of le a ding

.

c hildren to t he definit ion of a term ( and a meth od

w hich arises nat urally ou t of our discussion ) is to
pu t before th em examples of th e th ings denot ed by
the t erm and all ow t hem t o disco v er t he common
,

charac t eris tics In t his t here are v arious dangers

. .

The examples are chosen by th e t e a c h er ( or if ,

collec t ed by th e cl a ss at leas t grouped by h im ) wi th

,

th e obj ec t of t hrowing in t o prominence cert ain

features w hic h all h av e in common B ut th e .

c hildren t hemsel ves e ven t houg h t hey have no t

,

been t old t o loo k for th e common feat ures do so ,

na turally and th eir conclusions may d iffer en t irely

from t hose d esired by th e t eacher T hey may l ig ht .

on s t riking features w h ich are no t really essen t ial .

If e g in defining th e subj ec t of a sen t ence proposi

, . .
,

t ions are chosen in w h ich th e s ubj ec t s t ands firs t ,

th is charac t eris t ic may be seiz ed on by th e cl as s a s

t he mos t import an t thing abou t a subjec t T h e .

t eacher may and of ten do es unconsciously aid in

, ,

th is process since an example of one k ind nat urally

,
 AG R EE MENT AND DI FF E RENCE 99

tends t o call u p examp les after t he same p attern .

An ad dit ional danger arises from the p ecul iar

rel ation b e tween te a cher and c l ass thus t he cl ass
may choose as common charac teristics n ot such as ,

s t rike them b ut such as the y think t he t e a cher

,

wan t s them t o choose .

.2 It fo ll ows that in givin g e x amp l es of a d efini

tion p artic ul ar care shoul d b e t aken to v ary the
,

ill us trations O n what p rincipl e is t his t o be done 2

.

After we have decided what are t he common char

a c teristics which we intend t o include in the
definition we should carefully examine what o ther
,

charac teris tics are common to the most usual

inst ances of t he th in g we are definin g The object .

o f o ur e x amp l es must b e to e l iminate these Thus .

the su b ject o f a sentence I s very often t he firs t word

in the sen t ence it usuall y comes before th e verb
but we do no t wan t these charac teristics t o be
attended to We mus t then p ro vide i ll ustra tions
.

in which the su bjec t is in a differen t p osition in ,

order to concentrat e attention o n the essenti a l

f eatures of su b jects .

.3 The p rinci pl es o n which the chil dren act

unconscious ly a re
( )
a If certain features s t and o ut as common t o all
t he exampl es of an object then t he y are t he features
,

b y which to recognise that o bjec t .

b
( ) If t here are cert a in fea t ures which are presen t
in some and absent in other e x am ples of the o b ject
, , ,

then t hey cannot b e made use of in recogn ising t he

obj ect .

These principl es are used al so in s ligh tl y differen t

,

form in t he attem p t to disco ver t he causes of cert ain

,
100 AN INT RODUCTI ON T O LOG IC

e v en ts E g I h a ve a h eadac h e and I remember

. .

t ha t I h ad a he ad ac h e on v arious occasions before ,

af ter h a ving t ried t o re a d by t he aid of th e lig ht I

am a t presen t using In searc h ing for th e cause of
.

my h eadac h e I am h ere seek ing for some feat ure of

my presen t surroundings w hic h wa s prominen t on,

o th er occasions w h en I had a headac h e : and I

decide th a t t his is probably th e cause I t is clear .

t ha t th is conclusion is liable t o error Man y .

pop ul ar supers t it ions are k ep t aliv e t hroug h an

error of t his sort We no t ice t ha t on v arious
.

occasions w h en salt wa s spill ed or k ni ves were ,

crossed t he appropria te misfort une h appened T h is

, .

me th od of reasoning is called th e Me t hod of Agree

men t I t may be s t a ted sym bolicall y as follows
.

If on th e v arious oc casions on whic h an e ven t E

h as h appened cert ain common feat ures 0 can be
,

disco vered t o h av e preceded or accompanied B th en ,

th ese common feat ures 0 may be th e cause or part

cause of t he e v en t E .

Suppose c h ildren are list less in sc h ool I t is .

unlik ely th a t we s h all disco v er th e cause by merely

endea v ouring t o recall all pre vious c ases B ut if .

we ha v e no t iced t hat th e children are of t en l is tless

at th is h our of t he day th en we h ave a clue a t once
, .

For we can no w pro visionally neglec t all cases e x cep t

t hose whic h happened a t t his t ime see king for ,

feat ures whic h may be expec t ed t o be presen t a t

t his h our more t han a t o th er h ours and w h ich ,

w ould h elp t o produce lis tlessness .

In cases w h ere experimen t is possible w e pro ,

duce cert ain condit ions and observ e th e resul t s

, .

If we could be sure th at th ese condi t ions were all

102 AN I N T RODUCTI ON T O LOGI C

th e t ree weighed jus t o ver 1 6 9 poun ds D uring .

t ha t t ime says Helmon t i t h ad recei v ed no t hing

, ,

bu t wa te r T h e soil a t t he end of th e t ime weighed

.

alm os t 200 pounds T h erefore concludes Hel

.
,

mon t th e 1 6 4 pounds of wood bark and roo t

, , ,

arose from th e wa ter al one ( Q uo t ed by R ussell .

,

The Soil p 47 w h o adds

, . I t is now known th at
, ,

th e las t sen tence should read T h erefore th e 1 6 4 ,

pounds of wood bark and roo t arose c h iefly from

, ,

th e wa ter a nd a ir bu t a small part came from t he

,
’
soil also .

T hus causes are very of t en very obscure and th e ,

resul t s reached by th e Me th od of Agreement v ery

liable t o err or .

5 In consequence we mus t use some me th od t o

.

enable us t o discrim ina te be t ween th ose common

features wh ic h are a n d th ose which are no t con , ,

cerned in t he produc t ion of th e e v en t O ne .

import an t me th od is t his if w h en we t ak e away

any of th e features w h ic h w e regard as a possible
part cause th e e ffec t is no longer produced t hen we
-
,

can safely regard i t or some th ing connec t ed wi th i t

, ,

as a part cause O t herwise we canno t E g in t he

-
. . . .

case of lis tless children if we find t hat t he room is ,

generally badl y v en t ilat ed a t the h our in ques t ion

-
,

bu t t ha t t he lis tlessness v anishes when we v en t ila te

t he room t he conclusion is clear B a d ven tila tion
, .

was at leas t a large part of t he cause B ut we could .

no t e v en ye t sa y t hat i t wa s th e en tire cause T o .

disco ver t he en t ire cause we sho ul d have t o v ary ,

all t he common chara c t eris t ics P art of t he lis tless .

’
ness migh t h a v e been due t o t he t eac h er s lac k of
—
in t eres t in t he lesson w h ic h be tt r v en t ilation e
 AGRE EMENT AND DIFF E R ENCE 103

mi ght either remove o r coun teract And so o n In . .

’
H elmont s exp erimen t we coul d not sa y that the
’
water was the whol e cause of t he tree s growt h un til
we had varied a ll t he o t her common el ement s "
un til for ins t ance we had t aken a wa y th e a ir
, ,
.

This met hod is call ed the Method of D iff erence .

The reader should formul ate it s ymbolically for

himself .

E X E R CI SES .

1 . Contra st th e follo win g

I go in to a roo m a nd a fter exa mining a ll th e
,

books on a shelf sa y All these b ooks a re

, ,

Lo gic books .

I go into a room a nd a fter ta king a t ra ndom a

,

la rge num be r of b o oks on a shelf sa y All th e , ,

b oo ks I ha ve e xa m ined a re Lo gic books I

e xpe ct th a t a ll the b o oks on th e shelf a re

Lo gic b o o ks .

Which of these is simila r to th e pro cess by which I

c onclude tha t a ll crows a re bla ck 2 Tha t s uga r is
swee t 2 Tha t a ll th e studen ts in a pa rti cula r cla ss
pa ssed a certa in exa m in a tion 2 Which d o you think is
m ost genera lly used by th e scientist 2 Why 2
2 One of th e m ethods in th e a b o ve questi on is c a lled
.

Inducti on by Com plete E num era ti on ( o r Simple E num

c ra t i on ) One is c a lled Inducti on by Inc omplete
.

E num era tion "ustify these n a mes a n d sta te e a ch

.
,

me tho d sym b oli c a lly .

3 A chil d no tices tha t m ilk s om etimes ta stes swee t

.
,

s om etim es n ot Milk ta stes swee t when suga r h a s been

.

put in a nd n o t o therwise Further th e m ore suga r is

.
,

p u t i n t h,
e sw ee te r th e m il k t a stes .
104 AN IN T RODUCTI ON T O LOGI C

A scientist n otices th a t a cross the Al ps the ra in

fa ll is grea t on high pea ks greater on higher ,

p ea ks a nd less in the va lleys

, .

A sci en tist n otices th a t the m ore he he a ts a ba r

o f i r on the more the iron e xp a nds a nd
,

tha t when the iron cools it contracts , .

Wh a t con clusions a s to c a uses woul d be dra wn in the

a b ove c a ses 2 I s there a n y comm on me thod em ployed in

them 2 If so ca n youdescri be it 2 Describe it in s ymb ols

, .

4 If I h a ve like d a ll the b ooks of a p a rticul a r writer

.

I h a ve so f a r read a m I j ustified in expe cting tha t I sha ll

,

like the rest of h is b ooks 2 I s this merely induction by

incomplete enumera tion 2 o r d o other considera tions
a pply 2 If so wha t 2
,

5 P oint out precisely where the method of agreement

.

a nd where the method of diff eren ce is used in the ,

f oll owing
Ten pots of whea t are kep t only j ust su fficiently
moist for growth a nd ten a re kept very
,

moist but not to o wet All the pots have .

the s a me soil a nd a re given the s a me c on

,

ditions of tem pera ture s unshin e etc , Af ter , .

a time it is n oticed th a t in the first set the

lea ves a re na rrow a nd the pla nts sma ll but ,

in fu ll ea r ri pe a nd yellow " while in th e

,

se cond set the lea ves a re wide a nd the plants

big but n o t yet ri pe ( R ussell p
, .
, .

6 The method in Question 3 is c a lled the method o f

.

Co n comita n t V a ri a tions Wh a t p recisely d o thes e

.

words mea n 2 D o the y descri be the method a ccura tely 2

Show the a pplic a tion o f the method in the e xperiment
’
which le a ds to Boyle s La w rega rding ga ses .

7 I s the method of con com it a nt va riations used in

.

the e xperiment in Question 5 2 Discuss whether this

m ethod c an be rega rded a s a p a rticula r c a se o f th e
method of difference .

8 Apply the metho d o f a greemen t a nd the method o f

.

di fferen ce to S how tha t eva pora tion is c a used by a

ra ising a nd condensation by a lo wering of tempera ture .
 CH APTE R XII .

A N AL O GY .

l T h e fundamen t al me th od by w h ic h ordinary
.

reasoning is carried on is th e me th od of Analogy .

T h e principle of th is me th od is t ha t if t wo cases
,

agree in v ery import an t respec t s th ey agree in all ,

respec ts generally connec ted with th ese T h is Is t he .

principle on w h ic h a c hil d groups objec t s in to class es .

I t is clearly th e prin ciple on whic h we proceeded in

invest igat ing causes by th e me t hods of Agreemen t
and D iff erence For th e v arious cases we compared
.

were v ery diff eren t in cert ain respec t s ( no t wo cases

are alik e if we t ak e accoun t of all th eir feat ures )
, .

B ut we neglec ted t he po in t s in w h ich th ey di ffered ,

assuming t ha t th e import an t poin t s in w h ic h t hey

agre ed co ul d be t reate d by th emsel v es I t is t he .

principle on which all o ur ordinary confidence is

based E g we go in t o a railway s t at ion wi th w hich
. . .

we are familiar I t wears a perfec tly famil iar aspec t

. .

O f course th ere are very many de t ails in w hich i t s

,

aspec t t o day differs from its aspec t yes terday

-

th ere may be a great er or less v olume of t raffic ,

and differen t people are moving abou t B ut in all .

its import an t or essen t ial feat u res i t is th e same .

 AN ALOGY 107

We p roceed confi dentl y ( indeed mechanicall y ) about

o ur b usiness — b uyin g a ticket and t akin g o ur seat ,

in t he t rain " on t he justifiabl e assum ption t hat

these thin g s will p resent t he s a me imp ort ant char
a c teristic s as be f ore The p rincip l e of analogy is
.

clearly involved in all this Sometimes this p rincipl e .

l eads us astra y Thin gs look the same a s they were

.

yes terday and we proceed confidentl y as if they

,

were If they are no t an accident happ ens

.
, .

2 Thou g h some times the p rincip le l eads us

.

astray yet we coul d not do without i t Withou t

, .

i t we shoul d b e in a perfectly stran g e worl d and

, ,

shoul d soon cease to ac t We should b e too .

b ewildered by t he variety which t h ings p resen t .

Unl ess we could ne glec t the variety and attend only

to cert ain charac teris tics we shoul d n o t be able t o
,

recognise objec ts .

The p rincipl e may be used wit h more o r less

exac tness All o ur reasonin g s
. s a ys Hume , ,

concerning matter o f fac t are founded o n a s p ecies

of An al og y which l eads us to e xp ec t from an y
,

cause t he same event s we have observed t o resul t

from similar causes W here the causes are ent irel y
.

simil ar the analo gy is perfect and t he inference

, ,

drawn from it is re g arded as cert ain and conc lusive .

No r does an y man ever ent ert ain a doubt when he ,

sees a piece of iron t hat it will have weigh t and

,

cohesion o f p a rts as in a ll o ther ins t a n ces which

,

have ever f allen un der his observa tion B ut where .

the objec ts h a ve not so e x act a simil arity the ,

an a l o gy is l ess perfec t a nd the inference is less

,

conc lusive " though s till i t h a s some force in p ro ,

p ortion to t he degree o f similari ty and resembl ance .

108 AN I N T RODUCTI ON T O LOG I C

T h e anat omical obser vat ions formed upon one ,

an i mal are by th is species of reason ing ex tended

, , ,
'

t o all animals " and i t is cert ain th at w h en th e ,

circul at ion of th e blood for ins t ance is clearly , ,

pro ved t o h ave place in one creature as a frog or , ,

fish i t forms a s t rong presump t ion th at th e same

,
” 1
prin ciple h a s place in all .

3 The use of th is principle by c h ildren is v ery

.

import an t and i t s dangers should be no ted and

,

guarded agains t T hings wh ic h loo k alik e are

.

t aken by t hem t o be t he same T h is is especially .

t he case in th eir at temp t s t o disco ver th e rul e

for th e solu t ion of a problem For ins t ance in .
,

problems in proport ion t wo examples on , men

workin g in a field t end t o be sol ved by th e same
me th od because th is c h arac t eris t ic is th e one wh ich
,

is s t ri kingly common t o th e examples As a .

pra c t ical resul t i t follows th a t we should be v ery

,

careful in t ran si t ion from one kind of example t o

ano th er no t merely because we wan t th e s tuden t
,

t o work correc tly bu t because e v ery t ime h e applies

,

a rule wrongly h is confidence in th e rule diminis h es .

’
And as a child s success in t hin k ing depends v ery
largely on his confidence in h is t ools we s h ould be ,

ex t remely careful no t t o do any thing to diminis h i t .

4 The principle is v ery impor t an t t o th e scien t is t

. .

Indeed his main problem is t o disco v er wi th j us t

wh at c h arac t eristics h e can apply t he principle wi th
safe t y D uring th e earlies t inves t iga t ions in a
.

subj ec t h e h as t o depend largely on his own insig ht

bu t th roughou t h e h a s t o mak e v ery caref ul exp eri
men t s in order t o t es t t he resul t s he h as arri ved at .

1
I nquiry co n c rn in g H um n Und
e ta nd in g
a S c ti o n I X
ers . e .
1 10 AN INT RODUCTI O N T O LOGIC

T ak e ano t her c a se P lant s are gro wing all

.

around us They v ary in differen t plac es T h e

.
.
.

leaves of th e plant s found in some places a re broad

and th ic k w hile t hose of th e plan ts found in o t her
,

places are narrow and spi ky Why 2 T h e circum .

s t ances are ext remely complicat ed " w h at are th e

differences in th e t wo c a ses 2 O ne prominen t
difference w h ic h is no ticed is perhaps th at in t he ,

former case th e land is mois t and in t he latter case , ,

dry . I s r f
t his th e eason for th e di ference 2 Le t us
cons t ruc t a v ery simple mode l of t he sit uat ion in
t he laborat ory ( at leas t what woul d be a model if
,

th e di ff erence were due t o wat er ) L e t us plan t .

v arious po t s of ( sa y ) mus t ard or wheat giving some ,

muc h wa ter o th ers li ttle o th ers a moderat e quan t ity "

, ,

k eeping th em under th e same condit ions o t herwise .

Le t us no te th e res ul t s We disco v er a di ff erence

.

in th e lea ves and in t he grow th generally qui t e ,

corresponding t o th e differences in t he original

cases ( See R ussell p 6 4
. T he analogy be
,
.

tween th e model and th e ac tual case is t hus comple te .

Th is use of models of e very form is one of t he

mos t import an t consequences of th e principle of
analogy I t enables us t o S implify our problems
.

by ge tt ing rid of much of th e concre t e de t ail whic h , ,

th oug h no t aff ec tin g th e ques tion may ye t in te rfere

,

wi th our considerat ion of t he import an t feat ures of

th e case I t s h ould be clear th at we canno t begin
.

t o cons t ruc t a model of this sort un t il we have

formed some t heory a s t o what t he import an t
features of t he c ase are We t hen form a ten t at ive
.

model If our t heory is th e righ t one t hen our

.
,

te nt a t i ve model will be a real model .

 AN ALOGY 1 11

This t reatmen t of a concret e problem b y means of

an abs trac t model is fundament al in all think ing .

E very p rob l em in Ari thme tic or Algebra is an

in s t ance of it on a very el emen t ary l eve l For in .

s t ance the p ro blems dealing with c l ocks ( At what

,

time between six and seven are t he hands t o gether 2

etc ) de p end on our abil ity to make a model of the
.

situa tion including nothing but certain numerical

,

rel at ions So the probl em of the flig ht of a cannon

.

b all o r the we a ring away of roc ks at a cert ain pl ace

, ,

can b e treated successfull y onl y b y our thinking in

te rms of an a bstrac t model The p h ysicis t or t he .

geol ogist p ic tures the world as a battle ground o f -

forces o f a part icul ar nature negl ecting a ll it s o ther ,

aspec ts This forms his model . and anal o gy

all ows him to argue from his model to the concrete
fac t s .

Thus in order t o discuss a concre te p robl em we

must ( a ) p ick ou t what seem to us the imp ortant
el ements ( b) cons t ruc t an abs trac t mode l of the case
,

where the imp ort an t el ement s are clearl y seen a nd ,

( )
c af t er inves t igating the ques t ion by means o f t his
model think back into the concre te fac t s the resu l t
,

o f our work on the model In all this we p roceed by .

means of the p rincipl e of anal ogy 1

.

A g reat in vestigat or is shown no t merely by h is ,

ab ility to form theories as to the imp ortan t elemen ts

in a p articul ar case b ut even more by his genius in ,

1
Fr om thi f o ll o w s a esult whi c h w i ll p o v e o f p a c ti c a l
s r r r

im p ta nce
or Chil d en a re a c cust m ed t w o ki n g wi th c o n cret
. r o o r e

im ges a n d th tep t th b t a c t m o d l is ve y d i cult f '

a , e s o e a s r e r or

them a n d h ould be m a d e wi th c e " th e tep b a c k f m th

,
s ar s ro e

a bstr c t t th con cre te is ti ll m e diffi ul t I n b o th teps

a o e s or c . s

th y h uld b v y
e s o fully d i ll ed
e ( Ser M ill p p 16 4
c a re r . ee er , .
1 12 AN INT RODUCTI O N T O LOGI C

cons t ruc ting models w h ic h shall th ro w int o relief

th ese import an t elemen t s N o less great is suc h a .

m a n in passing bac k from t he abs t rac t model t o t he

concre t e fac t s The s t uden t sho ul d be cons t an tly
.

on t he loo k out for e v idences of th ese t h ree processes

-

in h is o wn th in king .

EXE RCI SES .

1 . the foll owin g

D iscuss
A little bo y thought th a t s now ought to b e sweet
bec a use th e snow is white a nd suga r is
white too .

A child of ten h a ving a dis a gree a bl e te a cher wh o

,

wa s short a nd a n a gre ea bl e o ne wh o wa s
ta ll go t a new teacher wh o wa s short a nd
, ,

e xpected h im to b e dis a gree a ble to o .

The m ouse in La Fonta ine s fa ble descri bin g the ’

,

c a t to its mother a s a nice a n im a l it wou

, ld
like to kno w said I be lieve it would be
, ,

very friendl y to wa rds us for its e a rs a re th e

gq
,
”
s a me sha pe a s ours ( Que y rat L a L o i ue .
,
’
chez l E nfa nt ) .

2 Wh y is it that in some cases a singl e o bserva tion

.

is s uffi cient to ena ble us to genera lise while in other ,

cases it is dangerous to genera lise even from a la rge

num ber o f o bserva tions 2 E g Al l swa ns a re white . .
,

turned out n ot to be true in s pite of the l a rge numb er of

,

insta nces which seemed to support it But in observing .

in one c a se tha t when two pieces o f ice a re ru bbed

to gether hea t re sults I con clude a t once tha t he a t wi ll
,

a lwa ys resul t when two pieces o f ice are ru bbed to gether .

3 E xpla in why some studen ts c a n prove a pro position

.

if a llowed to use a n a cute a ngled triangle but not i f

-
,

compe lled to use a n o b tuse a n gled one -

.
 CHAPT ER XIII .

THE S E AR C H F OR THE IMP O R TA N T

E L EME N T S .

TH E F RAM IN G OF H YP O T HE SE S .

1 . As
we have seen in t he las t chap ter before we ,

can proc e ed in our search for t he cause of an e ven t ,

we mus t h av e some general idea as t o how i t probably

—
h appened a s t o th e import an t elemen t s in th e case .

For example in th e ins t ance we gav e as to th e

,

lis tlessness of children t he way seemed fairly clear

,

w h en we no ticed t hat t he children were generally

lis tless a t th is t ime of day For t hen t he possible .

causes were limit ed t o t hings whic h mig ht be

expec t ed t o be presen t a t suc h an hour T here .

might s till be se veral : lac k of v en t il at ion th e ,

nature of th e lesson fatigue due t o con t inued s t rain

,

in t he pre vio us lesson e t c T h e s t at emen t of th e

, .

kno
E ach possibil i t y mus t t hen be t es ted
e g by the me t hods of agreemen t and
. .

difference e t c If th e v arious hypo t heses canno t

, .

be com p le t ely tes t ed so t hat we canno t wi t h cer

,

t ain ty dis tin guish th e t rue one we mus t be con ten ted ,

wi th t he mos t likely one or t he mos t simple one or

, ,
 THE IMPORTANT E LE MEN T S 115

t he one which leads us t o t he mos t fruitful resul t s in

practice F raming a hypo th esis is no t mere guess
.

in g it invo l ves a l arg e a moun t of knowl edge of the

nat ure of t he event we are investigating We do .

no t e ven troubl e to e x haus t all the p ossibilities .

Some are negl ected en t irel y because if we did think

,

of t hem we shoul d at once rejec t them as absurd .

For exampl e when a p erson comes int o a buil ding

,

wearing a we t mac kin to sh and car rying a wet

umbrell a we do no t at all consider any o ther
,

possibility t han that it is or has b een raining Ye t

, .

t here are v arious other ways in which a person

migh t get we t Now in some cases it is dangerous
.
,

t o negl ec t possibili ties which appear absurd " and

an investigator ( what ever the field ) should ne ver
ne gl ec t them en tirely B ut t his great tendency t o
.

neglec t cert ain p ossi bil ities shows tha t all our
framin g of hypo t heses p roceeds on the basis of a
fairl y large knowledge of t he event and its an te
cedents .

2 This me t hodical search among t he various

.

possi b il ities we have already spoken of a s of the

essential nature of thinking We shall be helped
.

here by a short consideration of the search for

me thods of sol ving probl e ms in o ther fields than
t hat of t he search for causes .

Supp ose we are required t o S how t hat the l ine

j oin in g t he mid p oin ts of the sides of a triangl e is
equal to half the b ase Wh at are the possibl e ways
.

of p roving it 2 In t he firs t place we may rememb er

t hat ine quali ties in Geometry are a ll p ro ved ul ti
mately by means of equal ities This isa p rincip le
.

and allows us t o mak e t he firs t s tep We must ge t .

 AN INT RODUCTI O N T O LO GI C

on th e fl is half B G and equal t o DE ,

and equal t o B 0 Suppose

.

we t ry th e firs t me t hod our mos t direc t way would

be t o bisec t B C and t ry t o pro v e DE equal t o BE

,

or F 0 An examinat ion of th e v arious possible

.

ways of do ing t his does no t S how any hope of success .

We mus t t hen t ry t he second me th od O ur .

mos t direc t way here would be t o produce D E ,

mak ing E F DE .O ur obj ec t is th en t o S how D E

equal t o B C N ow t o pro v e one line equal t o ano th er

.

t here are se v eral s t andard me t hods ei th er we

mus t pro v e bo t h equal t o a t hird ( wh ich we do no t
seem t o wan t h ere ) or we mus t ge t t wo t riangles eac h
,

of w h ic h con t ains one of th e lines and pro v e th ese

,
1 18 AN IN T RODUCTI O N T O LOGIC

s t uden t usually t ries o th er possible me t hods af t er

he h as solved t he problem by one me th od h e t hus
ob t ains an insigh t in t o possibil it ies wh ic h is of ,

immense v alue in fu ture work Th e con dition of .

successful work in any field is an insigh t in t o

possibili t ies and th e me t hodic dealing wi th one
,

possib il i ty a f t er an o th er
—
.

3 —
4 T h e same h olds in Algebra
. The fa ct th a t a I b
.
3

c a n be fac t orised becomes th e princip le t hat an

express ion can be fac t orised if i t can be t hrown in t o
th e form of th e sum of t wo cubes A collec t ion of .

suc h fac t s gi v es us a collec t ion of principles for

fac t orising T hat s t uden t is mos t successf ul for
.

wh om t hese principles sugges t possibil it ies in t he

t reat men t of a part ic ul ar problem We sa w pre .

c isely th e same t hing in dealing wi th definit ion .

D efinit ions from one poin t of View are s t a temen t s

of fac t " from ano t her poin t of View th ey are
principles for disco vering t he nat ure of obj ec t s We .

mus t always be ali ve t o t his double aspec t .

I t s h ould be no ticed th at th e whole aim of sett ing

problems t o a s tuden t is th at of t urning fac ts in t o
prin ciples and th at th e w h ole obj ec t is los t if th e
problems are done mec h anically .

5 What w e hav e S ho wn in regard t o Algebra

.

and Geome t ry is equally t rue of all in ves tiga tion .

T h e o nl y useful kind of h ypo th esis is th at in which

fa cts are made use of as principles in gi ving t he
possible in t erpre t at ions of t he e v en t under considera
’
tion This is borne ou t by Huxley s accoun t of t he
.

con ditions t o be sat isfied by a good hypo t hesis

We mus t in t he firs t place be prepared t o pro ve
, ,

t hat t he supposed causes of th e p henomena exis t in

 THE IMPO RTAN T E L EMEN T S 11 9

nature t hat the y a re what the l o g icians c a ll vera e

ca usa e—true c a uses in the ne x t pl a ce we shoul d ,

be p re p ared to S how th a t t he assumed c a uses of the

p henomena are comp etent t o produce such pheno
mena as t hose which we wish to e xpl ain b y them
and in the l ast pl a ce we ou g ht t o be abl e to S how
,

that no o ther known causes are com p eten t to p roduce

these p henomena I f we c a n succeed in satisfyin g
.

these three condition s we sh a ll have demons trat ed

o ur hyp othesis o r r a ther I ough t to sa y we shall
, ,
” 1
have proved it as fa r a s certaint y is p ossibl e for us .

In order to s a tisfy the firs t two of these conditions

it is c le a r that we must m a ke use onl y of p rinciples
which have been g iven to us by facts Thus t he .
,

fact th a t to o littl e o r too much wa ter is bad f or a

pl ant whil e the right amount p romo tes its g rowth
, ,

furnishes us with a le g itim a te p rin ciple for the

form a tion of a p ossibl e h yp o thesis regardin g t he
bad g rowth of a pl a n t : p erhap s its water su pply
was no t right The l as t condition must b e sat is fied
.

b efore we c a n decide b etween the v a rious p ossib l e

hyp o theses formed a s a b ove " we must n o t res t
un t il we have p roved th a t one and one onl y is , ,

comp eten t t o p roduce just the p henomen a in

question If it is im p ossibl e to decide finall y we
.
,

must as we have s a id b e conten t p rovisionally

, ,

with the S imp lest o r the most useful

,
.

The second o f the condi tions stated b y Hu xle y

has b een pu t by him even more forcibly as follows
E very h yp othesis is b ound to e xpl ain o r a t a ny , ,

rate no t to be in consistent with the whol e of the

, ,

fac ts it p rofesses to e xpl ain o r account for : a nd if

E y ( E verym n p 247
1-
ssa s a .
1 20 AN IN TR OD U CT I O N TO LO GIC

t here is a single one of t hese fac ts whic h can be s h own

t o be inconsis t en t wi t h ( I do no t merely mean
inexplicable by bu t cont rary t o ) th e hypo th esis
, ,

th e hypo t hesis falls t o t he ground— it is wor th

no t hing O ne fac t wi t h which i t is positiv ely
.

inconsis t en t is worth a s much and is a s powerful ,

” 1
in negat iving the hypo th esis a s fi v e h undred , .

This is t he aspec t which is emphasised in cri ticising

a hypo t hesis wi t h a view t o t es t ing its t ru th T h e .

scien t is t does no t res t con t en t wit h mere observ at ion ,

bu t wherever possible devises t es t ing experimen ts ,

.

If such and suc h a h ypo t hesis is t he t rue one th en ,

a cert ain resul t wo ul d follow on doing suc h and

such If suc h ano t her hypo th esis is t rue th is
.
,

resul t will no t follow .

EXE RCI SES .

l A chi ld o f two , fed o n m ilk fro m a white

. s a id
co w, ,

Th e mil k is white b ec a use the c o w is white .

( Qu e y r a t ,
’
p . the processes in
D iscuss th e c hild s mind leading
to this hyp othesis .

2 . Discuss the fo llowin g

A te a cher giving a lesson to a young class on a
blueb ottle a sked h ow the cre a ture m ad e its
fa m ili a r buzzin g n oise When S he rec eived
.

the a nswer sh e to ld the children th a t sh e

,

e xpected th a t a nswer Of course they .

,

thought th e bluebo ttle buzzed with its

mouth bec a use when they wa n ted to buzz
,

1
E a y ( E v e ym a n
ss s p 2 55
r . .
 C HA PTE R XI V .

THE P R IN CIP L E O F C A U S AL IT Y .

WE h ave now discussed in

some de t ail t he me t hods
in volved in forming th e concep ts and generalisat ions
of ordinary life and in inves tigat ing t he reasons or
,

causes of e vent s Will our me t ho ds s h ow us t hat

.

e very e vent h a s a cause 2 There are a grea t many

e vent s w h ose cause we h av e no t ye t discovered
bu t does th is ent itle us to sa y wh e t her t hese e ven t s
h a ve causes or no t 2 P eople some times speak of
e ven ts a s due t o chance or acciden t T his does
.

no t mean th at th ese e vents have no cause It .

indicat es rath er a cert ain complexi ty in th e cause .

W h en cert ain condit ions are produced bodies will ,

ac t in a cert ain way " and in th e absence of th ese

condit ions t he bodies wil l no t ac t in this way T h at
, .

is a s t at emen t whic h applies t o e very event t o t he ,

t ick ing of a cloc k t he fall of a s t one th e mo tion

, ,

of t he ripples on th e shore t he wanderings of a

,

come t t he passing of a t hough t th roug h t he mind

,
.

All we firml y belie ve are produced w h en certa in

, ,

condi t ions are presen t " and if t he condit ions are

no t present t he e v ent s are no t produced Science
, .
,
 PR IN CI PLE OF CAUSALITY 123

as we have seen investig ates these conditions ,

a n d if i t is in our p ower to b rin g ab out t he conditio n s ,

we c a n p roduce the event H a vin g discovered the .

conditions un der wh ich the p ressure vol ume and , ,

temperature of a ga s vary we can p roduce e g a ny , ,

. .
,

g iven alt era tion of vo lume by altering the t emp era

ture o r the pressure Having discovered the con .

ditions under which a p erson contracts an inf ec t ious

d isease we can if these conditions a re within o ur
, ,

p ower take step s to p revent them b eing p resent

, ,

a nd so guard a g a inst th e s p re a d o f infec t ious dis

eases The old sup erstition which made men

.

sacrifi ce t o t heir gods in order t o a vert pl a gue a nd

p est ilence h a s g iven pl a ce to a careful investigat ion
int o the natural conditio ns under which such e vents
have taken pl ace This b elief as to t he way in .

which all events happ en has been indicated b y the

use of the phrase The R eign o f La w in the
Universe .

W e bel ieve t hen in the p rincip le that every even t

, ,

h a s b een produced under definitely definable c on

ditions th a t when t hese conditions are p resent t he
,

event will be p roduced and t hat unl ess these con ,

ditions a re p resent t he eve nt will n ot be p roduced .

This p rincipl e is c a ll ed the P rincipl e or L aw of

Caus a lity .

Before g oing o n to a sk whence our belief in this

law comes l et us l ook at it a l ittl e more cl osel y
,
1
.

1 Th e f o ll wing o a c c o un t
P in cipl e o f C u li ty h a s
of th e r a sa

p ti ul
ar c ar r e f e re n ce t oth us f th ep in ciple in physica l
e O e r

sc i n e
e Hc ow f a r it ppli s t hum n a c tion—e g t th e
a e o a o

f c a us s in H ist ry—
. . .

d t m in ti
e er a on o e is a d iffi cult questi n
o o ,

whi h we d
c o no t h er ed i cuss s .
124 AN I N T RODUCTI ON T O LOGI C

a( ) Cert ain se t s of condit io ns are isola ted f rom t he

res t of t he events of th e uni verse in t he sense th a t ,

we a tt end t o th em o nl y leavin g ou t of consideration

,

all o th er happenings The pressure volume and

.
, ,

t emperat ure of a ga s depend on one ano t her in such

a way t hat whil e t he scientis t is work ing in h is
,

laborat ory a battle may be going on ou tside t he

,

walls may be c rumblin g around him " t he carnage

of war may be going on before his eyes — t his can
safely be neglec ted by h im a s a scientis t if t hese
th ings do no t in terfere with t he pressure and tem
e ra ture of h is ga s t hey will no t in t e rfere wi t h i t s
p ,

v olume Indeed h e does habitually neglec t c h anges

.
, ,

w hich if no t as s t rik ing are ye t a s real and a s great

, .

I n th is se nse t he scientis t can sa y as a res ul t of h is

inves t iga t io ns th at provided cert ain condit ions are
,

present cert ain even t s will resul t w h at ever be th e ,

s t at e of th e res t of th e uni verse The principle of.

analogy a s w e have seen depends for it s successful

, ,

applicat ion on our choosing t hose se t s of condi tions

wh ich ca n be isola ted .

b
( ) From one poin t of v iew an e v en t
, never
h appens twice in t he same way T here are no t wo .

sunse t s exac tly al ike no t wo leaves of a plan t or

t ree w hich do no t presen t some di ff erences We .

speak of things as being as lik e a s t wo peas

bu t e ven two peas are differen t in many ways .

T here is in nature a wonderful v arie t y and c h ange .

E veryth in g under t he sun is new .

B ut all th is v arie t y is produced by th e O perat ion

of t he same laws a s opera ted before t he firs t animal
rose from t he sea and from t his p o m t of View ,

t here is no new t hing under t he sun Thus .

,
126 AN INT RODUC TI O N T O LOGIC

w ere producing a differen t res ul t he would sa y no t , ,

th at t he caus al law wa s bro ken bu t t ha t t here were ,

in th is case modifying f a c t ors which were as ye t

hidden : i e th at the con ditions form ul at ed were
. .

no t th e comple te condi tions affec ting th e result .

In th e second place if t he scient is t did no t ac t in

,

t his way he woul d ne v er k now w h en t o sit down with

folded h ands and sa y , Th is case Sh o ws th at th e re
,
”
is no law , or when to sa y T his case present s ne w ,
”
feat ures w h ic h we mus t in ves tigate furth er In .

o th er words i t is o nl y because t he scientis t belie ves

,

in t he law th at h e goes on in ves tigat ing And his .

faith is generally rewarded if no t in his own life time ,

th en in th ose of his successors E v ery scientis t will .

tell you th a t th ere are many th ings h e does no t

—
unders t and i e of whic h h e has no t ye t disco vered
. .

t he condit io ns " bu t none will tell you th a t t hese

t hings are excep t ions t o or breac h es of t he uni , ,

formity of nature Thus t he law of causali ty is pre

.

supposed by man in all h is in ves t igations He says .

t o nat ure, I shall regard myself a s unsat isfied unt il

I ha ve seen t he same laws operat ing in your new
ac tivi ties as I sa w in your old I demand th a t you
shall satisfy me in th is t hing and na ture replies
by opening up her secre t s T h ere is t hen a difference
.

be tween an ordinary scient ific h ypo th esis and t his

principle for all o th er hypo t heses res t on t his and ,

presuppose i t As i t is t he basis of our t h inkin g

.
,

so i t con di t ions our ac t ion Unl ess we co ul d coun t .

on t hings h appening in cert ain defi nite ways we ,

S hould no t ac t a t all .

We hav e now answered t he ques tio ns as k ed on

p 9 6 as t o t he me t h ods by w hic h we arri ve a t our
.
,
 P RINCIPLE OF CAUSALITY 127

generalisat ions and a s to what p roof we have for

,

them All o ur p roof is based ul tim a tel o n the

.

rin c ip e O aus his principl e we can

neit her prove nor disprove bu t we canno t do wi th
out it The signific a nce of t his fac t is one of t he
.

questions discussed by P hilosophy .

 C HAPTE R X V .

THE GE N E R A L N A TUR E O F E XP E R IE N CE .

F A CT and th eory are of ten cont ras t ed a s if fac t s were

,

more real t han th eories t hings w hic h canno t be go t

,

o ver w h ile th eories are t ransit ory th ings an obj ec t

, ,

of disdain t o th e so called prac t ical person Le t

-
.

us see t he relat ion be t ween fac t s and th eories .

’
We h ave discussed th e way in whic h t he c h ild s
experience is gained and h av e seen th at th e process is
,

exac tly th e same a s th at by whic h th e scientis t gain s

his. W h at is th e significance of this for th e present
ques t ion 2 T his t hat th e child is an invest igator ,

th eorising w h a t h e th eorises abou t is fac t for th e

’
ad ul t T h e c h ild s generalisat ion ( or th eory ) th a t
.

wh en th e cloc k s t ruc k one i t wa s h alf pas t an h our -

,

h ad t o be t est ed and when correc t ed mig ht be

, ,

described a s a t heory jus t ified by th e fac ts For .

t he ad ul t th e part played by t heory h as dropped ou t ,

and for h im i t is a fac t and no th eory th a t th e

, ,

cloc k s trik es in a cert ain way Wh at is a th eory

m
.

for th e learner is a fac t for t he expert is t hus .

succ essful t heo ry .

IS t here any fac t whi ch was ne ver t heory i e

“

. .
,

whic h wa s a t once percei ved wi th ou t error or ,

13 0 AN I N T RODUCTI ON T O LOGI C

An examp l e may hel p us to realise what is mean t

by part ial or incomple te fac ts being theorised abou t .

The child inves tigat ing the noise of th e cloc k will

serve here That t he noises he hears come from
.

objec t s in cert ain posit ions in space was once a

t heory and finall y t es t ed t heory or fac t Tha t
, , .

t he noise he hears comes from th e part icular obj ect ,

the c l oc k was once t heory and is now fac t It is

, , .

less fragment ary fac t t han i t was when t he noise

was less l ocalised ( i e i t is more fully int erpre t ed )
. .

bu t i t is s till fragment ary no t comple tel y in ter

,

p re te
.d T h us t he partial fac t s of which we
have been speak ing are t he incomple t e interpre t a
t ions of t he mat erial of our experience N o t in .

comple t e in t he sense of un t rue for t hat th e noise

comes from t he cloc k is t rue being test ed t heory "
,

bu t incomple t e in t he sense t hat t hey have a furt her

S ignificance which has no t ye t been di sco vered In .

“
jus t this sense t he fac t in dicat ed by I h ear a
sound is incomple t e The s t ages of comple teness
.

are I hear a sound I t comes from t he clock

I t is t he cloc k s t rik ing t he h al f hour We are -
.

adding meaning or S ignifi cance ge tting more fac t , ,

a s we pass from one t o t he o t her .

Is all our experience t hen all we k now mere , ,

t heory you may a sk N o t mere th eory t here is

—
.
,

no suc h th ing B ut everyt hing I k now abou t t he

.

h ouses t rees birds o t her people my own ac t io ns

, , , ,

ent ered originall y int o my experience in a frag

—
ment ary way I had t o in t erpre t it t heorise abou t i t
—unt il in t he end I found a fairly co nsist en t explana
t ion for i t al l ac t ing on my t heories I found my ,

expec t at ions jus t ified : my th eories turned ou t t o

 GENE R AL NATUR E OF E XPE RI ENCE 13 1

be re a l f a cts B ut m a n is so p ro ne to accep t his o wn

.

h a stily formed theories a b out the f ra g mentary

facts which come b ef ore him th a t m a ny a theory is
,

f ormed a nd b elieved in without su ffi cient justific a

tio n a nd it is these hasty theories with which the
p ractical m a n is conf ro nted every day which ,

give him such a distaste of mere theory .

Thus my theory dep ends o n the way in which f acts

p resent themselves to me T hi s e xpl a ins how it is
.

that so many app arent arguments turn o ut o n

e x a mina tio n t o contain no formal reaso ning ( Cf . .

p .

The correct theory o f the way in whi ch a thing

happ ened is thus a p recise a nd a ccurate account o f
the fac t s of the c a se and hence science is an attemp t
to g et a t the real facts a b out the u n iverse The.

b est scientific theory is simply the mos t compl ete

av ail abl e account of the facts .

We a re now in a p osition to understand what

H erb ert Spencer means when he s p eaks o f E ducation
”
a s leading f rom the empiric a l to the r a tion a l
“
.

”
By the emp irical we may u nderstand the
”
f acts a nd f o r the rational we can su b stitute
,
”
the theory o f the facts p rovided we remem b er
,

the resul t we have reached as to the p recise rel a tion

b etween f a ct a nd theory The p hrase will then
.

mean the p rocess f rom the p a rtial and frag mentary

,

f acts p resented at first to the compl ete a nd de t a il ed

,

account which views them I n their rel ations to o ne

another E ducation l eads us from fragmentary to
.

compl ete facts .

B ut side b y side with this p hrase Sp encer uses

,

another in sp eaking o f E ducation as l eading from

,

I 2
13 2 AN I N T RODUCTI ON T O LOGI C

t he concre t e t o th e abs trac t as if t he empirical

were t he concre te and t heory t h e rat ional were , , ,

the abs t rac t We mus t h owe ver challe nge this

.
, , .

If we remember th e process by w hich t he scient ist

sim plifies t he condit ions pre v ailing in nature and
s tudies the broad lines of his subjec t a s i t were we , ,

shall see t ha t t he process from t he de t ailed frag

ment s of fac t t o th e abs t rac t formul at ion of th e law
,

regarding th e fac t is only a part of what t he scient is t

,

does His ul t ima te goal is to ge t at th e comple t e

.

fac t s T hus h e passes rath er from t he fragment ary

.

concre t e ( if you keep t o t he word concre te whenever

y o u t ouc h fac t ) th rough t he abs t rac t t o t he com
p l ete concre t e .

Indeed one p hilosopher Hegel work ing from t he , ,

e tymological meaning of t he word abs t rac t cu t

o ff assert ed t hat where ver you separate from
,

one ano t her t hings which oug ht t o be Viewed in

relat ion th ere you h ave th e abs t rac t Thus frag
, .

ment s of fac t would be f a c t s seen a b s t rac tl y " t he

o nl y concre te t hings would be fac t s viewed in th eir
comple t eness and he t herefore said t hat E ducat ion
l ead s from th e abs t rac t t o t he concre te .

EXE RC I SES .

l . Distinguish betwee n th e em p iric a l a nd the

ra tiona l ”
te a ching o f a la ngua ge Are the na mes .

a ppro pri a te 2

2 Tra ce the steps by which

. a pupi l a rrives at the
rules
 I NDE X .

N umbers r e er f to p a ges . N umbers in bra ckets f

r e er to E xercises .

A bstra c t Con c eta nd r e . C a u a li ty

s , Prin ci ple of, Oh .

I n rea so ni n g 1 1 1 1 1 3 , , XI V .

R el a t i o n f 1 3 2 1 3 2 o , , l gy 1 24
a n d a na o , .

A c ti on Pr o c esses i n v o lv
, ed in , M ns i so l a ti on 1 2 4
ea , .

Oh . I . "ustific ti o n o f 1 2 5
a , .

A gre m n t M eth od o f Ch X I
e e , , . . Ch a n c 1 2 2 e, .

Prin c ipl 100 104 e, , Chi ld en Me th ods f rea s nin g

r , o o .

I m pli es p vi us kn w l d g ere o o e , Use f greem en t 9 8 f 105

o a , .
,

101 .

Ma n y co mm o n f ea t ures ne Use of ana l o gy , 108 , 1 1 2 (l ,

gl e c ted in use O f , 1 01 .

D ga n ers o f , 1 01 . Cf .b t t a nd C o ncre te
A s ra c ,

Su ppl t by
em e n e d th M e od ti
E d uc a on .

of Di fferen c e, 1 02 . Cla ssific ti on Ch I V

a , . .

x pl
E a m es, 103 f . P l im in a y a c c un t 2 1
re r o , .

A big i ty D g
m u , a n e r o f , 59 E m b o d i ed in l n gua g e 2 3 a , .

l gy Ch
An a o , XI I . . B y g n us a nd d i fferen t i
e a ,

P i ip
r nc le , 106 2 3 ff 30 (6,
N
.
.
,

y k w g
e c essa r in n o l ed e , 1 07 . C ll tiv
o ec e use o f c a ss n a m e , 5 2 l .

p t
I m erf ec , 1 07 . C pt h
o n ce , C III . .

U se by h c ild re n , 108 . v lv
In o ed in a c o n , 4 ti .

U se by i ti t
sc en s , 1 08 . ti
F o rm a o n o f , 1 4, 1 5 .

F ro m gl i t
Sin e n s a n ce to Use o f , 15, E er c ses, Ch V . . x i
g l
en e ra l a w , 1 12 3 7, 3 8 .

x pl
E a m es, 1 1 3 ( 4, i g
a nd m a e , 1 6 .

Cf C
. pt
o nc e . i h p
R c a nd o o r , 1 6 .

A t t
n e c e d en , 8 3 . D g v g
a n er of a ue , 1 7 .

Cl ifi by fi i ti
ar ed d e n o n, 2 1 .

C a tego ic a l p o p osi tion

r r a nd gi l pt
L o c a c o n c e , 17 .

n c e pt 48 ff
co , . x i
E erc ses, 1 8 .

Subj c t a n d p ed i ca te
e r a nd ud m en , 45 fl
j g t .

49 . A ly i
na s s j g
of , in ud m en , t
F o rm s o f , 50 . 48 if , 50 ( 1,
Uni versa 52, 6 9 l , . Cf . p
106 . .
 INDE X 13 5

C o n co m i ta n t V i ti ar a o n s, ti
E d uc a o n a nd d e n on, 18 , fi i ti
Meth o d of, 103 104 ( 6 , 20 if , 2 6 .

5, 7 a n d d ed uc ti v i
e nf e ren c e , 3 5 .

C nfio d en c e in o rd n a r i y li f e, a nd i ti
n d uc o n , 9 8 f .

5 ( 2, 1 06 . a nd a n a o l gy
, 108 , 1 1 1 .

C o nn o a t ti on , 25 . p
S en c er , 1 3 1 .

a nd d en o t ti a on , 25 . gl
He e , 1 3 2 .

T h ree m ea nin g s o f , 2 5, 3 0 pi i l
E m r c a a nd ra o na , 1 3 1 f ti l
C n q
.

o u n t 83
se e , . ti
E n um era o n , In c o m e e, 103 pl t
C n t d i ti n in t ms
o ra c o er , 67 l
( , 104
C n t d i t y p p i ti
o ra c or ro os o n s, 66, i pl
S m e or C om e e , 103 ( 1 , pl t
6 7 ( 4,
C nto ra r y p p i ti o n
ro os s, 6 6, E vi d ence, Ci rc u m st a n ti a l , 12
67
C nv i n
o e rs o , 7 5, 7 6 (l) , 77 See r o o f P .

C pul 50
o a , . xl i l
E c ud ed M d d e, La w o f , 6 1 ,
62 .

D efini ti on , Ch IV . . E xp i
e r en c e , Gen era n a ur e l t
Use is sy t m a ti in g kn w
s e s o o f , Oh XV
t N t
. .

l d g 20 ff e e, . E xp i
e r m en , a ur e o f , 8 if .

A s l c ti n f si gnifica n t
e e o o a nd th
m e o d o f a re em en , g t
p r p ti 22 o er es, . 100 .

D i pti v 26 3 0
e sc r Im e, , a nd th
m e o d o f d ff e ren ce , i
p f ti n f 2 7
e r ec o o , . 1 02 .

D p nd n ci n tific hyp
e e s o s e o a nd a n a o , 108 l gy .

th 26 ese s, . ti
Fo rm a o n o f m o d e s, 109 l .

C n d i ti n f g d 2 7 ff
o o s o oo , .

A u y p isi n n d
cc ra c , rec o a t
Fa c a n d th y
e o r , 12 8 if .

l n c ea r29 3 0 ess , , . t p i ipl

Fa c s, used a s r n c es, 1 17 ff .

Ci ul 28 rc a r, . ll i
Fa a c es, d ue to i p m erf ec t
M t ph i l 2 9
e a or ca e xp i j g
ress o n o f ud m en s t
N g ti v 2 9
, .
,

e a e, . 9 5, 9 7
E x ci s 3 0 ff
er se , . p p l
in o u a r su ers p ti ti on , 100 .

As f t n d s p i n ci pl
ac 1 18 a a r e, . d ue to m e o d o f a th g r ee m e n t ,

Of Ch X I . . .

D n t ti n P li m in y
e o a o , re ar Fo rm in L o gi c , 40 ff .

un t 20
a cc o , . See L o gic a l F o rm , Form a l
n d C n n t a ti o n 2 5
a o o , .

Diff en ce M th d f Oh X L
er , e o o , .
,
Fo rm a l Lo gi c , L im i t a t i o n of,

102 . 56 , 8 6 , 1 3 ]
Dil mm 85 8 9 ( )
e a , , e . l
Fo rm u a , m ea ni n g of, 3 9 ff .

Disj un c tiv p p i ti e ro os on , 48, 8 4 .

M ni n g fea ith o e er o r, l ti n In v lv d in
Gen era isa o , o e
84 . a c ti n 3 o , .

Dist ibutive u
r se o f c a ss n a l me ,
In v lv d in thi n king Ch II
o e , . .

52 Se e Hyp th i In f on es s, e re ce,

N
.

e c essa r y in l g ic a l
o p ro In d u ti n c o .

p i ti os o n , 52 . Genu sn d d i ff ren ti
a 2 3 ff e a , .
,

Divi i n s o , 2 4, 3 1 32 ( 13 , 30(6,
Geo m e ti lr ca rea so ni n g , 1 15 .
HM I NDE X
H um e, o n A n a l o 107 gy L o gi c P o bl em o f r

Na tu e f p ro f 1 1
, .
, .

x y
H u l e , o n Re a so n n , 6 if i g . r o o , .

On H o t es s, 1 1 8 ff
yp h i . C o nd i ti on s f l ogi c l c o nc ep to a ,

H y o t es s, F o rm a t o n o f
p h i i . 18 .

i y li
I n o rd n a r fe , 3 , 6 3 . Prin cipl es O f tho ught , 36 .

i
I n sc en c e , 10 ff , Ch X I I I . . . F o rm a l Lo gi c 44 , .

I n o l es re v o us no led ge ,
v v p i k w In d uc ti v e L o gi c 9 6 , .

1 14 . L o gi ca l F o rm 49 ff , .

So m e oss pes n e ec ed ibi li ti gl t Li m i ta ti o ns f 56 o , .

in , 1 1 5 . E x rc ises 53 ( 1 2
e , , , 56 f .

C
ond i ti
o ns o f , 1 1 8 ff .

ti g
Tes n o f , 3 , 1 1 , 1 2 0 Mi d d l e term 7 5
m
.
, .

E x a m es, 120 .
M o d els use in r ea so ni ng 109 f
, , .
,
See I nf eren c e .
1 13
H yp th ti
o e cal ro os o n , 48 , p p i ti
82 .
N o n -c o n tra d i c ti o n , La w o f, 6 0,
62 .

I d en ti ty o f Te rms P i nciple o f , r ,

59 .
O bv i
e rs o n , 76 , 7 6 7 7 ( 3 , 4,
I n c om p a ti ble prop osi ti ns o , 66 .
5,
I n c om ple te fa c ts 1 3 0 , .

I n d uc ti on ee H yp o th esis
, s , In P ti cul a r p rop osi ti o ns 53
ar , .

f eren c e .
Pr s nc e o f m ind 5
e e Cf
I n f eren c e , In o e d in a c o n , v lv ti pp 106 107 .
, .
, .

1 tf , 5 ( 5, 12 ( 3 ,
.
Prin c i pl es Us f in re a so ning e o
D e d uc e, V , 3 4 E x er
ti v Ch . . .
1 15
, , ,

i
.

c ses, 3 7 f .
D e fini ti o n s s 1 1 8 a
ti v
e , Ch s X I I ff
Na ture o f Pro blem
,
.

I n d uc . . .
Pr oo f
l ti
I so a o n in a n a l o , 1 06 if gy s
,

ugg est ed 1 1 , .
.

12 4 .
O f m a j o r p em is es 9 6 r s
in ca use , 1 2 4 H
, .

.
B y d ed uc ti v e i n f e en c 36 r e, .

P bl em f F o rm a l L o gic
ro o ,

"ud gm en t , as d efinin g a s i tua 36 .

ti o n 45 if , . Pro verbs , 94 .

M te i a l wi t h whic h
a r L o gi c
d ea l s 46 , .
Q ua l i ti es xp ess d by m ea ns
,
e r e
F o rm s o f , 46 If .
f e l a ti ns 19
o r o , .

An a sser o n , 47 ti .
C en t a l a nd d efin i ti n 22 ff
r , o , .

E e r t rue o r f a l se , 47
i th .

i
" n d s o f , 48 .
R a ti o n a l a n d em piri c a l 13 1 f
Fur er c o n s d era t on s
th i i , .
,
re
13 2
l a tin g to Ch X , . .
Rea so nin g ,
F o rm a l as p ec t o f,
Gr o un ds o f , 9 2 .
Ch V I 42 ff
th . .

Tr u o f, 93 .
Li m i ta ti o ns o f 56 8 6 1 3 1
p tly xpressed 43 . .
, ,
I m e rf ec e , ,
Ge o m et ri c a l 1 1 5
G v es i ise to fa l la
.
,
9 3 if . r
See "ud gm en t An a l o gy
i R ea so nin g Na tur e f E xem
.
,
c es, 9 5 .

,
o ,

p lifi ed , Ch I . .
, II .

La w of I d en ti t y , 95 . x
E erc ses, 12 i .
 A Selec tio n o f W o rks on

M e t h o ds o f T e a c h in g

T h e E vo luti o n of E duc a tio na l Th eory . By Pro f .

"h no

A d a ms, LL D . . 8v o . I os . n et .

E xp o sition a nd I llus tra tio n in T eachi ng . By Pro f .

"h no

A da ms, LL D . . Glo b e 8 o v .
55 .

Th e T ea chi ng of Sc i enti fic M ethod a nd o th e r P a p e rs

o n E d uc a ti o n . By P ro f . H E Armstro ng , LL D
. . . . C ro wn 8 vo .

55 . net .

Th e Te a c hi ng o f Ge o gra ph y . By Sir A rc hiba l d Geik i e,

"GB . Gl o b e 8 v o
. 25
. . .

E y M a th em a tics chie fl y A rith meti c

as , . By Sir O l ive r
L o dg e C ro wn 8 c 4s od
. v . . .

Th e T ea chi ng o f E l em enta ry M ath e ma tic s . By D avid

E Smi th
. C o wn 8v o 4s 6 d net . r . . . .

Th e T ea c hi ng o f E li sh in th e E l ementa ry a nd
ng

Seco nda ry Sc h o ol . B y P erciva l C h ubb C ro wn 8vo 45 6 d net . . . . .

T h e P s ycho l o gy a nd P ed a go gy of R ea d ng i . By Pro f .

E dm und B Huey, A M , P h D . . . . . C ro wn 8vo . 65 . net .

A Cy c l o p edia of E du c a tion . E dited by Pa ul M on ro e ,

Ph D . . Il lustra ted . I mp . 8 vo . Vol . I . A - Ch u. . 2 15 . n et .

Vo l . II . C h u F us - . 2 15 . ne t . Vol I I I G a l Lib 2 1 5 net

. .
-
. .

Vol . I V Li b .
- Pol . 2 15 . net . Vo l V P ol Z wi 2 1 5 net
. .
- . . .

L ON D ON : M A C M I LLA N CO .
, LT D .
 A Sele c tio n o f W o rks on th e

T h eo ry S Histo ry o f E duca tio n 9

Th e Lo gi c a l Ba s e s of E du c a tion . By "W e l ton

. M A ,
. .

Glo b e 8vo .
35 . 6d .

T h e P sy c ho l o gy of E duc a tion . By " W e lto

. n M A ,
. .

8v o .
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