Grice e Capocasale: l’implicatura
conversazionale dei segni di dialettica – filosofia italiana – Luigi Speranza (Montemurro). Filosofo italiano. Grice: “You gotta love Capocasale; my favourite is
his ‘corso filosofico,’ which the monks rendered as ‘CVRSVS PHILOSOPHICVS,’
almost alla Witters! Capocasale multiplies the principles of reason – I thought
there was just one – On top, he uses the trouser-word, ‘vero,’ – so he thinks
he is philosophising about the ‘vero principio della ragione,’ or its plural! In fact, he
is philosophising about conversational implicature!” Figlio di Lorenzo e Maria
Lucca, sin da ragazzino aiuta il padre nel suo mestiere di fabbro ferraio. Nel
tempo libero si dedica alla filosofia, mostrando grande attitudine nella
filosofia romana antica in particolare. Con la morte del padre, avvenuta quando
C. aveva 15 anni, visse tra Corleto Perticara, Stigliano e San Mauro Forte,
procurandosi da vivere come insegnante privato, dedicandosi contemporaneamente
allo studio della filosofia e del diritto.
Dopo esser stato governatore baronale di Sarconi, incarico ottenuto
appena ventenne, lasciò la Basilicata per trasferirsi a Napoli, conseguendo la
laurea in giurisprudenza. Dopo gli studi universitari, insegnò filosofia nella
scuola dallo stesso fondata a Napoli. Vestì l'abito talare e fu nominato da
Ferdinando IV precettore di logica e di metafisica all'Napoli. Perse tale incarico con l'arrivo di Giuseppe
Bonaparte: sotto il suo governo gli fu concessa solamente la docenza privata.
Con la restaurazione, Ferdinando IV lo nominò vescovo di Cassano. C., tuttavia,
preferendo l'insegnamento, rinunciò alla carica, così come fece più tardi con
l'incarico di pari grado conferitogli per la diocesi di Sora-Aquino-Pontecorvo.
Sempre nell'ateneo partenopeo ebbe la cattedra di diritto di natura e delle
genti: i suoi teoremi, di stampo lockiano, ebbero una certa risonanza, tanto da
essere citati da filosofi come Fiorentino, Gentile e Garin. Alcuni suoi discepoli divennero importanti
personalità culturali del tempo come Francesco Iavarone, Quadrari, Scorza,
Arcieri e Mazzarella. Sempre fedele alla monarchia borbonica, si schierò contro
le insurrezioni carbonare. Precettore del futuro re delle Due Sicilie:
Ferdinando II. Fu inoltre membro di varie Accademie come la Parmense, la
Fiorentina, la Cosentina, l'Augusta di Perugia, Aletina e Renia di Bologna,
degli Intrepidi di Ferrara, de' Nascenti e degli Assorditi di Urbino, dei
Filoponi di Faenza. Altre opere:“Divota novena del gloriosissimo taumaturgo S.
Mauro” (Roma); “Esercizio di divozione verso il glorioso confessore S. Rocco”
(Napoli); “Cursus philosophicus” (Napoli); “Saggio di politica privata per uso
dei giovanetti ricavata dagli scritti dei più sensati pensatori” (Napoli); “Catechismo
dell'uomo e del cittadino” (Napoli); “Codice eterno ridotto in sistema secondo
i veri principi della ragione e del buon senso” (Napoli); “Saggio di fisica per
giovanetti” (Napoli); “Istituzioni elementari di matematica” (Napoli); “Corso
filosofico per uso dei giovanetti”. Dizionario
biografico degl’italiani -- un filosofo lucano alla corte dei Borboni. Quoniam PHILOSOPHIA
est scientia quae viam ad felicitatem sternit. Ea vero rationis solius ductu
cognoscitur, ac demostrationis ope vernm investigat. In vero autem inveniendo
methodus utramque facit paginam. Patet primum FILOSOFI studium esse debere,
intellectum, sive facultatem cogitandi, ad veritatem methodice investigandam,
ac di iudicandam aptum reddere, eumque mediis opportunis acuere, vel, si morbo
aliquo laboret, salutaribus eidem mederi remediis. Et quia veritas per
demonstrationem invenitur et iudicatur. Demonstratio vero methodo perficitur. Liquet,
ei necessarium esse, mentem quoque ad demonstrationem, ac methodum ad sue facere,
ut in eo habitum adquirat, in quo FILOSOFI scientia consistit. Quamvis vero
omnes homines naturali quodam verum cognoscendi, iudicandi, rationes denique
conficiendi facultate praediti sint, eaque a multis usu, atque exercitatione ad
summum usqne perfectionis gradum sit redacta: quum tamen plurimis erroribus
sint obnoxii, nisi facultatem illam regulis quibusdam certis, at que indubiis
dirigant, disciplina aliqua in veniatur, oportet, quae regulas ac praecepta
tradat, quibus naturalis illa cogitandi vis augeatur, perficiatur, et ad
veritatis investigationem in offenso pede dirigatur. Naturalis haec percipiendi,
iudicandi, ratiocinandi que vis LOGICA NATURALIS appellatur, quae qunn in
casuum similium observatione, adeoqne in sola praxi consistat, non solum
erroribus est obnoxia sed rerum causas et rationes ignorans, confusam
tantummodo cognitionem, non vero scientiam producere potest. Ex quo legitime
fluit LOGICAE ARTIFICIALIS necessitas. Disciplina haec vulgo LOGICA ARTIFICIALIS
appellatur, quam definimus per doctrinam, qua regulae traduntur, quibus, humana
mens in cognoscenda, et di iudicanda veritate dirigatur. Vocatur haec a non nullis PHILOSOPHIA RATIONALIS, ARS
COGITANDI, et kat i Sony LOGICA. Logicae Prolegomena quae tantum abest, ut
essentialiter a Naturali differat, ut sit potius distincta eiusdem explicatio,
adeoque tanto illa praestantior quanto distincta cognitio praestat confusae. Ex
quo patet, FILOSOFI sola Logica naturali esse non posse contentum, sed ei
colendam esse artificialem. Quandoquidem autem Logica artificialis leges
explicat naturalem iudicandi facultatem dirigentes: sequitur ut eas ex mentis
humanae natura deducat, adeoque mentis operationes prius, carum que naturam
distincte explicare; deinde vero eam in veritatis investigatione, atque examine
veluti manuducere debeat: uno verbo, ut prima theoriam, deinde praxin ostendat.
Vltro ergo mihi sese offert genuina Logicae divisio, in THEORETICAM ET
PRACTICAM. Atque hinc est, cur opusculum hoc in duas partes
distribuerimus. In
quarum prima de mentis operationibus. In altera de legitimo carum usu, quantum
satis erit, tractabimus. Quoniam autem humana mens triabus modis res cognoscit;
vel enim eas tan tummodo percipit, vel de iis iudicium profert, vel denique
rationes conficit. De tribus his mentis operationibus priore parte agemus.
Quumque veritates vel per se pateant, vel per rationem et meditationern
inveniantur, vel denique ex aliorum scri Prolegomena. ptis hauriantur: inventae
vero cum aliis communicentur. De omnibus his parte secunda non nulla haud
proletaria monebimus. Experientia namque constat, nos omnis cognitionis
expertes in mundum prodire (quidquid pro ideis innatis Platonici, et Cartesiani
clamitent), atque primo res simpliciter perei pere, earumque ideas adquirere,
deinde binas inter se conferre, tandem eas cum aliqua tertia idea comparare,
indeque novas veritates deducere. Mentis actio, qua res aliquas sensibus obvias
percipit, aut ab iis abstrahendo novas imagines sibi format, PERCEPTIO, sive
idea dicitur: quum hinas ideas invicena confett, IVDICIVM: dum vero eas cum
aliis comparat, atque inde novas veritates elicit RATIOCINIVM nominatur. Nec
aliae attente consideranti mentis operationes occurrere pote runt. Scholion. De
Logicae utilitate non est, quod plura dicamus. Quamvis enim quam plurimi eam
scriptis suis ad astra tulerint; quisque tainen in se huiusmodi periculum
facere poterit: nam quidquid ex recta ratione capiet emolumenti, id omne huic
disciplinae se debere, aperto cognoscet. Prima mentis hnmanae operatio est
SIMPLEX PERCEPTI, sive NOTIO sive NOTA sive SIGNUM, quam definimus per simplicem
rei alicuius re-praesentationem in mente factam praesentationem autem
intelligunt ad curatio res assimilationem eorum, quae sunt extra ens, in eodem.
Dici quoque solet idea, conceptus, vel sim. Per rea
plex apprehensio, ut scholis placuit. Sunt, qui perceptionem ab idea
distinguendam putant, atque illam esse aiunt, mentis actionem in obiecto
percipiendo. Hanc vero ipsam abiecti imaginem menti percipienti obviam, Sunt,
qui eas terminis tantum differre docent. Quidquid id est,
nobis placuit perceptionem cum idea confundere. Ad eoque nusquain hic de
huiusmodi distinctione sermo cadet. Ideam alii definiunl per imaginem menti
obversantem. Buddeus Phil. instrum. cum observ. alii per exemplar rei in cigitante.
Hollmannus Log. Sed hae, aliaeqne definitiones eodem redeunt. Repraesentationis
vox absque definitione ad sumi poierat, quum sit cuique nota. Sed ut methodici
rigoris amatoribus non nihil daremus eam ita explicavimus, sequuti Baumeisterum
Quoniam itaque notio est rei re-praesentatio. In omni autem re-praesentatione
duo considerarida veniunt, nem, pe modus re-praesentandi, et obiectum, sive res
ipsa quae re-praesentatur: liquet, in qualibet idea itidem duo animadverti
posse, scilicet percipiendi modum, et obiecta nempe res perceptas; quorum ille
FORMA, haec MATERIA idearum recte dicuntur. Si ergo ideae ad
formam referantur consideratio illa dicetur FORMALIS. Si vero ad materiam, OBIECTIVA,
vel Realis appellabitur, Et quia utroque respectu ideae inter se differunt: de
formali ac materiali earum differentia diversis sectionibus agemus. MATE B nos
De formali idearum differentia Experi Xperientia abunde constat quaedam ita
percipere, ut ca ab aliis inter noscere possimus, quaedam vero non ita. Re-praesentatio
illa quae sufficit ad rem perceptam ab aliis dignoscendam, idea di citur CLARA;
OBSCURA contra, quae ad eam discernendam est insufficiens. Vnde idea recte
dividitur in claram et obscuram E. Rosae ideam claram habes, ei eam a lilio,
hiacynto, aliisque floribus distinguere scias, et quoties cumque tibi occurrit,
eam dem agnoscas; contra si arborem peregrinam videas, eamque a reliquis
plantis discernere nequeas, arboris illius ideam habes obscuram. Huiusmodi sunt
ideae infantum recens natorum, hominum bene potorum, eorumqne, qui lethargo
oppressi reperiuntur. CLARITAS enim Physicis est ille lucis effectus, cuius
operes externas circa nos positas alias ab aliis distingnere possumus; contra
vero OBCVRITAS est claritatis absentia, scilicet tenebrarum eftectus: nam quun
tenebrae in lucis privatione consistant, haec vero obiecta externa distinguere
faciat. Deficiente luce, deficit distinctionis facilitas: adeoque obscuritas in
distinguendi impotentia sita est. Quum res existentes innumeris
determinationibus et circumstantiis involutae observentur. Hae vero, nisi
attente consideranti, sensuumqne aciem ad obiecta convertenti, innotescere non
possint, ut experientia patet: recte infertur eo clariorem fieri ideam, quo
plura possunt in obiecta distingui; adeoque ad claram idean adquirendam requiri
sensus cum attentione coniunctos, qua deficiente, ideas fieri deteriores Esenplo
sit hono in maxima distantia constitutus, qnem qui vilet, primo dubius hae ret,
utrum corp is quidlibet sit, an vivens; deinde in obiectum illud oculorun aciem
attente convertens, a motu animal esse comperit, sed cuiusnam speciei, nescit;
propius vero accedenten, ho nisen distinguit; tandem ex corporis habiti, facie,
aliis que circumstantiis Titium agnoscit. Vides quan attente spectator consideraverit,
ut Titium cognosceret! Quem admodun ideae meliores funt, si ex obscuris clarae
evadant, ex confusis distin ctae, ex inadaequatis adaequatae: ita deterio res
redduntur, si ex claris fiant obscurae ex distinctis confusae ex adaequatis
inadaequatae. Quia vero ab attentione penlet claritas idearum, eaque
gralus habet, nec semper, aut in omnibus eadem est: liquet res alias aliis
clarius a no 7 38 Logic. Pars 1. bis percipi posse, ideoque obscuritatem
dari non modo ABSOLVTAM sed RELATIVAM. Hinc obscuritatis caussam plerumquc in
hominibus, raro in re percepta quaeren dam esse; ac proinde praecipitanter iu
dicare illos, qui absolute obscura esse di cunt, quae eorum superant captum:
quo ut quae ignorant (ut Aesopica vul pes ) exsecrentur. * Obscuritas vel
absoluta est, vel relativa. Illa habetur quum res percepta ab aliis prorsus
internosci' non potest; haec autem, quando rem qampiam aliqui subobscure,
quidam clar re, clarius alii percipiunt. Quod quum acci dit, illorum claritas
respectu maioris horum claritatis est obscuritas relativa. fit Quoniam autem ad
idearum clarita tem utramque facit paginam attentio, qua deficiente deteriores
fiunt: con Sequens est ut obscurae eyadant perce ptiones, si alicui meditationi
defisi alia percipiamus, vel si unico actu plura aut animo subiiciamus, denique
si ab una perceptione ad aliam celerrime transeamnus. Et quia adfectus
attentionem turbant, ut cxperientia docet: infertur menten adfectibus agitatam
ad ideas cla ras vel numquam, vel raro admodum per, venire. Adfectus enim sunt
motus quidam vehementiores appetitus sensitivi ex idearum obscuritate, et
confusione orti, de quibus abunde in Psy chologia disseremus, adeoque iis
praedominan tibus nullae, nisi obscurae confusaeve ideae haberi possunt. Si namque in ideis claritas et distinctio adesset, nullis adfectibus
animus ve xaretur. Hinc ergo est, ut a Philosophis ad fectus inter errorum
caussas enumerentur. Exemplo sit homo ira aestuans, qui donec ea agitatur,
nec res clare percipere, nec perce ptionum suarum conscius esse potest. Vid. Seneca
de Ira, et apud Virg. Aen. Furor, iraque mentem prae cipitant.Vides hinc,
obscuritatis caussas easdem esse, quae attentionem turbant vel minuunt: nem pe distractionem,
obiectorum multipli citatem, praeproperam festinationem, denique adfectuum
praedominium. Quae omnia mentem frustra fatigant, et ad proficiendum în studiis
ineptam reddunt. Sed quia Philosophus non solis stare sensibus; rerum autem
latebras et recessus idest caussas et rationes inve stigare debet: per se patet
10. eum claris notionibus adquiescere non pos adeoque il. in distinctarum et
adae quatarum perceptionum statu versari debe re ut infra dicemus. se; Clarae
namque ideae attento sensuum usu ad Logic. Pars I. quiruntur; sensus autem, ut
mox adparebit, res tantummodo exsistentes confuse repraesentant', in quarum
cognitione nullum ra tio habet exercitium: nihil ergo Philosophus age Tet; nec
hihim quidem in scientia proficeret si claris dumtaxat ideis contentus rationem
ne gligeret, nec in caussarum inve stigatioue adlaboraret. Eadem experientia
docet, nos re rum quas clare percipimus, vel notas sive characteres quibus ab
aliis discer nuntur, distincte nobis sistere posse, eo rum scilicet ideam
claram nabere; vel characteres illos invicem non posse digno sive ipsos obscure
percipere. Re praesentatio clara' notarum obiecti, quod percipimus, idea
dicitur DISTINCTA: repraesentatio contra notarum obscura, vo catur idea
CONFUSA. Idea clara proin de merito dividitur in distinctam, et con fusan.
seere 8 Si quis invidiam novit esse taedium ob alterius felicitatem, illius
characteres sibi clare sistit, adeoque invidiae ideam habet distin ctam. Si
vero coloris nigri notas distinguere nequeat, licet eum ab aliis coloribus
discer nat, ejusdem ideam habet confusam: uti sunt omnes ideae colorum, saporum,
sonorum, odo rum, etc., quorum characteres prorsus igno ramus. Distinctio haec
a Cartesio, et Leibniz E. Cap. I. De Ideis. 41 tio inventa fuit: alii namque
grammatica vo cum significatione decepti, ideas claras'ét di stinctas obscuras
et confusas 'unum idemque esse docebant. Quum idea distincta sit notio clara
notarum; ad claritatem autem notionum permultum conferat attentio: consequens
est ut clarae ideae di stinctae fiant potissimum attentione, qua deficiente,
etiamsi distinctae sint, confu sae evadant. Et quia singulae notae peculiaribus
gaudent nominibus, qui bus exprimuntur: infertur CRITERIVM ideae distinctae id
esse, si cogitala nostra aliis.cxponere, atque con is com municare queainus;
oppositum autem ess: indicium ideae confusae. Hinc idcas confusas aliis referre
volentes, objecta, quae confuse percepimus, ipsis ostendere, vel cum alia re,
de qua ideam habent claram, comparare debemus. * Res clarior fiet exemplis
supra allatis. Qui notionem invidiae habet distinctam, is eam verbis explicare
poterit: quod recte ex sequetur, si notas, quib:is a:lfectuš iste ab aliis
distinguitur, eau neret. Contra ei, quo modo coloris albi aut rubri nolas
proferet, ut cum aliis eius notionenı corninunicet? Pro cul dubio, ut ab illo
intelligatur, colorem illum, aut rem quampiar confuse perceptam, ipsius oculis
admovere, vel cum alia re iarna nota conferre oportebit, sicque in altero con
fusa quoque idea orietur. Hinc est, ut colo rum ideas coeco nato nullo modo
explicarc possimus, isque visu carens nullam, nequi dem obscuram, umquam
huiusmodi notionem adquirere queat. Porro rei, cuius distinctam habe mus ideam,
vel omnes novimus characte res ad eam in statu quolibet agnoscendam
sufficientes, et tunc idea distincta erit COMPLETA; vel quosdam tantum eosque
insufficientes, eaqne INCOMPLETA dicetur. * Idea ergo distincta dispescitur in
completam, et incompletam. Sic invidiae idea iam tradita completa est: adsunt
enim notae sufficientes ad eam in statu quolibet internoscendam. Si ve ro
hominem cum Platone definires per ani mal bipes implume, notionem haberes incom
pletam: * hae namque notae non sufficiunt ad hominem semper ab aliis rebus
discernendum, ut ostendit Diogenes Cynicus, dum hanc Pla tonis sententian
irridendo improbavit. Nec eam postea coinpletam reddere potuerunt Platonis
discipuli, addito latorum unguium charactere: nusquam enim homines a simiis
discernere illa nota valebat. Laert. Lib. VI. cap. 2. segm. 40. ** Licet duo
clarissimiViri Leibnitius, et Wol. Cap. 1. de Ideis. 43 fius semper et ubique
in eamdem sententiam ierint: in hoc tamen hic ab illo discessit. Quumque
Leibnitius omnem ideam distinctam completam esse docuerit: Wolffins contra eam
in completam, et incompletam dividi debere, docuit et demonstravit. a Denique
eadem experientia edocti scimus, nos quaedam ita percipere, ut non solum
eorumdem characteres singilla tim agnoscamus, sed et novas characte rum notas
enumerare queamus;. quorum dam vero solis distinctis ideis adquiescere. Quum
notarum characteristicarum notione gaudemus distincta; idea totalis erit ADAEQUATA;
quum antem notas neb; confuse repraesentamus, idea oritur INA DAEQUATA. Quo fit,
ut distinctam ideam rursus dividanius in adaequatam, et inadaequatam. E. g. Si
quis invidiae notas rursus evolvat, sciatque taedium esse sensum imperfectionis,
et felicitatem determinet per siatum durabilis gaudii: is invidiae idlea
adaequata gandebit. Si vero in solis invidiae characteribus ail juie scat: nec
ulterius in iis evolvendis progredia tur, tunc ideam habebit inadaequitam. Ob
servandum tamen, quod quo novas notas, donec fieri possit, invenire liceat, eo
adaequatior evadet notio. Hanc porro doctrinam Leibnitio debemus, qui eam in
Actis Erud. Acad. Lips. semper 44 Logic. proposuit, eumque suo more sequutus
est Wolffius Logic. ANALYSIS IDEARUM est formas tio idearum adaequatarum.
Quumque idea fiat adequatioi, si novos semper cha racteres invenire liceat:
patet eo adaequatiorem fieri notionem, quo longius eius analysis procedere.
Quoniam vero ob sensuura limites non possumus plura distincte percipere:
infertur 16. nos in notionum analysi" in infinitum progredi non posse:
ideoque quum ad notas vel simplices, vel cuique claras perven. tum fuerit
uiterius eam instituere prohi bemur. Notionum analysis Medicoruin anatomiae
simi lis est. Quemadinodum enim Medici corpus humanum in partes dividunt,
easque depuo in alias aliasque particulas resolvunt, donec ad exilissima tandem
filamenta perveniant, om nes interim earum connexiones, structuram, et
proprictates attente perscrutantes: ita et Phi Josophi idearum noías
singillatim perquirunt, easque iterum atque tertio in novas notas mente
resolventes, minima quacque adcurate contemplantur. Sicuti ergo Medicis, quum
ad indivisihiles particulas pervenerint, eas in novas rursus se care non licet:
Philosophis etiam ea facultas Cap. I. De Ideis. 45 ademta est in analysi
notionum, si vel ad simplicia et indivisibilia, vel ad clara et evi dentia
fuerit pervenlum, vel finis obtentus sit, ob quem fuerat analysis instituta.
SECTIO II. De obiectiva, sive materiali idearum differentia. 28. Haecaec de
divisione idearum formali. Ad, materialem, sive obiectivam quod at tinet, primo
res, quas nobis repraesen {are possumus, vel sunt exsistentes, vel proprietates
iis communes. Quidquid exsi stit dicitur INDIVIDVVM, sive RES SINGULARIS:
individuum autem defiuiri po test id, quod est omnimode determina tum.
Repraesentatio ergo individui vo catur idea SINGULARIS sive INDIVI DVALIS. E.
g. “Socrates”, “Plato”, Aristoteles, Caius, Titius, haec dumus, haec mensa, hic
liber quem legis, sunt individua, quia in unoqucque eorum adsunt tales
circumstaniiae et detern ina tiores, ut Socrates sit Socrates, et non Plato,
Caius sit praecise Caius, et non alius: ita ut si aliqua earum desit, desinant
esse quae prius erant. Hinc individuum idem est cum uno mathemat.co, quod
concipitur tanquam individuum in se, et ab aliis separatum. Iu re igitur
individuum res singularis; ideoque eius perceptio singularis pariter
adpellatur. Quamvis autem individua sint omni mode determinata hoc est
innumeris circumstantiis involuta), quae efficiunt, ut ea longe inter se
differant: bent tamen aliquas determinaliones, in quibus perpetuo conveniunt.
Harum de terminationum complexus aliam ideam su periorem constituit, quae
SPECIES dicitur. Non iniuria ergo species a recentio. ribus definitur per
similitudinem indivi duorum. Determinationis vocabulum, licet barbariem
redoleat, iure tamen hic a nobis adhibetur, et quia civitate donatum, et oh
termini pu rioris deficientiam. Absque definitione por, ro sumitur utpote
experientia seusuque com muni satis notum; eius vero completam no tionem
dabimus in Ontologia, ubi methodici rigoris amatóribus abunde satisfiet. E. g.
Socrates, Plato, Caius, Titius, licet aetate, ingenio, roribus, conditione,
habitu, ceterisque inter se multum distent, habent tamen commuue corpus
organicum, et animain ratione praeditam. Duae hae de terminationes speciem
constituunt, qnae ho m, dicitur. Hinc vides, haec omnia individua in eo
siunilia esse, quod sint homincs. Si plurium specierun pariter cir cumstantias
consideremus videbimus eas in plurimis toto, ut aiunt, coelo differre; in
aliquibus vero perpetuo similes esse. Atque hae determinaciones, in quibus spe.
cies, licet diversissimae, perpetuo conve. niunt, novam ideam, eamque supremam,
constituunt, quae GENVS vocatur. Genus ergo recte definitur per similitudinem
specierum. E. g. “homo”, “equus”, leo, canis, quantumli bet in tot
determinationibus invicem diffe rant, habent tamen in vita et sensione con
venientiam. His circumstantiis conflatur genus, cui animalis nomen inditum.
Observes ita que, omnes illas species in hoc esse per petuo similes, quod
animalia nominentur, adcoque legitimam esse definitionem generis traditam, 31.
Quum genus sit similitudo specie rum (S. 30. ), idque constituatur a com plexu
circumstantiarum, in quibus species perpetuo conveniunt; in speciebns autem
aliae determinationes exsistant, quibus il lae inter se differunt: sequitur 1,
ut non abs se harum proprietatuin di versificantium summa a Philosophis voce
tur DIFFERENTIA SPECIFICA * E. g. Invidia et commiseratio id habent commune,
quod sint taedium. En genus. In eo ve ro differuut, quod invidia sit taedium ob
alte rius felicitatem; commiseratio vero ob infelici tatem. Id ipsum constituit
differentiam specificam. 32. Repraesentatio, quae exhibet pro prietates rebus
exsistentibus communes, di citur idea VNIVERSALIS. Et quia notio nes generum et
specierum determinationes continent pluribus speciebus vel individuis communes:
infertur ideas generum et specierum esse universa Jes. Rursus quoniam hae ideau
couficiun tur, si determinationes aliquas ab aliis se paratas consideremus;
unum vero sine altero considerare dicitur AB STRAHERE; liquido patet 3. ideas
uni versales esse quoque ABSTRACTAS. Hinc est, ut vulgo dicatur, ideas esse vel
concretas, in quibus omnes simul adsunt de terminationes; vel abstractas, quae
aliquas tantum exhibent mentis abtractione ab aliis seiunctas: quod idem est,
ac si dicas, omnes ideas vel singulares esse, vel universales. Ex dictis porro
consequitur 4. ideas universales non exsistere, nisi in singula ribus, nempe
speciem ac genus nusquam inveniri, nisi in individuis; adeoque 5. plus esse in
individuis, quam in specie; plus quoque in speciebus, quam in genere. Ex quo patet 6. quam scite Logici pro
puntiaverint: Notionis extensionem esse in retione inversa comprehensionis. *
Regula haec aliter ab aliis enunciatur, sci licet: Ono maiorem habet idea
comprehensio nein, eo minorem habet extensionem, ct con tra. Comprehensio
dicitur complexus determi dationum, quae ideam aliquam constituunt. Ex tensio
vero est consideratio subiectorum, qui bus delerminationes illae tribui
possunt. Vid. la Logique, ou l'art de penser. Quum ergo individuum omnimodas
determina tiones complectatur, ad unum tantum subiectum extenditur; genus vero
paucissimas comprehendens circumstantias ad plu rima subiecta referri, nemo non
videt. Posita igitur regulae illius veritate, nullo negotio intelligitur 7. nec
ab individuo ad speciem, neque a spe cie ad genus umquam posse duci conclu
sionem; ac proinde 8. non licere generi tribui, quod speciei convenit, aut ab
illo removeri, quod huic repugnat; contra vero a genere ad speciem, atque ab
hac ad individuum bene concludi, ideoque individuo dandum, quod speciei
convenit, pariterque speciei tribuendum esse quidquid generi convenire
observatur. Et recte ! nam nam in individuo comprehensio maior est, extensio
minor, quam in specie, ut et in hac relate ad genus. Quidquid ergo de individuo
enunciatur, eius proprietates differentiales; si ita loqui fas sit, respicit,
quae in speciem non ingrediuntur: ac proin de de hac enunciari nequit. Eodem
modo, quae de specie dicuntur, differentiam tantum specificam spectant: genus
autem proprieta tes multis speciebus communes continet; adeo que speciei
attributa nullo modo cum genere coniungi possunt. Res clarior fiet exemplo.
Socrates est individuum, in quo omnimoda invenitur determinatio; id vero sub
hominis specie comprehenditur. De So crate' recte enunciabis, quod fuerit
philoso phus, quia attributum hoc ei convenit ob scientiam, qua praeditus erat,
quaeque inter Socratis proprielátes individuales enumeratur. Possesne id de
specie, idest de homine pronuntiare? Minime quidem: in determinationibus enim
hominis specificis non scientia, sed scientiae capacitas, nempe ra tio ',
invenitur. Contra hanc regulam peccare solent susurrones quidam, qui vitia vel
de fectus in aliquo, vel aliquibus individuis for san occurrentia toti speciei,
coelui, vel clas si imputare non erubescunt. Quum enim genus in specie, species
pariter in individuo, contineatur): quidquid generi conyepit, cum specie
coniungi; et quik uid speciei convenit, de individuo quo cap. de Ideis que
enunciari debet aeque, ac ab his removeri quod ab illis discrepat.E. g. Animal
sentit, ergo homo sentit: homo est intelligens, quia libet igitur homo
intelligens est etc. Res exsistentes rursus vel inira nos sunt vel extra nos.
Prioris classis sunt omnes animae actiones; posterioris vero obiecta quaecumque
sensibus nostris obyer santia, vel mutationes in corpore humano ciusque organis
supervenientes. SENSV INTERNO percipiuntur, sive REFLEXIONE, hae contra
SENSIBVS EXTERNIS. Liquet ergo 10, ideas omnes singulares sola sensionc adquiri
* Illae * Intra nos sunt affectus, et cogilationes vo strae, quae interno sensu,
conscientia refle xione (haec opinia idem significant ) perci piuntur. E. g. si
quis tristitiam, vel metum sentiat, ciusque idcam sibi formet, hanc sensu
intern:), sive conscientia, nempe atlen tione ad proprias actiónes adplicatà,
adqui sivisse dicitur. Extra nos porro sunt omnia alia obiecta etsistentia
sensibus obvia. Sic in deas omnes singulares, quaecumque illae sint, sensibus percipi,
nemo ignorat: superfluun enim ' esset id ' exemplis illustrare. Cuilibet autem
de plebe noturn est, exter sensus quinque numerari, visum nein pe, auditum,
olfactnm, gustum, et tactum, nos. iisque totidem organa esse destinata; visui
scilicet cculum, auditui aurem, olfactui na res, gustui linguam, tactui denique
specia tim manus, generaliter vero totam corporis humani superficiem. 36. Quum
ergo res exsistentes sensibus percipiantur; ideoque ideae sin gulares sensione
adquirantur; ex singula ribus vero universales sola mentis abstra ctione
formentur: liquido infer tuir 11. omnes ideas vel SENSIÚNE, vel ABSTRACTIONE
fieri dooque adeo esse ideas adquirendi mcdos. ** * nem * Et hoc est, quod a
multis docelur, omnes ideas partim SENSIONE, partim ABSTRACTIONE, partim
CONSCIENTIA, vel REFLEXIONE adquiri. Vid. Heinec. Logic.Nos enim sensio cum
conscientia et reflexione confundi debere. Addunt alii tertium adhuc ideas
formandi modum ARBITRARIAM scilicet COMBINATIONEM, veluti quum quis ideam
hominis cum idea equi componit, novamque Centauri notionem conficit: cuius
census sunt etiam notiones montis aurei, intellectus perfectissimi etc., quae
nihil aliud revera sunt, nisi ice rum prius sensione adquisitarum combinatiores
ab intellectu, vel phaniasia in unum redactae, pro quarum veritate generalem
tradunt regulam: Si ideae arbitrio coniunctae sibi con tradixerint,
impossibiles sunt, adeoque fal sae (quae alio nomine CHIMERICAE, a Scola sticis
ENTIA RATIONIS vocantur ); si vero inter se non repugnent, pro possibilibus,
adeoque pro veris sunt habendae. TITIAS esse. Ex quibus omnibus plane consequi
tur 12. recte adfirmari a Philosophis, i deas omnes ex earum origine vel ADVEN.
vel FACTITIAS. * INNA TAE namqne ab omnibus negantur, quid quid de iis
praedicent Plato, Cartesius eorumque asseclae, quorum tamen au ctoritas tanta
non est, ut eorum insomniis a sanioris Philosophiae cultoribus praebea tur
adsensus, ut in Psychologia distinctius adparebit. Per adventitias enim
intelligunt notiones sen sique adquisitas: per fictitias vero illas quae vel
abstractione vel arbitraria combinatione fiunt. Plato namque animas humanas ab
aeterno praeexsistentes posuit singulas singula astra inhabitantes, qnibus Deus
monstruvii universi naturam, ac leges frtales edixit: sed quum a diis
inferioribus Dei ministris mones 'vocat in corpora fatali necessitate inclusa
fuissent eo rum omnium, aeternis ideis prius e rant intuitae, statim ob quos
dae. quae in Jitas, non nisi longo sensuum usu, àc nedita tione pristipam
cognitionem recuperare. Plat. in Timaeo. Hinc vulgatum eius effatum: Stu et
discere idem esse, ac reminisci. CICERONE – TUSCUL. QUAEST. Illas ergo ideas,
quas antea habebant, vocavit innatas. Sed quum id purum putumque sit Platonis
som nium, nequaquam erimus de eo refutando solliciti. Cartesius hoc nomine
donavit facul tatem homini competentem omnia intelligibilia videndi. Respons,
ad art. 14: progranm. ann. Sed pèr hanc rectam rationem intelligi, quisque
videt, quam proin de ideam adpellare est potentiam cum actu confundere.
Cartesiani denique per ideas in natas intellexerunt axiomata quaedam eviden tia,
quae ab ipsa cogitaudi facultate ortum ducunt, veluti: totum csse maius qualibet
sui parte; non posse idem simul csse, et non esse ctc. At quis rerum omnium
ignarus iguo rat, haec esse pura judicia, quae a termino runi illorum relatione,
ac ab ideis totius et partis, exsisteniiue et non exsistentiae, sen su et
abstractione prius adquisitis immediate pendent? Quae quum ita sini, ideas
invatas nullo modo dari posse, merito concludimus. 38. Ideae praeterea sunt
aliae SIMPLICES, a quibus nihil mente abstrahere pos sumus, aliae COMPOSITAE,
bus per mentis abstractionem plura divi dere, atque invicem separare licet. in
qui Ex quo necessaria consequutione conficitur 13. simplices ideas claras esse,
at confu sas; compositas vero etiam distinctas. Tales sunt ideae omnes colorum,
sonorum saporum, voluptatis, taedii, quas ideo aliis explicare non possumus,
nec illarum chara cteres invicem discernere, ut ita üs'definien dis omnino
incapaceś simus. ** Sic in idea mensae cuiusdam separatim con siderare possum
matericm, formam, figuram, colorem, magnitudincm, et id genus alia. His addunt
aliqui ideas ASSOCIATAS, si ve coniunctas, eas scilicet, quae ita simul a nobis
adquisitae sunt, ut quum una nobis occurrit, altera quoque menti obversetur:
veluti si rosain olim videns odoris simul no tionem accepi, quotiescumque
odorem illum sentio, rosae etiam idea menti fit praesens.Denique quuin vel
substantias, vel modos, vel relationes pobis repraesentare queamus, ideae sunt
vel SVBSTANTIARVM, vel MODORVM, vel RELATIONVM. Per SVBSTANTIAM intelligimus
ens, cui atiributa ei accidentia tan quam subiecto,: veluti inhaerere
concipiuntur, MODI sunt adfectiones, et attributa substantiis inhaerentia, a
quibus + D4 56 Log. Pars I. sola mentis abstractione separantur. RELATIONVM
denique ideae sunt, quarum unius consideratio alterius considerationem includit
ita, ut haec sine illa non possit intelligi. figura, Veluti diximus, ut nostram
imbecillitatem adivemus: id enim in substantiis creatis lo cum habet, non autem
in increata, in qua nulla inter essentiam et attributa, nec inter ipsa
attributa realis distinctio dari potest, ut in Theologia naturali demonstratum
ibimus. MODI vero sunt vel INTERNI, si in ipsa substantia. occurrant, ut
dimensio, color etc. in corpore; vel EXTERNI, si in hominis mente sint, et
tamen substantiae tribuantur, veluti quum dicimus- virtutem ma sni aeslimatam,
quae tamen aestimalio est in hominum opinione. Relationes sunt ideae omnes
quantitatum, item Patris, Domini, Regis, et cetera id ge pus. Videatur abunde
ea in re Clericus in Logic, et in Arta Grit. Ex quibus plane colligitur 14. nas
in substantiis nihil aliud cognoscere, nisi mo dos, ips4s vero substantias
prorsus ignora re; idcoque substantiarum
ideas esse in relatione ad mentem nostram omnino sed tantummodo abstractas et confuses,
ram intelligibiles;. quinisomo ló. rerun natu eo magis agaosci, quo plures modi
nobis innotescunt; maximam adhiben dam esse cautionem in perpendendis re
lationibus, ne vel earum fundamentum non recte considerantes, vel absolute de
relativis ideis enunciantes, praecipitantiae errorisque arguamur, * Quantum
haec doctrina roboris habeat in se dandis hominum adfectibus, dici profecto,
non potest. Exemplo sit is, qui se paupe rem esse dolet, quia divitum opes non
ha bet, et id absolute profert. Si vero relationis pondus expendat, observetque
alterum omnia bus necessariis rebus egentem: declamare de sinet, quia sibi
tantum superflua desunt. Be ne ergo Seneca in Troad. Est mi ser nemo, nisi
comparatus, Schol. Explicatis iam notionum diffe rentiis, ad huius doctrinae
usuin acMilanius, quem paucis, iisque perutilibus, include mus regulis.
Quisquis ergo Philosophiae operam navas si solidae cognitionis es cupidus,
sequentes animo infigito. CANONES. i. Curato, ut rerum, quas pertra ctare cupis
', claram semper et distin ctam cognitionem adquiras: attentionem proinde, quae
ad idearum perfectionem utramque facit paginam, in omni re adhibeto. Quoniam
vero Matheseos studium mirifice at tentionem acuit: hinc est, ut hodie studio
rum initium a Mathesi capiatur, exemplo Platonis., qui neminem erudiendum
suscipie bat, nisi Geometria instructum. 2. In studendo praeproperam vitato
festinationem; praecipue in primis scien tiarum principiis diu haereto, nec,
nisi iisiprobe intelleétis, ad cetera pergito. Quantum enim festinatio idearum
claritati osobsit, diximus in. 21. adeoque in adole. soentibus naturalis illa
festinatio, et praeci pitantia caute est obtundenda, ne superficia rie discant
et errores saepe labantur. Vnde VERVLAMIVS opportune docuit: Ius venum ingeniis,
non plumas vel alas, sed plumbum el punderą auditinus. Caveio, ne nimia rerun
varietate mentem obruas, neve plura semel simul que addiscenda putes. - Panca
discito, eaque bune digesta contemplator. * Quum eaim attentio ad plura
dividitur, minor fit atque inepia: proindeque ideae deteriores fiant: ita ut de
iis perbelle dicat Seneca Ep. 2.: Nusquam est, qui ubique est. Qua de re
Plinius VII. ep.9. praeclaram il lud monitum studiosae iuventuti perutile prae
buit: Non multa 7, sed multum. to 3 * AC 4. Priusquam ulterius progrediaris ad
idearum tuarum relationem attendi si qua sitt:: ne relativa pro absolu tis
accipiens in errores incidas, 5. Mentis solitudinem, animique tran quillitaiem
amato; ne affectibus attentionem iurbes, iran, tristitiam, an liaque pathemata;
adeoque sodalitates, compotationes., spectacula fugito. ** * Bene monuit
Ovidius Tristium l. v. 30. Carmina proveniunt animo dédlicta serenos
Comessationibus enim corporis inertia aus getur, mens obstupescit et habetatur,
ani mus ad voluptates inclinatur s spectaculis ve vero attentio distrahitur, i
sensimqué a studüs animus avertitur, quo fit, ut aut nullae ad quirantur ideae,
vel saltem obscurae, a qui bus errores ortum ducere infra docebimus. aut mie 6.
Quae legisti, audivisti > ditatus es, ita familiaria tibi reddito, ut eorum
notas aliis indicare queas. Ea proinde vel in chartam coniicito, te ipsum saepe
examinaudo, idcarum tuarum distinctionem experitor. vel * Stilum CICERONE vocat
oplimum, et praest an tissimum dicendi effectorem, et magistrum. De Orat. Notum
est vulgatum illud; docendo disci mus. Rationem huius canonis invenies supra. nes, utpote rei immaterialis a stiones, nullo
modo sensibus percipiuntur: ea non nisi signis, quae in sensus incur ruot;;
abis potefieri possunt. SIGNUM enim est, res quaedam sensibilis quae praeter
sui notionem excitat in mente ideam alterius rei, Sed quum ideae ng ** strae ordinario vel voce, vel scripto patefiant:
binc prioris gencris signa VOCES, posterioris TÈRMINI, ntraqne vero VERBA
dicuntur. Hinc verba per idearum nostrarum signa recte definiuntur, ut et voces
signa quaedam sono articulato prolata, mentis nostrae conceptus indicantia.
Signa quidem generatim appellantur, quia praeter soni vel scripturae; nationum
nostrarum ideam in audientibus vel legentibus excitant. E. g. Lacrimae sunt
signum tristitiae: quia quum hominem videmus lacrimantem, illico eum tristitia
adfectum esse cogitamus. Fumus quoque est SIGNVM ignis, quia eo viso non solum
fumi, sed ignis etiam notionein ad quirimus. Quae de signorum diversitate Scha
Jastici docent utpote ad rem
impertinentia, praetermittimus: astin Ontologia quaedam observatu digna obiter
attingemus. Cave tamen credas, voces esse SIGNA conceptuum necessaria. Quum
enim eaedem res non iisdem vocibus a diversis gentibus exprimatur: liquet, tas
ab hominum ARBITRIO pena der, adeoque esse SIGNA conceptuum arbistraria. Cuique
vero notum est, ad sona nar ticulatum sex requiri, nempe PVLMONES, qui follis
vice funguntur, ORGANUM VOCIS scilicet trachea, eique apposita larynx cum suis
apparatibus; LINGVA, cuius vis Braliones vocem prae ceteris articulatam red
dunt; PALATVM, nempe fornicem, ubi lingua stras vid rationes exercet; quatuor
DENTES incisores dicti, quibus sibilantes litterae efformantur, et in quos nedum
lingua, sed et labia vibrant; ac denique LABIA, quae in se invicem et in
dentes, inpingunt, ut fu sjus coram ostendemus. Ex qua definitione patet verba
et voces inter se differre: quum verba et iam scripto, voces autem non nisi
sono articulato proferri possint. Nos ideo voces adhibere, ut ab aliis
intelligamur; proindeque. Iita loquendum, easque vo ces adhibendas esse, ut
alii, quibuscum loquimur, mentem nostram intelligere pos sint; adeoque non
licere terminis in anibus vet notionem deceptricem continentibus uti; sed
tantum ii, qui ali quam notionem habent adlixam; quitinimo, singulis terminis
eamdem semper ideam, eamque claram, respondere debere; ideo que cos, qui vel
obscuram, vel non semper eamdem exprimunt notionem, om nino esse proscribendos.
Alterius vero mentem intelligere dicimur quum, terminis easdem notiones
adggimus, quas loquens cum iis coniunxit. mus TERMINUS INANIS dicitur, qui
nulla, habet notionem sibi coniunctam: adeoque nis hil, praeter solam soni
ideam, excitare potsest: quapropter vocari solet vor mente case' sâ, vel sonus
sine menie, a Scholasticis terminius insignificativus. Talis est versus ille,
quemia Nimiodo prolatum in infimo Tartari aditu fingit Dyinus Poeta Etruscus:
Raphel mai umech zabi alini. ALIGHERI Inf. cant: Quoties autem vocem
proferentes, aliquid cogitare videinur, quum tamen nihil cogita puldaunque
sententiam cum ea donium ginius: tunc terninus ille NOTIONEM DECEPTRICIM
continere dicitur. Huiusmodi sunt casus Epicuri, sensibilitas physica Hel
yetii, historia e rationis penu depromta Boulangeri et Rousseau, quorum
analysin cora, et in Metaphysica conficiemus. Si nam que vox aliqua vel non
eamdem seniper, vel obscuram notionem habeat adfi xam. In primo casu auditor
dubius haerebit, quamnam cum ea loquens, coniunxerit ideam, adeoque cui non
intelligent. In secundo ves ro, quomodo mentem eius poterit intelligere, qui se
non intelligit TERMINVS CLARVS est, qui claram coiitinet notionem, OBSCVRYS,
qui eamdem habet obscuram. Terminusi qui eamdem semper exprimit ideam, FIXVS
vel DETERMINATV; qui vero incon der stantem vagunite tabet significatum, VAGVS
aut INDETERMINATVS dicitur, Plurės autem termini eandem rem significantes,
SYNONYMA, sive termini synonymici. adpellantur, Scolasticis eum adpellare
placuit univocum, sive unicam rem indicantem, ut ignis, aqua, A Scholis dicitur
“aequivocus”, hoc est plura aeque significans. E. g. Cultus varios habet
significatus: saepe enim pro adoratione Deo debita: quandoque pro honore:
nonnumquam pro corporis, vel animi decore; non raro quo que pro telluris
cultura accipitur, Tales sunt gladius, ensis, qui idem ar morum genus
exprimunt. Eos e Scholis qui dam vocant “paronymos”, id quod ad intelligendas
barbaras huiusmodi loquutiones breviter adnotavimus. Non heic inquirere licet:
utrum in quolibet idiomate revera dentur synonyma? quaestio namque haec ad
philologiam pertinent. Philosophia contra in exprimendis animae cogitationibus
usum loquendi servat, et colit, quem penes arbitrium est, et ius, et norma
loquendi (Horat. De Art. Poet.). Terminus CONCRETVS est qui qualitatem
expriinit sabiecto inhaerentem, ABSTRACTUS vero qui qualitatem illam a subiecto
separatam indicat, Terminus PROPRIVS dicitur, quando rem exprimit, cui significandae
est destinatus; IMPROPRIVS vero, sive METAPHORICVS ad rem aliam indicandam
transferatur ob quamdam similitudinem. si Sic “pius” est terminus concretus, “pietas”
terminus abstractus, Concretus porro a Wolffio dicitur, qui notionem exprimit
concretam (sive singularem); abstractus contra, qui ideam continet abstractam
(sive universalem ). Haec autem omnia
idem significant. E. g. Vox oculis proprie sumitur, si organum visui destinatuin
indicet. Ubi vero Cicero Corinthum Graeciae oculum adpellat, eius uippe
ornamentum ac pracsidium: improprie sive metaphorice vocem illam usurpat, Hinc
vide, voces improprias esse vagas et indeterminatas. USVS LOQVENDI est
significatio vocum in communi sei mone propria. At quoniam in familiari sermone
voces aliquae occurrunt quas intelligimus quidem, li, cit ad notiones ipsis
adiixas animum non hae voces dicuntur termini FAMILIARES, et ad usum loquendi
non advertamus pertinent, Si quis ergo oculi vocem ad significandum organum
sensorium visui destinatum usurpet, is loquendi usum servabit. Tales sunt voces
omnes, quas frequentissime proferimus, ac memoriae mandavimus: ees enim
intelligimus, sed usu et consuetudine adeo familiares evaserunt, ut eas proferentes
ad sensum notionesque ipsis adfixas nusquam attendamus. Patet igitur
Philosophum servare debere usum loquendi, adeoque terminis claris, fixis, atque
in sensu proprio usurpatis ei utendum esse. Quod idem est, ac si dicas a
terminis vagis, obscuris, impropriis, et familiaribos esse abstinendum: aliter
enim non intelligeretur. Hic porro. Ex pluribus vocibus inter se apte connexis
oritur SERMO, sive ORATIO sive PROPOSITIO. Definitur autem sermo per nexium
plurium terminorum mentis nostrae conceptıbus exprimendis idoneum. а Logicis
dispesci solet in CIVILEM, et TECHNICVII, sive eruditim, quorum ille in vita
civili ab omnibus; hic in coinmunicandis ideis ad disciplinas pertinentibus,
vocabulorum technicorum pe, ab eruditis adhibetur. Nisi enim ideis nostris explicandis
sit idoneus, non sermo, sed confusus inanium vocum cumulus dici poterit.
Dicuntur autem verba, vel voces technicae, quae ideas scientificas quibusdam
disciplinis peculiares, usu annuente, exprimunt: cuiusmo di non pauca occurrunt
in qualibet disciplina. Schol. Quae hactenus de vocibus dicta sunt, inania
faere evaderent, nisi doctrinae usum auditoribus nostris ostenderenus. Quae
igitur de iis observanda putamus paucis, isque tam familiari quain erudito
sermoni inservientibus, complectemur re gylis. Philosophus ergo noster scquentes
observet CANONES. Antequam oum aliis congrediaris, tecum attente perpendeto,
quid cogites: Cogitationes porro tuas totidem vocibus exprimilo, quot ideas
hubes. Quantum adiumenti adfcrat hic canon adolescentibus, ia promtu est. Quun
enim fis familiarissima sit inanis illa et garrnia loquacitas, fua fit, at
persaepe in te veritatis notam incurant des alimchanab inconsiifera to loquendi
puriniz násvatur; facile parei, cur qui cogitationibus suis atteindlit', nulla,
nisi benedigestum, emitiere posse verbum. Caveto, ne ideam soni habens, rei
quoque notionem habere te credas; aut voces coniunctas intelligere quas
disiunctas intelligis. Falluntur enim persaepe homines, quum ter minos inanes,
et notionem deceptricem con. tinentes effutiunt, in quibus solam ideam $ 9. ni
habent, et nihil cogitantes aliquid se cogitare creduat. E. g. Idea materiae et
idea cogitationis possibiles sunt, pariterque voces, quibus illae exprimuntur
singulae intelliguntur. Coaiunclae vero impossibiles evadunt, atque adeo
intelligi nequeunt. Ecquis enim materiam cogitantem exsistere posse imquam
probavit? Vid. Inst. nostr. Meiaph. eas 3. sum loquendi semper servato, nec novas
temere cudito voces: quod si ad id quandoque necessitate cogaris, adcurate
definito, ne obscurus fias. In hanc regulam peccatur, si quando vocabula
technica, utut civitate donata, furene novitatis amore mutantur; iis novae
voces substituuntur, quamvis rem, de qua a gitur, adcurate exprimant. Et si
houe termini philosophici, reiecta barbarie, pristinae restituuntur puritati,
ea non novatio dicen et proda est, sed renovatio, idest vocum ad pro prium avitumque
decus restitutio Peregrina vocabula Latino, vel Italico sermoni ne iminisceto,
nisi vel Tocendi, vel amici cuiusdam oblectandi caussa: alias eniin in
paedantismum Empinges. Vid. Heineccium in Fundam. Stil. cultior. Id vero egisse
Ciceronem ex eiusdem scriptis didacticis, et Epistolis ad Atticum abunde
colligitur. Quum eniin paedantismus sit inanis glorio lae cupiditas in minotüs,
ineptisque rebus sectandis quaesita; paedagogi vero, a quibus hoc nomen
obvenit, id quoque habeant in vitio, qnod singulis verbis latinas interse runt
phrases ac textos: ideo hanc notain incurruut quicumque, vel ad ostentandam e
ruditionis niultiplicitatem, vel ob nimium tem poribus inserviendi studium,
nullum, nisi pe regrino sale conditum, queunt formare ser monem. Si aliis
displicere non vis, quoties cumque loqui oportuerit, modesto vultu atque amoeno
fuam proferto sententiam: ne docere ex cathodrá potius, quam veruin dicere,
videaris. 7Est et haec paedagogorum nota, qui pueris in docendo imponere
adsueti, inagisiral e illud supercilium ubique servant, seque invisos au
dientibus, maximo veritalis detrimento, red dunt. Vid. Buddei Oratio de bonarum
littera rum decrcinento nostra aetate non tenere me tucndo. Dea rei distincia completa
verbis expressa dicitur DEFINITIO. Res vero ipsá, sive definitionis obiectum, vocatur
DEFINITVM. Ordo igitur po stálat, ut post'ideas earumque signa; bre vein de
ddinitionibus tractationem hic sub iungamus, Quid sit idea distincta, et qua
ratione ad quiratur, dixiinus supra. seq. De idea completa cousule, quae
breviter do cuimus g. 25; diffusius enim hic, quae de illa dici merentur,
enodabimus.Quemadmodum antem idea voce prolata di citur terminus, isque clarus
si claram expri mat notionem; ad exprimendam, vero ideami distinctain, sive '
emuinerando; il dias characteres, non uno, sed pluribus claris opus est
termiuis: ita complexus ille yocum, Cap. De definitionilus.hoc est idea
distincta completa sermone expli cata, definitio dici consuevit; adeoque non
abs re tractatus bic doctrinain sequitur ter minorum. eas ** ne . Ex qua definitione consequitur 1.
in definitione notas et characteres enume rari oportere, qui sulliciant ad
definiturn in statu quolibet agnoscendum, et ab aliis rebus distinguenduin;
notas tales esse debere, ut nulli, nisi so li definito in tota eius extensione,
conve niant; quare 3. merito a Logicis ad firmari, definitionem neque latiorem
que angustiorem sno definito, sed ipsi aco, qualem esse debere, ut sibi invicem
sub stilui possint. Id autem, per quod res ab aliis rebus distin guitur, eius
essentia a Metaphysicis adpellari consuevit: inde ergojest, ut definitionem Lo
gici esse dicant orationem, qua rci essentia explicatur. Quia vero per
extensionem intelligimus quod cuinque subiectum, cui determinationes ideam
aliquam constituentes tribui possunt; perinde est, ac si dicas, definitionis
notas tales esse debere, ut omnibus subiectis, spe ciebus nempe, et individuis
sub definito con tentis conveniant. Porro inter characteres il los insunt
proprietates genericae, et specifi Si cae, quae integram definili essentiam
expo. nunt, et repraesentant. Non iniuria igitur adfirmari solet, definitionem
ex genere et differentia specifica constare debere. Si namque definitio talis
non sit, ut possit definito substitui, vel (ut aliis placet ) cam eo
reciprocari, vel illo latior, vel angustior erit, adeoque deficiens.
Substitutio autem in co consistit, ut definitio pro subiecto, defini tum pro
attributo, et contra, adsumi possit. E. g. Spiritus est substantia intellectu
et vo luntate praedita: contra vero substantia intel lectu et voluntate
praedita dicitur spiritus. Ex eodem quoque fluit 4 in defini tionem ingredi non
posse, nisi ea, quae Jei perpetuo et constanter insunt, idest ATTRIBUTA, vel
ESSENTIALIA; proin deque locum in ea non habere ACCIDENTIA, seu MODOS. Quaenam
sint essentialia, et attributa, pate bit in Ontologia. Id unum hic notasse sull
ciet, tam essentialia, quam attributa rei cou stanter ac immutabiliter inesse:
nam attributa sunt eiusmodi characteres, quorum ratio suf ficiens cur rei
insint, in eiusdem essentia et natüra continctur: ut sunt tria latera et tres
anguli in triangulo. Quoniam vero definitio est idea rei distincta; haec autem
est no nec tio clara notarum): sequitur
ut ea vocibus claris sit exponenda, obscuri quidquam continentibus; ideoque 7.
nec vagis, nec metaphoricis nec negativis terminis in illa sit locus. Imo vero
8. eam in vitio poni perspicuum est, si sit IDENTICA vel CIRCVLVS in definiendo
committatur. Si tameu termini definitionem ingredientes ob scuri quid habere
videantur, prius adcurate definiantur, ut claritatem adquirant. Sic in vidiae definitionein
supra allatam nemini proferre licebit, nisi prius taedii si gnificatus alia
definitione sit determinatus. Terminis negativis concipitur definitio > si
explicet quid res non sit: ut si dicas, invi dia non est commiseratio. Hinc
vides, eam esse vagam et indeterminatam, adeoque defi niti ideane inde oriri
confusissim un, quod est contra definitionis indolem: Exceptio tantum datur in
rebus contradicto riis nullun inedium adinittentibus, quarum una recte definita,
altera negativis terminis explicari potest. Sic ens simplex non immeri to
dicitur quod partibus caret, substantia, quae non exsistit in alio, tamquam in
subie Definitio identica est, quae idlem per idem explicat, cuiusmodi suut
nonnullae Scholarum cio etc. definitiones quas confusiones rectius dixeris.
Exemplo sit quantitatis definitio ab iis allata per accidens, a quo res dicitur
quanta. Quid, quaeso, haec verba significant, nisi quod quantitas sit quantitas?
Cui vero usui definitiones istae esse possint, tironibus ipsis iudicandum
relinquimus. Circulus enim Geometris est figura plana linea curva in se
redeunte terminata: in defi niendo ergo circulus committitur, si in evol vendis
definitionis characteribus, eorumque novis definitionibus formandis, in aliquam
ipsarum definitum ingrediatur. Tunc enim per definitum explicaretur id, per
quod defini lum ipsum explicari deberet; adeoque res re diret ad definitionem
idemlicam, quae in vi to posita est. Illa notas et characteres e numerat
sufficientes, quibus definitum ab aliis rebus in siatu quocumque discerni
possit; haec autem rei definitae genesin et originem exponit, ** unde et
GENETICA dicitur. * Per definitionem nominalem veteres intelligc bant
grammaticam vocis explicationem, qua vel radix sive origo nominis
investigabatur, et tunc Etymologia dicebatur: vel multiplex eiusdem
significatio, eoque casu Homonymia; De definitionibus. 25 vel denique plures
voces eumdem sensum ha bentes, et Synonymiae nomine veniebat. Quae enim nobis
nominalis est, realis inter illos audiebat. ** Nominalis ergo est definitio
spiritus, si eum definiveris per substantiam intellectu et volun tate praeditam:
realis autem, si invidiam definias per taedium ob alterius felicitatem: in ea
enim eiusdem caussa et origo explica tur. Vides hinc, nominales definitiones
esse arbitrarias: reales contra necessarias. > 53. Si vero idea rei
distincta quidem sit sed incompleta: tunc non definitio, sed DESCRIPTIO
nominatur; adeoque in descriptione accidentia qnoque locum inve piunt, qnae
quum in individuis tantum concreta observentur, hinc est, ut res sin gulares
describantur, abstractae vero deti niantur; ** proinde illae Oratorun et Poe
tarum hae Philosophorum propriae sint. Descriptio itaque, licet plures enumeret
no tas; quam definitio, eas tamen ad rem in sta tu quolibet agnoscendam exhibet
insufficien tes. Tales notae non exsistunt, nisi in rebus singularibus;, utpote
omnimode determinatis: universales namque ab iis mentis abstractione erguntur, paucio
resque adeo, ac sufficientes ipsis distinguendis continent characteres. Inde
ergo fit, ut ha definiri possint, illae tantum describi. Intelligitnr hinc: cum
generum et specierum definitiones apud Philosophos inveniamus, in dividuorum
nihil nisi meras descriptiones Poetis ac Oratoribus familiares, et si ab his
definitiones proferri videmus, eas vel incom pletas novimus, vel magno verborum
ambitu expressas, ubi accidentia attributis, caussas effectibus permixta
observamus, quas tamen Philosopho imitari nefas erit, quippe cui idearum
analysis, essentiae rerum investiga. tio, verborum praeterea praecisio in
deliciis esse debent. Schol. Superest, ut quae studiosae iu ventuti utilitatem
adferre possunt, ea pau eis exponamus regulis huius doctrinae usum
continentibus. Philosophiae igitur initiatus, si quid a studiis suis commodi
percipere cupit, sequentes animo imbibat CANONES. Definitiones, utpote rei
naturam et essentiam explicantés, ciim cura disci to, ' ạtque teneto. '
Iudicium porro cum m moria coniungito: ideoque aliorum definitionibus ne
adquiescito; sed ope rum dato, ut eas intelligas, et ad tru tiram revoces. re
Sunt enim, qui soli memoriae consulentes, quidquid in aliorum scriptis
repererint, id omne discunt, ac turpe putant ab eo discedere. Hinc fit, ut si
memoriae pondus inutile au feras, nihil, praeter arroquarov quoddam, maneat.
Homunciones isti memoriae dumtaxat exercendae intenti, iudicii vero prorsus ex
pertes, libros quosvis sine delectu memoriae mandare adsueti, innumeris snnt
expcsiti er roribus; quotcnmque eorum oculis subiiciun tur. Ne igitur
adolescentes, qui memoriam tantum in Scholis huc usque exercuerunt, eamdem
premant viam, sibique pessime cou sulant: visum est, cautionem hanc eo neces
sariam, quo prima scientiarum hic funda menta sternuntur, ipsis suggerere et
inculca re, ut iudicium excolentes in aliorum senten tiis ad examen rcvocandis,
et ad eruendas inde propria meditatione veritates apti red dantur. ver In legendis Auctorum libris, prum phrasiumque
lenociniis ne conti eto: sed ut sententiam ipsis subiectam lare, ac distincte
intelligas, pro vi ili curato. Ita vitabitur stupida illa aliorum sententiis
adquiescendi consuetudo, quae in caussa fuit, ut liberculi aliquot ex
transmontanis, transma rinisque regionibus huc appulsi stilo quodam auribus
pruriente tot incautos captarint adolescentes, quos inter crassae
incredulitatis te nebras errabundos non sine magno dolore vi demus. Hi namque
culpabili ignorantia verbis tantummodo adquiescentes, nec sententias in
tellexerunt, nec eas ad trutinam revocare sunt ausi, iudicandi quippe facultate
destituti. 3. Rerum, quas nondum distincte in telligis, definitiones proprio
marte con ficito, ut ex iteratis' actibus, continua que exercitatione habitum
in eo adqui ras. Res quidem non parvi momenti erit, multun que laboris
impendendum, pauco forsan aut irrito eventu. Animo tamen non deficiant a:
dolescentes: ab exiguis enim initiis maxima procedunt, atque experientia tandem,
qui sit huius canonis fructus, addiscent. Poterit autem quisque imitando
incipere, experiundo prosequi, ac notionum analysi sednlam na vans operam
felici demum exitu proficere. Vi de quae docebimus infra. Caveto, ne res omnes
definiri pos. vel debere, credas; * aut definitio nes verbis diversas re quoque
differre putes. Videantur interim a nobis ante dicta G. 27. Gap. III. De
definitionibus. 79 ¥ Si namque dantur synonyma, verba nempe et phrases eumdem habentes
significatum, quidni definitiones illae verbis diversae synonymicis erunt expressae
terminis, adeo que re unum idemque significare poterunt? 5. Si e Philosopho
Orator aliquan dofieri cupis, definitiones pro definitis adhibeto: tunc enim
auditorum animos inani verborum ambitu non fatig abis solidaeque doctrinae
clarissimum dabis indicium. Exemplo sit elegantissima M. Ant. Mureti pe riodus
Part. I. Orat. 1. ubi de laudibus Theo logiae acturus, amplificat syllogismun
quam brevissimum has continentem propositiones: Facultas hominem Deo con ugens
est omnium praestantissima. Egpyas a eius talis est. Nam si eorum omnium, quae
in hac inmensa re rum universitate cernuntur, unumquodque per ficiendi sui
desiderio tenetur; et animus no ster ad similitudinem Divinitatis effictus tan
to perfectior est, quanto propius ad illud, a quo ductus et propagatus est,
exemplar ac cedit: dubitari profecto non potest, quia ea sit omnium
praestantissima facultas, quae, quoad eius fieri potest, cum humanis divi na
copulando, mortalitatem nostram, quantum illius imbecillitas patitur, Divinae
natura e ar ctissima colligatione devincit. Vides hic Theologiae definitionem,
oratorio licet more pro latam, multum orationi pulchritudinis ac di gnitatis
adferre. 6. Definitionem tuam, si ab aliis di stingui exoptas, efformare curato;
id que obtinebis, si intellectuales morales que virtutes tibi comparare
studueris. * Hi namque definitionis characteres esse de bent. Quod ni facias in
vulgi turba confu sus eris, nomenque tuum in tenebris, ob scurumque manebit ila,
ut vel patrio, vel alio adpellativo nomine indigitari debeas. Notional Otionum
analysin in adaequatarum idearum formatione consistere, snpra iam ostensum est.
Porro in hac o peratione ideam aliquam in partes, sive notas dividi, hasque
rursus in alias disper tiri, quisque novit qui earum naturam habet exploratam.
Tunc igitur idea illa ut totum consideratur, characteres autem ut eius partes:
adeoque non abs re analysis idearum verbis expressa DIVISIO nominatur, quae
recte definitur, quod sit to tius in partes resolutio. Quum autem in divisione
novae notarum de finitiones suppeditentur: iure doctrinam hanc definitionibus
subiungimus. Quoniam vero quidlibet ut totum considerari potest: variae totius
relationes sunt enatae. Et quidem 1. totum essan tiale quod constat ex partibus
ad ajus essentiam pertinentibus, totum integra le, compositum nempe ex
corporibus, quorum snmma eius integritatem constituit, genus, quod plures
species suo ambitu comprehendit, 4. subiectum, quod plura accidentia sustinet,
accidens quod pluribus subiectis inhaerere potest, 6. caus sa, quae plures
producit 7 effectus, qui a pluribus potet procedere caussis. Quidquid tandem
pro ratione obiectorum, circa ' quae versatur in tot partes distribui potest,
quot sunt objecta. Inde ergo est, ut va riae a Logicis tradantur divisionis
species veluti TOTIVS sive essentialis, sive in tegralis, in suas partes,
GENERIS in suas species subordinatas, SVBIECTI in sua Accidentia in suos
effectus, EFFECTVS CAVSSAE, ACCIDENTIS in sua snbiecta, rei in suas caussas,
denique caiusvis per sua OBIECTA. Primae classis est haec: Homo dividitur in
animam et corpus; vel as dividitur in duo decim uncias. Secundae: Animal
dividitur in hominem, et brutum. Tertiae: Homo est, vel doctus vel indoctus.
Quartae: Bonum est. vel animi, vel corporis. Quintae: Philoso phiae dogmata
alia intellectuin instruunt, a. lia voluntatem dirigunt. Sextae: Veritatis
impugnatio, vel ab ignorantia, vel a malitia procedit. Septimae denique:
Philosophia theo retica alia circa res corporeas, alia circa incorporeas et
intellectuales versatur. Totum illud, quod in divisionem cadit, DIVISUM; partes
vero, in quas dispertitur, MEMBRĀ DIVIDENTIA no minantur. Sin membra haec in
novas rur sus partes resolyamus., SVBDIVISIO di citar. * * E. g. Homo dividitur
in partes suas essentia les animam nempe et corpus; hoc autem in caput, truncum
o et artus reliquos. En subdivisionem, Ex membrorum itidem dividentiam numero
nova quoque divisionis oritur dif ferentia. Si namque duo fuerint membra Cap.
IV. De divisionibus. 83 dichotomia sive DIMEMBRIS; si tres? trichotomia seu
TRIMEMBRIS; quatuor tetrachotomia hoc est QVA TRIMEMBRIS divisio, appellabitur.
SI Sic bimembris erit divisio lineae in rectam, et curvam, trimembris trianguli
in aequila terum, isosceles, et scalenum; quatrimembris denique parallelogrammi
in quadratum, rc ctanguluin, rhombum, et rhomboidem., 58. Quoniam divisio est
totius in par tes resolutio; totum autem ae quale partibus simul sumtis esse
debet: consequens est 1. ut membra dividentia simul totum adaequare debeant
divisum adeoqne nec plus illo, nec minus compre hendant; ut non sibi
coincidant, sed repugnent, sintque per novas definitiones, easque oppositas,
distincta; ut ex ipsa rei dividendae
natura petantur, scili cet in tot membra totum dividatur, capax est; 4. denique
ut ad confusio nem vitandam prius idea totalis ab am biguitate liberetur,
posteaque divisio insti tuatur. i quot Contra hanc regulam peccant, qui angulum
dividunt in rectilineum et curvilineum, vel qui lineam esse aiunt, vel rectam,
vel curvam & derari potest: vel mixtam. In primo enim casu membra di
videntia simul sunt diviso minora; in se cundo autem eodem maiora. Huic quoque
regulae adversantur ii, qui bo. num dividunt in honestum, utile, et iucundum:
haec enim membra simul in uno coexistere debent, ut genuinam boni
denominationem tue ri possit: adeoque non sunt repugnantia. Peccant etiam ii,
qui licet totum in membra opposita distribuant, ea tameu definitionibus non
repugnantibus determinant, ut quum cns in simplex et compositum diviserunt, et
hoc esse dicunt, quod partibus constat: illud contra definiunt per id, in quo
nihil consi Repréhensionem ergo.eruditorum merito incurrunt Ramistae, qui tam
superstitiose di.chotomiis adhaerent, ut in plura membra totum dividere
irreligiosum putent. Nec ali ter iụdicandum est de iis, qui nimiae mem brorum
multiplicitatis sunt amatores. Idem enim vitii, inquit Seneca, habet nimia,
quod nulla divisió. Ep. Quum autem divisiones et subdi visiones potionum
analysin contineant, haec autem in idearum adaequa tarum formatione consistat,
ideo que ad maiorem distinctionem in nobis producendam sit comparata: sequitur
5. ut divisionibus aeque, ac subdivisionibus, quae iisdem ' reguntur regulis,
omnia vi tentur, quae confusionem adferre possunt; proindeque 6. liquido patet,
non licere p? as ter necessitatem subdivisiones multiplicare, ne memoria
fatigetur, ac intellectui veių. ti tenebrae offundantur, Schol. Haec de
divisione. Ad hujus porro doctrinae usum nunc transeamus quem paucissimis inde
nascentibus include mus regulis. Logicae itaque Tiro utilissi mos aeque, ac
necessarios hosce discat CANONES, In dividendo subdividendove non aliorum
systemata, sed naturam tantum consulito. Confusionem aeque, ac tae dium vitare
curato. Hoc namque modo nec Ramistarum supersti tiosa restrictio, nec
Scholasticorum nimia di visionum membrorumque multiplicatio locum habebit.
Natura enim omnium optima, et ad curatissima est magistra. Divisiones ne per
saltum facito. * Ordinem ac seriem in unaquaque re ser vato. Dicitur autem
civisio per sattum, quae ordi... nem non scrval, et in qua ea, quae in sub
divisione cxprirai deberent, comprehendun tur: e.g. si ideam diviseris in
claram et ina daequatam, divisionem conficies per saltum; inadaequatam enim
quae in subdivisionem ingredi deberet in divisione locum habere observas.
Series ergo atque ordo ne pertur betur, quisque in studia incumbens cavere stu
deat. CAPVT QUINTVM De iudiciis, et propositionibus, 6o. Hactenus de ideis,
earumque ana lysi, quantum instituti brevitas tulit, actum. Eas vero si
comparemus, scilicet si duas ideas inter se coniungamus vel separemus, alia
mentis oritur operatio, quae IVDI CIVM adpellatur. Est autem iudicium duarum
idearum comparatio earumque relationis perceptio. Iudicium porro ver bis
expressum dicitur PROPOSITIO vel ENUNCIATIO. E. g. Si ideam spiritus cum idea
indestructibi litaiis conferas, videasque unam alteri conve nire, tunc spiritum
esse indestructibilem ndi cas: contra, si indestructibilitatis ideam cor De iud.
et prop. separas: haec poris notioni non convenire observes,corpus non esse
indestructibile colligis. In primo ca su ideas coniungis; in altero mentis
operatio, qua earum relationem ex pendis, iudicii nomine venit. ** Nonnulli
discrimen inter haec duo nomina statuunt: ut prius locum inveniat, si in syllo
gismo spectetur; posterius vero, si extra id inveniatur. Sed in re tam parvi
momenti diu immorari, foret ineptum. Quoniam iydicium duas ideas compa rat, et
si verbis exprimatur, propositio di citar; idearum vero signa sunt voces seu
termini: liquet, quam libet enunciationem duobus constare termi nis, quorum
ille, cui aliquid convenire vel discrepare ennuciatur, SVBIECTVM; is vero, qui
subiecto tribuitur vel ab eo removetur, ATTRIBVTVM vel PRAEDICATVM nomiuatur,
qui duo simul pro positionis EXTREMA dici consueverunt. Quumque eorum nexus
verbo substanti vo exprimatur: merito vox illa ex hoc verbo desumta, quae
propositionis extrema coniungit, COPVLA vocatur. E. g. In hac propositione,
“Deus est aeternus,” Deus est subiectum, quia ipsi tribuitur aeternitas;
aeternus dicitur attributum, quia Deo convenire enunciatur; vox deniqne “EST”,
quae duo haec extrema coniungit, atque unum al teri convenire indicat, copula,
hoc est coniunctio, adpellatur. Hinc ergo colligitur, quain cumque
propositionem SUBIECTO, COPVLA, et ATTRIBVTO constare debere, ut enunciatio
LOGICA PERFECTA dici pos sit. Si namque horum aliquis lateat, CRYPTICA, vel
IMPERFECTA dicilur, quia naturalis compositio crypsi aliqua tegitur: id autem
accidit, quum verbuin aliquod copulae et attributi vices sustinet e. g. Deus
mundum creavit: idem enim esset ac dicere: Deus est Creator mundi. Est et alia
propositionum crypticarum species, iu quibus sub uno verbo tota enunciationis
latet compositio per ellyp sin eruenda: ut in illis: veni, vidi, vici: hic
namque tres iusunt enunciationes ex iis dem verbis repetendae, nempe: “Ego
fui-ve nens, ego fui videns, ego fui vinccns.”
QvanVandoquidem in qualibet idearum comparatione sex potissimum con
fiderari possunt, scilicet: materia, sive ideae quae comparantur; forma, seu
comparatio ipsa; qualitas comparationis; eiusdem quantitas; objectum, 6.
denique evidentia relationis: ideo sub totidem adspectibus propositiones
intueri possumus; videlicet, ratione MATERIAE, FORMAE, QVALITATIS, QVANTITATIS,
OBIECTI, et EVIDENTIAE. Quamvis autem
hunc ordinem divisionis natura suppeditet: liceat nobis in hac tractatione
qualitatem ante omnia perpendere, utpote quae in aliis distributionibus usui
esse debet; quaque postposita, nonnulla obscuritate laborarent. Propositionis
QVALITAS consistit in extremorum combinatione tione. Quum ea coniungimus,
scilicet prae vel separa dicatum subiecto convenire enunciamus ADFIRMARE
dicimur; NEGARE contra, si illa seiungamus, seu unum ab altero discrepare
pronuntiemus. Recte igitur omnis propositio, si qualitatem spectes, dividitur
in AIENTEM et NEGANTEM. E. g. Quum dico, “Mundus est contigens”, praedicatum
cum subiecto coniungo, adeoque de mundo adfirmo esse contingentem. Quando vero
enuncio, “Mundus NON est aeternus”, extrema seiung, idest aeternitatem a mundo
removeo et hoc est quod dicitur negare. Ex quo vides, negationem (“NON”) copulae
praepositam reddere propositionem negantem: quod si non copulam, sed terininorum
ali quem, vel eius partem negatio afficia, non negans, sed INFINITA orietur
enunciate. E. g. Marcus Aurelius Romano Imperio pote ral non nocere, quia
Philosophus. Distinctio haec aliter ab aliis enunciatur, scilicet in
adfirmativam et negativam. Vtrum que apte. 64. Si ad propositionum materiam attendamus,
eae sunt vel SIMPLICES, vel COMPOSITAE. SIMPLEX enunciatio dicitur, cuius
termini plures non sunt sed unuin habet subiectum, et unum prae dicatum; COMPOSITA
vero, quae plura > Cap. V. De iud. et prop 91 continet vel subiecta, vel attributa;
eaque est vel EXPLICITA, si compositio sit mania festa, vel IMPLICITA,
Scholastico nomine EXPONIBILIS, si compositionem habeat latentem, et paullo
obscuriorem. Addunt alii enunciationem COMPLEXAM eamque haberi aiunt, quoties
terminus ali. quis propositionem contineat incidentem sibi adnexam, quae, licet
ad essentiam proposi tionis non pertineat, ad eam tamen intelli gendam plurimum
confert, exprimiturque per pronomen relativum QVI. E. g. Plato, qui divinus
fuit dictus, ideas innatas admisit. Propositio illa, qui divinus fuit dictus,
in, çidens est. Sed distinctio haec in Logica aut parvi, aut nullius fere est
momenti. Simplex ergo erit propositio: Deus est ae. ternus, iten que: aer est
gravis. *** In quo vero consistat palens, vel latens compositio, ex sequentibus
abande patebit, ubi de explicitarum implicitarum que enuncia tionum speciebus
sermo erit. Id porro sedulo observandum, in compositis non unam, sed plures
contineri enunciationes, id quod ex earum analysi poterit elucescere. EXPLICITA
enunciatio dividitor in CONDITIONALEM; CONIVNСТАМ; DISCRETAM; CAVSSALEM;
DISIVNCTAM et RELATAM. Conditionalis, alio nomine hypothetic, est, quae
praedicatum habet subiecto tributum sub aliqua conditione: e. g. “Si mundus est
ens contingens, non exsistit a se” -- in qua prima pars conditionem, altera
propositionem continet. De hac autem observandum. I. conditio existentiam non
largitur: visi enim veritatem adquirat, enunciatio vera esse non potest. Sic si
dicas, “Si navis ex Asia venerit, centum tibi me daturum promitio”: promissio
vera non erit, nisi navis ex Asia redux fuerit; 2. conditio impossibilis habet
vim negandi. Et -recte: nam conditio impossibilis numquam in exsistentem abire
poterit; adeoque enunciatio nullibi veritatem adquiret. Vnde idem est di cere:
si digito Coelun tetigeris, centum ti bi dabo, ac si diceres: numquam tibi dabo
centum: conditio namque impossibilis est. Coniuncta, sive copulativa dicitur, in
qua termini ita connectuntur, ut de pluribus su biectis idem attributum; vel
plura altributa de eodem subiecto enuncientur. E. g. “Iustitia et prudentia
sunt virtutes”; “Deus est aeternus et omnipotens”. Disiuncta, vel disiunctiva est, in qua uni
subiecto plura tribuuntur praedicata, vel u Cap. V. De iud. et prop. 93 num
attrubutum pluribus subiectis, ut plu ribus unum, vel uni plura conveniant,
licet indeterminate. E. g. Aut doctus eris, aut in doctus. Quae de hac
observari merentur, con fer in S. 58. cur Caussalis est, in qua ratio additur,
praedicatum subiecto tribuatur. E. g. Vitia nostra, quia amamus, defendimus:
Politicas quia prudentiae regulas tradit, sedulo exco lenda, 1 Discreta dicitur,
quae duo de eodem s biecto judicia continet qualitate diversa: ut illud
Horatii. Coelum, nou animum mutant, qui trans mare currụnt. Item illud Terent.
andr. 1. SC. 2. Davus sum, non Oedipus. Relata, seu relativa est, cuius una
pars ab altera vim sunnit, ad eamque refertur ut il lud Virgilii Georg. et quantum vertice
ad auras Aetherias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit. IMPLICITAE vero species
sunt EXCLVSIVA; EXCEPTIV; COMPARATA RESTRICTIVA: licet alii quoque
inceptivas, desitivas, et 'reduplicativus adiungant. Exclusiva est, in qua
sensus duplicatur per particulas exclusivas solum, tantum, dumta xat etc.,
estque vel exclusi praedicati, e. g. oculus tantummodo videt. Exceptiva est, in
qua particulae exceptivae praeter, nisi, et similes, sensum multiplicant. E.
g.: “Omne ens, praeter Deum, est contingens.” Comparata cicitur propositio, vel
particu la quaedam comparativa relationem adferat inter subiectum et
praedicatum, ita ut ge mipus inde emergat sensus e. g., “ira est amore
validior. Restrictiva denique est, quae
multiplicem continet sensum per particulas restrictivas. quatenus, in quantum,
quoad etc. geminatum. E. g.: Ilomo, quoad corpus ', est mortalis. INCEPTIVAS
vocant, quae actionem aliquam in principio enunciante, ut: successio temporum a
creatione incoepi; DESITIVAS, inquibus ejus cessatio et finis praedicatur, ut:
tutela pubertate finitur: REDVPLICACIVAS denique, in quibus subiectum geminalum
at liud iudicium continet tacitum. E. g. “Corpus, qua corpus est, a spiritu
differt. Sed de his plura coram. Si enunciationis FORMAM spectemus, erit
NECESSARIA, CONTINGENS (fortuitam Cicero adpellat), POSSIBILIS, IMPOSSIBILIS:
in quibus si necessita, contingentia, possibilitas etc. reticeantur, ABSOLVTAE
dicentur; si vero exprimantur, MENTALES. Necessariam dicimus, cuius extrema ita
contiunguntur, ut aliter se habere non possint. E. g. “Circulus est rotundus”.
Contingens est, cuius termini nullam neces sariam habent connexionem, sed ita
cohaerent, ut aliter esse queant. E. g.: “Crastinus dies erit serenus”. Possibilem vocamus, in qua attributum sn
biecto non repugnat, ut cera liquescit. Impossibilis dicitur proposition, cuius
termini inter se repugnant, ut, “Circulus est quadratus”. Ratione OVANTITATIS
enunciatio dividitur in VNIVERSALEM, si attri butum subiecto in tota huins 'extensione
conveniat; PARTICVLAREM, si ad aliquas tantum species, ant individua in
subiecti notione contenta extendatur; denique SINGVLAREM, si individuum
subiecto exprimatur, Addunt alii inde finitam, sed eam non esse ab universali
dstinctam, infra abunde patebit. in. Alia universalem vocant propositionem, qua
ratio sufficiens, cur praedicatum subie cio tribuatur, latet in ipsa subiecti
natura, scilicet, si praedicatum sit attributum essentiale subiecti. Ita haec
enunciatio, “Homo est libertatis capax”, est universalis tum quia subiectum in
tota eius extentione sumitur nullus enim homo invenietur, nullus enim homo
invenietur, cui libertate careat; tum quia ratio sufficiens, cur libertas
homini trihuitur, latet in ipsa hominis ESSENTIA et natura, hoc est, ut
Scolastici aiunt, rationalitate. Signum universitatis in aiente propositione
est “OMNIS” (italiano: “ogni”); in negante NVLLVS. Quae de universalitate
metaplıysica et morali Philosophi docent, ea hic persequi brevitas non patitur,
sed in ipsis praelectionibus aliqua no tabimus. Particularem propositionem alii
esse dicunt, in qua ratio sufficiens; cur praedicatum subiecto naturam est
repetenda; E. g. “quidam homines sunt crudili”. Vides hic subiectum non in tota
sua extensione accipi, sed ad aliqua tantum individua extendi, ita ut ratio
sufficiens, cur homini eruditio tribuatur hominis naturam inveniatur, scilicet
in studio aique exercitatione. Particularitatis nota est QUIDAM, ALIQVIS; in
negante vero additur particula NON. E.
g., Livius Romanorun historiam ad sua usque tempora scripsit. En propositionem
singularem: subiectum enim est terminus singularis. 6g. Ex quibus omnibus
consequitur v. ad essentiam propositionis universalis non reqniri notam
uuiversitatis, sed eam pro lubitu exprinii vel' omitti posse; INDEFINITAM dici
propositionen in qua pota reticetur ac proinde recte a Philosoplus adfirmari,
propositiones in definitas aequipollere universalibus; qui nimmo, signum
universale numquam efficere posse, ut enunciatio talis evadat; falli ergo eos,
qui universalem propositio hem defipiunt per eam, cuius subiectum signo
aificitur universali; particula rem facile in universalem commutari pos se, si
subiecto addatur ratio suficiens, cur ei convcniat allributum, Ecquis enim
propositionem hanc: “Omnis homo est doctus”, ideo universalem esse aufirmabit, quia
signo universali subiectum adficintur? Hinc si propositionem universalem particularibus,
vel particularem universalibus terminis signisque exprimamus a veritate
deficiet, ut suo loco dicemus. Sumas e. g. hanc propositionem: “Quidam homo est
philosophus”, habes propositionem particularem. Adde snbiecto caussam, cur de
homine esse philosophum enunciatur. scilicet scientiam; eamque sequenti modo
exprimito: “Omnis homo scientia praeditus est philosophus”, ex particulari in universalem
abibit. Mirum quantum transmulalio ist haec in scientiis prodest. Ab ea enim
pendet propositiomm analysis; puta earumdem resolutio in hypothesin ct thesin.
Nobis in secunda part, ubi de experientia sermo erit, huius modi commutationis
usus erit obiter attingen dus. Iuvat hic compendii loco addere, veteres harum
propositionum differentiam quatuor vocalibus indicasse: “A”, “E”, “I” et “O”, id
quod se quentibus expressere versiculis: Asserit “A”, negat. “E”, verum
universaliter ambae. Asserit I, negat O, sed particulariter ambo: De rat. et
Syll. De propositionibus mathematicae methodo inservientibus. Ostrema
enunciationum divisio quae earum obiectum, et evidentiam res spicit, ea est,
quae in recentioribus Phi osophorum et Mathematicorun scriptis pas sim observatur
peculiaribus desiguala nominibus, quaeque a nobis ideo distincte tradenda, quia
me!l dun mathematicas in hisce justitutionibus sequi statuimus. Ratione ilaque
OBIECTI pto positio est vel THEORETICA, in qua a liquid de subiecto enuncialur,
vel PRACTICA, quae aliquid fieri posse aut debere adfirmat. Sic propositio
theoretica est haec, “Omnes ro dii eiusdem circuli sunt aequales”. Practica
vero: “Quovis centro et intervallo circulus describi potest. Vides hinc,
theoreticam propossitionem veritatis alicuius enunciationem; pra cticam vero
operationis faciendae expositiouera continere, Quo ad EVIDENTIAM enunciatio vel
talis est, ut extremorum nexus per se clare pateat, vel quae demonstratione in
digeat. Illa INDEMONSTRABILIS, haec DEMONSTRABILIS dici consuevit. Quibus
enodatis, ad peculiaria propositionum nomina explicanda transcamus. Indemonstrabilis
ergo est enunciation, “Totum sua parte maius est”. Demonstrabilis. contra haec:
“Scientia Philosopho est necessaria”, ea enim ex collatione definitionum
scientiae et philosophi debet demonstrari. Propositio indemonstrabilis
theoretica dicitur AXIOMA. Si vero practica fuerit, POSTVLATVM vocalır. E.g. “Totum est aequale omnibus suis partibus
simul sumti”. D. de Tschirnausen axioma vocat quamcumque propositionem ab unica
definitione immediate deductam; Euclides au tem illam, quae primo intuitu ab
unoquoque perspici potest. Res eo redit, ut axioma vo cemus enunciationem per
se claram, adeoque demonstratione non indigentem, sive a defini tione, sive
aliunde evideutiam suam repetat: ac proinde nostra definitio utramque
amplectitur sententiam, ut diffusius coram ostendemus. ** E. g Quovis centro ac
quovis intervallo cir culum describere. Coguita enim circuli defini tione,
postulati huius veritasan. scitur, Cap. V. De iud. et prop. IOL Enunciatio
theoretica demonstrabilis THEOREMA vocatur; practica contra dicitur PROBLEMA. In
Theoremate ergo propositionis veritas ex plurium definitionum collatione
demonstrari debet. E. g., “Deus est aeternus” Huius enim demonstratio ex
definitionibus Dei, et aeter ni inter se collatis peti debet. Hinc est, ut
duabus illud constet partibus, nempe enunciatione, qua veritas șive propositio
theoretica enunciatur, et demonstratione, qua ea dein confirmatur: ideoque in
fine demonstra tionis addi solet Q. E.'D., hoc est, “quod erat demonstrandum.” Quum
Problema sit propositio practica, pa lam est, illud tribus absolvi,
propositione sci licet, quae quid faciendum proponit, solutione, quae modum,
quo fieri potest, ostendit, et demonstratione, quae rem bene processis se
concludit, addends, “Q. E. F”. idest, “quod erat faciendum”. Sic problema est
haec enunciatio: Commiserationem in altero excitare. COROLLARIVM, sive CONSEOTARIVM
dicitnr quaevis enunciatio, quae ab alia immediate, et necessariae
consequutione oritur. E. g. Cuum demonstraveris propositionem E T. hanc: Nihil
est sire ratione sufficiente, per teris inde eruere corollarium; Ergo, id omne,
quod ratione sufficiente destituitur, nec est, nec esse potest. SCHOLION, seu SCHOLIVM, est oratio, qua
illustratur quidquid in propositione obscurum videbatur. In eo igitur doctrinae
usus exponitur, historia narratur, auctorum sententiae referuntur aliorum
obiectiones proponuntur et refelluntur, ce teraque observatu digna enucleantur:
ut videre est in omnibus Mathematicorum, et Philosophorum recentium scriptis. LEMMA est proposititio ex aliena disciplina
desumta, quae tamen ad demon strandum aliquid in doctrina, quam tra ctamus in
subsidium adhibetur. Ita Aritmetici in costructione quadratornm et cuborum
lemmata ab Algebra muluantur, ut est propositio illa: Cuiuscumque numeri bi
partiti quadratum aequatur quadratis parti una cum facio dupli partis unius in
al teram lucti. um Cap. V. De iud. et prop. 103 S E C T10 lll. De propositionum
adfectionibus. HaecAec de enunciationum diversitate. Superest, ut de earum
adfectionibus pau ca dicamus, de quibus quamplurima in Scholis praecipiuntur
laboris quidem plena, vtilitatis autein expertia. Ad propositionum adfectiones
referuntur: OPPOSITIO, SVBALTERNATIO,
CONVERSIO, et AEQVIPOLLENTIA. OPPOSITIO est duarum proposi tionum inter se
pugnantium collatio: estque vel CONTRARIA, si earura utra que sit universalis
in qua propositio nes ambae possunt esse falsae, sed non ambae verae; vel
CONTRA-DICTORIA, si etiam quantitate differant, *** in qua enunciationum
illarum necessario una ve ra esse debet, altera falsa; vel deni que
SVBCONTRARIA, si ambae sint par ticulares, **** in eaque propositiones am bae
verae, at non ambae falsae esse possunt. * Sic oppositae sunt hae propositiones:
Omnis E 4 spiritus cogitat; nullus spiritus cogitat: pu. gnant enim inter se,
quum de eodem subie cto idem una adfirmet, altera neget. ** E. g. Omnis homo
est ratione praeditus: nullus homo est ratione praeditus, quarum una vera est,
altera falsa. Possunt tamen da ri casus, in quibus ambae falsae sint, veluti
huum unirersaliter enunciatur, quod particu lariter proferri debebat. E. g.
Omnis homa est eruditres: nullus homo est eruditus. Om nibus enim tribuere quod
quibusdam tan tum convenit, est falsum dicere dicere, ut infra videbimus. ***
Ita propositiones: Omnis spiritus cogitats quidain spiritus non cogitat, sunt
contradi ctoriae, earum enim una universaliter ait, al. tera particulariter
negat. Iure igitur exclusa altera includitur, et contra: nam falsum est a
quibusdam removere quod omnibus con renit, vel aliquibus tribuere quod nulli
com petit. ***** Talis est sequens oppositio Quidam ko mines sunt divites:
quidam homines non sunt divites: Vides hic ambas propositiones veras esse. Quod
si dicas: quidam homo est liber: quidam homo non est liber, quum haec falsa sit,
altera vera esse debet. Rationem eius re gulae, ne longius provehamur, coram
dabi una, mus. 7SVBALTERNATIO est duarum Cap. V. De iud. et prop. 105
propositionum sola quantitate differen tium, sed eosdem terminos habeniium
mutua quaedam relatio. Vniversalis enun ciatio SVB-ALTERNANS; particularis vero
SVB-ALTERNATA, a Logicis dici con suevit. * De qua adfectione duo notanda
occurrunt: 1. Veritatem subalternantis veritas quoque subalternatae consequi
tur, non contra **. 2: Falsitas propo sitionis ' subalternatae falsitatem etiam
subalternantis arguit, non autem con tra. E. g. Duarum propositionum:, Omnis
homo est eruditionis capax; quidam, homo est eruz ditionis capax, illa
subalternans, haec subal ternata dicitur. ** Sic quum ia superaddito exemplo
verum sit, omnes homines doctrinae esse capaces, verum quoque erit, quosdam
homines doctrinae capa ces esse. Ratio huius regulae est. Contrariae ambae
verae esse non possunt (S. 78. ). Si ergo 'subalternans vera sit; eius contrará
falsa erit. Quum autem huic contradıcat subalterna ta, et in contradictoriis
necessario una sit, altera falsa (C. eod. *** ), liquet subal ternatan
necessario verum esse debere; alias, enim in contradictione falsitas ex utraque
par te daretur, quod est absurdu:n. Contra ea si verum est, quosdam hom nºs
esse eruditos vera E 5 106 Logica Pars. I. cui quum non certe infertur omnes
homines eruditos esse. *** Si namque subalternata est falsa, eius con tradictoria
vera erit; sit contraria subalternans, haec non poterit non esse falsa, adeoque
subalternae falsitatem necessario sequi. E.g.Falsum est, aliquem spiri tum esse
mortalem: falsum qnoque erit, omnem spiritum esse mortalem. At şubalternantis
fal sitas non ita subalternatae falsitatem includit. Quum enim in subalternante,
utpote univer sali, subiectum in tota sua extensione suma tur ($. 68. ),
poterit attributum aliquod extra subiecti naturam rationem sui habere
sufficientem, adeoque aliquibus tantum spe ciebus, aut individuis conveniens
propositio piem efficere particularem (f. eod. *** ). Fal sa in hoc casu' erit
subalternáns, non vero subalternata. Hinc si falsuin est, omnes homi nes ésse
doctos, non ita falsum erit, quosdam homines esse doctas. CONVERSIO est mutua
extremorum salva enunciationis veritate, substitutio Ea fit tribus modis,
scilicet 1. SIMPLICITER, quum eadem qualitas et quantitas manet; 2. per
ACCIDENS, quin quan titas sola mutatur; 3. denique per CONTRA-POSITIONEM, quum
salva pro, positionis quantitate, terminis additur ne galio, qua fit, ut
enunciatio lex determi pata in infinitam abeat. Cap. V. De iud. et prop: 107 *
Scholerum est ha ec doctrina a nobis recensi ta in gratiam eor um, qui
huiusmodi loquite tiones scire cupiu nt; sed non caret sua uti litate; imo haud
raro est necessaria, Sim plex igitur est conversio: Omnis spiritus est
substantia cogitans: omnis substantia cogi tans est spiritus. E. g. Omnis
doctus est homo, copyertitur per accidens hoc modo: ergo quidam homo est
doctus. *** Sic: Quidam homo non est. pius, per con trapositionem convertitur:
ergo quoddam non pium est homo. Sed quorsum haec? ais. Con fer, Dan. Richterum
diss. de convcrs. propo • sition. Halae 1740 AEQUIPOLLENTES denique dicun tur
enunciationes, quae verbis licet di versae, cumdem tamen sensum habent. * Duae
ergo propositiones synonymicis termia nis expressionibusque prolatae
aequipollentes sunt, nempe eumdem valorem habentes. Ego Omne animal vivit et
sentio: nihil tam ani manti proprium est, quam vita et sensie. Quae de his
postremis propositionum adfectionibus laboriosius a Scholasticis traduntur,
tempus terendum potius, quam ad rationein excolendam sunt adcommodata. Nobis
haec tantum notasse sufficiet. Schol. Quae de iudiciis, ac propositio nibus
cupidae iuventuti observanda arbitra. mur, ea paucis exponenda supersunt. Qua
propter tironi Philosopho sequentes tenea di sunt CANON ES, 1, Q Voniam iudicia
sunt sapientiae, vel stultitiae fidelia indicia, par cius iudicato ne aliis sis
ludibrio teque in errorem temere coniicias. 4 * Sensus namque communis a
iudicandi peritia scientiam hominis metiri solet. Ea de re quum de alterius
sapientia vel stultitia iudicium proferre volumus eum criterio pollentem pel
carentem adpellamus. 2. De nuila re, nisi cuius adaequa tam, aut saltem
distinctam habes ideam, iudicium proferto, tuum. Idearum enim confusio
praeiudiciorum mater est fera cissima. * Quum enim rerum, de quibus iudicare
volu mus, distinctatu vel adaequatam habemus ide am: tunc eas undequaque
cognoscimus, re lationesque perpendimus; adeoque termino rum nexibus optime
coguitis, recte iudiça þimus, Cap. V. De ind. et prop. 109 4. In vel tuo i
quocumque iudicio vel alieno caussam et rationem atten te perspicito, cur tales
ideae tali modo coniungantur vel scparentur, nec alio. * * Etenim infra abunde
patebit, verae prope, sitionis criterium esse, si ratio sufficiens ad. sit, cur
praedicatum subiecto tribuatur, vel ab eo removeatur. Tali ergo ratione perspem
cta, non poterit iudicium non esse verum; ac proinde errandi metus procul
aberit. 4. Praecipitantiam fugito: ideoque in iudicando tardus, in enunciando
tardior esto, ne levitalis errorisve arguaris. Me mento Augustini praeclarum
illud: ver IA BIS AD LIMAM, SEMEL AD LINGUAM, Ne cit enim, monente Horatio, vox
missa Leverti. Notum est responsum illud nescio cui num quam loquuto, ac pro
sapiente seinper habi. to, datum, postquam semel toqui voluit: Si tacuisses,
Philosophus mansisses. 51. De moribus, et viia hominum num uam iudicato. Nemo
enim alterius in er est a Deo constituius: > Hinc sapientissimum illud
Servatoris nostri 110 Logica Pars. I. monitom gauctiope muniiuin habemus Matth.
VII. 1. Nolite iudicare, ut non iudicemini. Qua vero ratione praeceptum istud
homini bus inculeatum sit, ostendemus in Iure Naturae. Quoniam duarum idearum
convenien tia, aut discrepantia non semper unica intuitu aguosci potest,
adeoque dan tur veritates demonstrabites(s 71. ); de monstratio autem
ratiociniorum serie absol vitur: ordinis ratio postulat, ut de ratiocinatione
verba faciamus. Est vero RATIOCINATIO, sive RATIOCINIVM, actio mentis, qua ex
duobus iudiciis no tionein communem habentibus tertium eli citur; vel practice
est duarum idearum cum teriia comparatio', earumque rela tionis. deductio.
Ratiocinium porro verbis expressa dicitur SYLLOGISMVS. * Quando igitur mens de
veritate iudicii alicu ius nouduin certa, eius extrema, sive ideas confert cum
idea aliqua tertia, et ab earum convenientia vel discrepantia, tertium elicit
Cap. IV. De rat. et Syll. III iudicinm: tunc ratiocinatur, hoc est rationes
conficit, ut veritatem inveniat. E. g. Ut sciat, an aer sit gravis comparat
ideam aeris, et ideam gravis; cum tertia idea corporis, ob servatque, num inter
eas adsit convenientia: qua comperta, duas illas ideas inter se quo que
convenire concludit hoc modo: Omne corpus est grave: Aer est corpus; Ergo aer
est gravis. En ratiocivium. Quod si verbis exprimatur, erit syllogismus. 83.
Experientia teste scimus, duas ide as cum tertia triplici modo comparari pos se:
vel enim cum illa conveniunt, vel u na convenit, altera discrepat, vel ambae ab
ea discrepant. In primo casu elicitur ter tium iudicium aiens, in secundo
negans, in tertio vero nihil exsurgit. Totum ergo ratiocinii pondus duobus his
axiomatis con tinetur: nempe 1. Quae conveniunt cum aliquo tertio ea conveniunt
inter se: 2. Quorum unum tertio cuidam convenit, alterum autem ab eo discrepat,
illa in ter se quoque discrepant * Primum axioma est ratio sufficiens
syllogismi aientis ut videre, est in exemplo supra al lato; alterum negantis: e
g. Qui Deo servit non servit Mammonae: sed Christianus Deo. 1. servit: ergo
Christianus non servit Mamm onae. Vides hic duaru n idearum Christiani et Mam
monae servientis., alteram convenire cnm ter tia Deo serviendi, alteram vero ab
ea di screpare: unde infertur a se invicem discrepare. 84. Ex quibus rebus
clare consequitur 1. in omni ratiocinatione tres tantummodo ideas esse debere,
adeoque 2. in omni syllogismo tres tantuin terminus; * unde 3. si plures ad
sint tirinini; guain tres, syllogisuum es se falsum. ** Quumque tres ideae
totidem combinationes adinittant (per exper. ): sequitur 4: ratiocinium tria
quoque iudicia continere; ac proinde 5. syllogismum tres, nec plures, enunciationes
admittere) Advertendum hic, tam terminos, quani pro positiones syllogismums,
componentes y pecu liaribus a Logicis ' donata fuisse nominibus. Et ut a
teruninis incipiamus, praedicatum tertiae propositionis,, quae principalis dici
potest, MATOR adpellatur, subiectum eiusdeni, MINOR; {erminus vero, qui tertiam
ideanı ex. primit, quique rationem continet suffizientem couvenientiae, vel
repugnantiae termini ma ioris cum minore, MEDIUS voćatur. E pro, Cap. V. De
iud. et prop. 113 > positionibus etiam illa, in qua medius cum maiore
confertur, MAIOR, vel PROPOSITIO simpliciter; illa, in qua medius cum minore
comparatur, MINOR vel ASSUMPTIO; ambae vero PRAEMISSAE dicuntur, propositio
denique, quam principalem supra, adpellavimus CONCLUSIO COMPLE xto, a
Scholasticis CONSEQUENTIA nos minantur. Sic in primo exemplo gravis est
terminus maior, aer minor, cor pus est terminus medius, adeoque prima pro
positio est maior, altera minor, tertia con clusio. * Solet enim quandoque
quartus irreperę ter. minus, et syllogismum corrumpere, idque raro patenter;
nam saepius in termino aliquo, vel compositione latet. Fieri hoc potest 1. per
aequivocationem, ut fi terminuin aliquiem yagnum adhibeas in sensu diverso: eg:
Vilpes habet qualuorpedes, Herodes est vulpes; er go Herodes habet quatuor
pedes. In quo ob servas vocem vulpes prino proprie; secundo vero metaphorice
suintam; 3. per supposi tionis mutationem, ut si idem terminus ma terialiter in
una, formaliter in premissarum altera sumatır. E. g. Iinne ens est generis
neutrius: femina est ens, ergo fernina est ge neris ncutrius, in quo nocens in
miori gran. matice; in minori philosophice anceptum est; 3. per confusionem
termini abstracti cum con creto. E.g. Omnis prudentia est habitus bo nus:
Titius est prudens: ergo Titius est ha bitus bonus. Tres ergo enuuciationes
syllogismi materia dici possunt: forma namque legibus absolvi tur, quas infra
'exibebimus. 85. Quamvis vero ratiocinium tam fa cilis exequutionis primo
intuitu videatur: difficilis tamen admodum est termini me dii, qui communis idearum
mensura est inventio. Sed ut omois difficultas evanescat, experientiam
philosophiae matrem consule re decet. Ea enim duce discimus, mentem postrani in
ratiocinando duplieem ingredi viam: vel enim notionum alteram ad pro prium
genus, vel speciem revocat, et quid quid his convenit, illi quoque tribuit, vel
definitionis characteres evolvit, eosque al. teri convenire observans definic
tum quoque coniungit. Duplex ergo est medium inveniendi methodus: altera sub
iectum ad genus, vel speciem, sub qua continetur, reducendi, eique tribuendi,
vel adimendi quidquid ideae genericae con vepit, vel ab ea discrepat; altera
attributi definitionem cum subiecto comparandi, et ab eorum convenientia vel
discrepantia, praedicati quoque cum subiecto coniunctio nem eruendi. cum ea
Cap. IV. De rat. et Syll. Exemplo sit sillogismiis supra adductus. Scire cupis,
aer sit gravis? Reduc subiectum sub genere corporis, et vide, utrum huic
conveniat gravitas, eam de aere quoque enunciabis, ita ratiocinando. Quodlibet
corpus est grave, aer est corpus: ergo aer est gravis. Haec erit prima medium
inveniendi methodus. Rursum gravitatis defi nitionem evolve, eiusque
characteres, nem pe corporum inferiorum pressionem confer cum aere. Quumque ei
conveniant, attribu tum cum subiecto coniunges hoc modo: Quidquid corpora
inferiora premit, est grave: Aer premit corpora inferiora: Ergo aer est gravis
Habes hic alteram medium inveniendi me thodum. Eodemque modo in aliis
ratiociniis investigando procedes: quod si adcurate ser ves, numquam tua te
fallet ratiocinatio. 86. Ex hoc principio fluunt sequentes regulae ratiocinii
fundamentales. I. Quid quid convenit generi vel speciei, conve nit etiam
omnibus speciebus, et indivi duis eorum ambitu conteniis. 2. Quid quid repugnat
vel generi specici, repugn it omnibus quoque speciebus, et individuis sub iisdem
contentis. * 3. Cui convenit definitio,
convenit pariter definitum: ac proinde 4. a quo discrepat definitto, di screpat
etiam definitum. * Vides ergo ideam mediam semel universaliter sumi debere,
quia ideam universalem, ge. mus nempe vel speciem, exhibet. Quod si bis
particulariter sumeretur, ratiocininm vi tio laboraret, ut infra dicetur.
Quumque praedicatum tam latc pateat, quam subiectum cui tribuitur, ut cuique
manifestum est: li quet, propositionem, in qua medius vicem praedicati sustinet,
particularem esse. Debet ergo medius terminis universaliter sumi in ea
propositione, cuius subiectum constituit Et quoniam propositio, in qua
subiectum in tota sua extensione sumitur, est universalis: liquido infertur,
saltem unam praemissaram esse debere universalem. Variae syllogismorum figurae
Scho lasticis fuere in deliciis, quas barbaris ali quot vocabulis, versibusque
distinguere consueverunt. Nos, missis futilibus tracla tionibus, regulas
quasdam Tironibus ma xime inservituras, quibus syllogismi leges breviter
exponuntur, hic subiiciinus, quas. sequcntes exhibent. Cap. IV. De rat. et
Syll. 119 CANONES. In syllogismo non plures termini sunto, quamtres. Si quartus
irrepserit, vitiosusiesto. Est lex eo magis observanda, quo omnia sophismata,
si bene perpendantur, contra illam peccare observamus. Ecquid enim sunt
fallaciae tanto labore a Scholis evolutae, an liquitatis, amphboliae, dictionis
composi tionis, divisionis, caussae, dicti simpliciter, con e juentis,
accidentis, cetera, nisi syllogi smi e quatuor terminis conflati, in quibus
quarins cryptice latet? Veritas hace altcate consideranti baud aegre patescet.
Vide quae de quatuor terminis diximus g. Medius terminus numquam conclu sionem
ingreditor. Monstruosuin enim es set, caussam in effectus constitutionem
immisceri.: * → Intellectus enim in ratiocinando vice Mathe matici fungitur.
Quia vero Mathematicus dua rum magnitudinuin aeqnalitatem ex cniusdam tertii
adplicatione cognoscit, nec, nisi in comparatione, mensuram adhibet: ita et in
tellectus in ratiocinando ex duobus indiciis 118 Logica Pars. I. * tertium
ervit, in quod medium comparatio nis ingredi, valde foret absurdum. Vitiosum
ergo esset ita raziocinati: Omnis bonus Phi losophus est homo: Titius est bonus
Philo sophur: ergo Titius est bonus homo. Medius Damque terminus ex parte in
conclusionem irrepsit. 4. Non esto plus minusve in conclu sione, ac fuit in
praemissis, ne quatuor inde éxoriantur termini. Si nanque praemissae sunt
veluti comparatio nes duarum magnitudinum cụm tertio eisdem adplicato, scilicet
mersura: iudicium ex comparatione ipsa procedens, perfecte com parationibus
ipsis convenire debet. Quando vero in conclusione plus minusve continetur, quam
in praemissis, idem esset, ac si dice res productum maius vel minus esse
altero, quod ex iisdem factoribus est ortum Plus cotineret conclusio, si ita
diceres: Qui alium l'aesit, puniendus est: Cajus alterum laesit: Cajus ergo
morte puniendus est. Minus con tra, si sic ratiocinaris: Qui furium commi sit,
restitutioni et poenac subiacet: Titius fur tum commisit: tius restitutioni
subiacet. 4. Ex puris particularibus, vel ne gantibus (praemissis ) nihil sequi,
ius estc. Cap. V. De rat. et Syll. 119 * Diximus enim f. 86. *, praemissarum
unam saltem esse debere universalem: unde si am hae essent particulares,
impingeretur in regulam 1.1. S. cit.; si vero ambae negantes, tunc duarum
idearum neutra cum tertia conveniret, adeoque nihil sequeretur per S. 83.
Falsum ergo esset dicere: Quidam bo mines suni doeti: quidam homines sunt in
docti: ergo quidam docti sunt indocti. Item Nullus impius salvatur: nullus
impius est pius: ergo nullns pius salvatur. 5. Conclusio partem sequatur
debilio rem, probe curato, ne in superiora pecces. * Pars debilior est
propositio particularis, vel negativa. Si ergo una praemissarum fuerit
particularis, conclusio quoque particnlaris, conclusio quoque particularis esse
debet, alias plus esset in conclusione, quam in praemissis; quod est contra
regulam 3.: si vero una praemissarum fuerit negans con clusio adfirmans contra
regulam 2. In hoc eniin casu extremorum conclusionis unum cum medio convenit,
alterum ab eo discre pat; adeoque ea inter se quoque discrepare concludendum
est; quare conclusio negans esse dcbet. Quae de diversis syllogismorum figuris
regulae vulgo traduntur, eae ad rem non faciunt; ac proinde a nobis tuto prae
terinittuntur, 120 Logita Pars. I. CAPVT SEPTIMVM. De aliis ratiocinandi modis.
38. Sunt et aliae ratiocinandi formae, quae licet a syllogismo diversae
adpareant syllogismum tamen continent vel 1. CRYPTICVM, vel 2., COMPOSITVM, vel
3. MVLTIPLICEM. De his obiter praesenti ca pite agemus. SYLLOGISMUS CRYPTICVS
est, in quo forma ordinaria (*. 71 * ) quo modolibet périurbatur, aut
occultatur. CRYPSIS ergo inducitur i. per ordinis perturbationem, *. 2. per
propositionum aequipollentiam per propositionis alicuius omissionem, quo casu
dicitur ENTHYMEMA, 4. denum per contractionem. * Ordo perturbatur, ai quando
propositiones transponuntnr: ut si prino conclusionen vel minorem, de nde
maiorein vel conclusio riem ponas. E. g. Quum ira sit adfectus minor ), debei
omnino compesci (conclusio); omnis namque adfectus est compesccn dus (maior ). ܪ Cap. VII.
De aliis rat. " modis. 121 ** E: 8. Adfectus est attentionem turbare. Quum
ergo ira sit molus vehementior appe tus sensitivi ': infertur, in iracundo
attcntio nem mirifice perturbari. *** ENTHYMEMA igitur est syllogismus dua bus
constans propositionibus, quarum prima ANTECEDENS altera dicitur CONSEQUENS. In
hac argumentandi forma praemise sarum aliqua reticetur, speciatim vero illa,
quae cuique patet, ut: omnis adfectus tur bat attentionem: ergo ira turbat
attentionem. Minor deest, utpote quae ab audiente sup pleri potest. Eodem modo
et maior retice ri, minor contra exprimi solet: e. g. ir & est adfectus:
ergo estcompescenda. SYLLOGISMUS CONTRACTUS dicitur in quo solus maior cum
medio termino pro punijatur, relicto iniuore cum omni combi patione. Talis est
Cartesii syllogismus. Cogi 10, ergo sum: ubi eogito est medius, est terminus
maior; adeoque minor, scilicet ego, cum tota propositionum connexione
reticetur: integrum enim ratiocinium lioc,mo do exponendum erat: Quid juid
cogitat,exsistit ego cogiio: ego igitur exsisto. SYLLOGISMVS COMPOSITVS est, in
quo adest aliqua' propositio composiía, estoque vel HYPOTHETICVS; * vel CO
PULATIVUS, ** vel DISIVNCTIVVS, vel tandem ex hoc primoque coalescens, qui
proprio nomine vocatur DILEMMA. Tom. I. F. Sun: Hypotheticus, sive
conditionalis est, eut ius maior est propositio hypothetica: é g. Si homo est
rationalis, sequi tnr, ut sit libertatis capax: atqui est ratio nalis; ergo est
capax liberatis De hoc te nenda regula: Adfirmata conditione, adfir matur
conditionatum; et negato conditionato, negatur conditio. Quum enim in hypothesi
contineatur ratio sufficiens veritxtis proposi tionis, adfirmata caussá
adfirmatur effectus contra vero negato effectu, eius quoque caus sa negari
debet.. ** Copulativus, sive coniunctus est, qui malo. iorem habet duas simul
propositiones coniun gentem, et negantein, quarum unam minor adfirmat, alteram
conclusio negat. E. g. Non potest anima sinni aeternum vivere, et cum corpore
perire, atqni aelernum vivit: ergo non perit cum corpore. ** Disiunctivas est
cuius propositio maior est dis iunctiva. E. &. Aut anima cst ens ' simple:
aut compositum: sed non est cns compositum, ergo est simplex. Notanda crgo
regula: Ad firmato uno disi!ınctionis membro, reliqua negantur; ct negatis
rcliyuis, unuin ad fir tur. Confer tamen quae de disiunctivis pro positionibus
diximus. Si ergo in maiori propositio bypothetica cum disiunctiva copuletur,
DILEMMA con surgit quod argumentatio bicornis vel crocodilina vocari solet. Id
vero definitur: Syllogismus hypotheticus, cuius mai oris ' al 7 Cap. VII. De
aliis rat. mo dis. Tera pars est disiunctiva, quae in minore negatur, et in
conclusione totum destruitur. E. g. Si ens simplex naturaliter cx alio en te
oritur tunc aut ex alio simplici, aut e composito oriri debet: sed neque ex
alio ente simplici, neque c composito oriri potest: ergo naturaliter ex alio
ente non potest orlum du cere. Mirificum est Dilemma AVGVSTINI Tract. 1. in
Joann, quo Arianorum errorem circa Verbi aeternitatem egregie confutarit Huc
referenda quae diximus de divisione MVLTIPLICEM SYLLOGISMVM, licet imperfecte
exhibent 1. EPICHERE MA, in quo alterutri, vel utrique prae missarum probatio
additur; * 2 PROSYLLOGISMVS, in quo ' prioris syllogismi conclusio posterioris
eidem iuncti maiorem constituit POLYSYLLOGISMUS, qui plurium syllogismorum
connexionem contínet, e SORITES, qui plures ita connectit propositiones, ut
prioris aliribu tudi si ! posterioris subicctum. EPICHEREMA ergo rsl syllogisms.
cuius praemissis compendii caussa ralio Quirlitur Exemplum habes iu Cic. pro
Sex Rusc. MAI. Vt quis parricidii sit suspectus, is sce lestissimus ét
audacissimus sit, oporlei. RATIO est enim crimen horrendum. NIIN. Sex Roscius
non est talis PROB. Non est audax, non luxuriosus mon avarus. 124 Loigica Pars.
I. CONCL. Non ergo est parricidii suspectus. ** In PROSELLOGISMO itaque duo
adsunt syllogismi coniuncti, quorum posterior ma iorem habet in prioris
conclusione contentam: quapropter eius minor SVBSVNTA vocatur MAI. Omnis
spiritus est ens simplex, MIN. Anima humana est spiritus: CONCL. Ergo anima
humana estens simplex. MIN. SVBSVMTA. Atqui ens simplex est indestructibile.
CONCL. Ergo anima humana est indestructibilis. Si prosyllogismus uiterius
procedat, aliae que minores subsumtae et conclusiones snb inugantnr, dicetur
polysyllogismus, hoc est plurium syllogismorum connexio legitime fa cta. Exemplum
habebis infra Part. II. Cap.3. Sect. 2. ubi demonstrationis specimen dabimus.
SORITES a Cicerone de Divin. Lib II. cap. 4. acervalis dictus, est plurium
propos sitionum cumulus ita connexarum, ut unius praedicatum sit alterius
subiectum, adeoque tot syllogismos continet, quot sunt propo sitiones, demptis
duabus, eodem fere modo, quo polygonum aa Geometris per diagonales in tot
triangula resolvi potest, quot sunt la tera demtis duobus. Haec autem argumenta
tio nisi cautiones quedam adhibeantur ad fallendum aptior est. Cautiones istae
funt. 1. Nulla praemissarum diibia sit, aut falsa: > 1 Cap. VII. De aliis
rał. modis. 123 coram. ex falso enim antecedente non potest verum consequens
oriri.2. Non insint in Sorite duae propositiones negantcs. Hoc enim casu in
eius resolutione aderit syllogismus ambas praemis sarum negantes habens, quem
vitio laborare supra observavimus (F. 87. can. 4. ). En Soritis exemplum.
Quodlibet corpus est ali quo loco: quod est in uno loco, potest etiam esse in
alio: quod potest esse in alio loco, potest rnutare locum: quod potest mutare
lo cum, est mobile: ergo quodlibet corpus est mobile. Eius vero analysis
rationem reddemus 92. Syllogismo, eiusque speciebus. e diametro opponitur
INDVCTIO, quse vere ac proprie dici potest argumentatio a posteriori, quippe
quae a singularibus ad particularia, alquc ab bis ad universa lia procedit.
Haec autem syllogismo prior est: nam quum ope experientiae praemis sas
conficiat, indeque conclusiones eliciat universales, hac vero syllogismi
praemissas constituant, utpote qui ab universalibus ad particularia, vel ab his
ad singularia gra dum facit: hunc sine illa construi non posse, quisque videt,
INDVCTIO itaque est argumentatio, in qua quiquid de singulis speciebus vel
individuis speciation praedicatur, generatim quoque de toto genere vel speeie
enunciatur; adeoque in ea tot minores adsunt, quot species vel in F 3 dividua
exprimuntnr. E. g. aurum, argentuan orichalcum, cuprum, stannum, plumbun,
ferrum, igni inieclun liquefiunt: ergo omne metallum igni ni ectum liquefit. Ad
inductio nem ergo duo requiruntur, 1. plena partium enumeratio, 2. ut quod
inferioribus tribuitur, ile superiori pariter enuncietur. Si ergo par tes omnes
enuncientur, inductio dicelur com pleta, sin aliquae tantum, incompleta erit:
si denique una dumtaxat fars proponatur, EXEMPLUM adpellabitur, quod tamen ad
oratores non ad Philosophos pertinet, quum sit contra 34. S. n. 6. ** Ex iis
enim, quae diximus Cap. 1., liquet, ideas universales abstractionis ope a
singulari bus erui. Eodem modo Par. 11. Cap. 4. Sect. I. ostendemus, indicia
universalia a sin gularibus abstrahendo confici. Id vero est, quod Inductionem
constituit. Quum autein praemissarum syllogismi saltem una debeat es se universalis,
patet, In ductionem syllogismo principia praestruere: adeoque illo priorem
esse. Schol. De hụius doctrinae usu tandem pauca delibare juvabit. Quae de
universa hac tractatione homini philosopho servanda sunt, qui sequuntur,
exponunt. Cap. VII. De aliis rat, modis.127 CANONES, QVandaquidem ratiocinando
veritas + vi. innotescit, principia prius con siderato num solida sint et
indubia. Propositiones deinde ad trutinam revo cato, ac denique eurum
connexionem adcurate perpendilo, ne in quolibet r'a riocinandi modo fallaris: “.
Quum enim syllogismus materia et forma con siet: illan vero propositiones, hanc
propo sitionum connexio, lioc est syllogismi "leges constituant;
cuiuslibet autem rei bonitas materiae soliditate ac formae aptitudine
absolvatur: patet; Philosophum de utraque sollicitum esse debere, ut ratioci.
nia sua tulo proferre possit. 2. Quoniam omnis argumentatio ad unum redit
syllogismum, id agito, ut huius leges nocturna diurnaque manu verses: alioquin
loqui scies, non ratio cinari. Exploratum namque est, quamcumque ar
gumentationem syllogismuni esse vel crypti cum ", vel compositum, vel
multiplicem: nisi ergo syllogismi probe gnaa rus, nulliusmodi argumenta poterit
quisque proferre. Qua de remiramur, viros alioquin F4 doctissimos, et de
Philosophia optime atque abunde meritos, syllogismo fuisse adeo in fensos, ut
eum inutilem, immo nullins bo ni effectorem esse clamitarint. Infra vero ab
unde patebit, scientificam methodum sola syllogismorum concatenatione absolvi:
unde evidenter proseguisque deducet, syllogismum homini philosopho esse omnino
necessarium Videatur Wolffius in Log. Germ. S. III. seq., ubi mathematicas
demonstrationes absque illo fieri non posse, experiundo ostendit 3. Si cum alio
res tibi fuerit, omnia eius argumenta in syllogismos resolvito: tunc enim clare
perspicies, cunctane re. cte procedant, an aliquis lateat error, an sub
ambagibus fallacia occultetur. Varii namque sunt fallcndi inodi a Scholasti cis
magno labore evoluti, qui tamen si ad sillogismum eiusque leges, tamquam ail
ly, dium lapidem, exigantur, oppido evanescent, Ut hoc exempli loco addamus, si
soriten duas propositiones negantes habentem in syl logismos resolvas: 'nonne
statim patescet do lus, quum tres negantes propositiones in ra tiocinio,
adeoqoe contra quartam eiusdem " legem peccatum esse, observabis.
Praeclaro igitur hoc duce uti nolle idem esset, ac in. ventis frugibus, glandibus
vesci. Hucusque usque satis satis.dede mentis mentis ope ope rationibus actum.
Quum autem Logicae sit non contentiones nequicquam fovere, sed hominum vitae
consulere, atque intel lectum in veritatis investigatione dirigere: doceamus,
oportet, qua ratio ne tribus hisce mentis operationibus in cognoscendo
diiudicandoque vero recte uti debeamus. Quod ut commodius effici pos sit, pauca
quaedam de veritate generatim spectata, eiusque genuina tessera, hic prae
mittemus, VERITAS est, vel METAPHYSICA, quum ens aliquod actu exsistens suam
habet essentiam; vel ETHICA quando quilibet sermo interno sensųi, F 5 130
Logica Pars. II. scilicet conscientiae, respondet; ** vel denique LOGICA, si
cogitationes nostrae obiectis suis sint conformes. Quia vero hic cum
Metaphysica atque Ethicą nihil no bis est negotii, de veritate logica verba
tantummodo faciemus. Metaphysice ergo verum dicitur quidquid om nibus gaudet
proprietatibus, quae ad con stituendam eius essentiam sunt necessariae: adeoque
huic falsum opponi nequit, qoia es: sentia entis est necessaria et immutabilis
ut in Metaphysica fusius docebimus, ac proin de nequit ens exsistere, et sua
simul essen. tia carere. Ita aurum est verum aurum, qu pin omnia auri adsunt
requisita. At non_da tur, inquies, falsum aurum? Minime. Tunc enim non aurum,
sed cuprum, orichalcum, aliudve, aut e pluribus metallis revera mi xtum erit.
Illud autem verum aurum iudica. re, est nubem po lunone amplecti, atque a
veritate Logica aberrare. ** Verę loqui dicimur, quum secundum cong scientiam
loquimur, idest dicimus quae trinsechs sentimus. Atque ḥaec veritas dicitur
moralis sive ethica, cui opponitur falsilo suium, quod est sermo contra
concientiam prolatus, de in Moralibus agemus. quo 93. VERITATIS LOGICAE
vocabulo itelligimus convenientiam cogitationum no strarum cum rebus ipsis, Quumquç
no. De ver. eiusq. crit. 131 stra congitandi facultas tribus tantum mo dis sese
exserat, vel in ideis forinandis vel in iudiciis eruendis vel denique in
rationibus conficiendis (S. 15. ): liquet, logicam veritatem vel in ideis, vel
in iu diciis, vel in ratiocinatione reperiri. * Hac definitione veritatem
abstracto modo con sideramus: concreto namque definiri posset per cogitationem
obiecto suo consentaneam. Porro veritasa Logicis dispescitur in FORMALEM, et
OBIECTIVAM. Illa est, cuius obiea ctum extra nos vel non existit vel non tale
ut a mente nostra concipitur: quales sunt veritates omnes purae geometricae;
haec ve ro, cuius obiectum extra nos realiter exsistit. Ham alii INTERNAM hanc
EXTERNAM adpellare consueverunt. Illa est clara, distin cta, et indeficiens,
quippe qua mens de se suisque operationibus iudicat, haec vero ob scura, dubia,
et fallibilis: non enim per eam, scire possumus, utrum cogitatioues nostrae
obiectis suis extra nos positis conveniant necne? adeoque quum veritatem
habemus in ternam, de reali extra nos obiecti exsistentia iudicare non possumus;
quum contra veritatis externae compotes certi simus obiectum in cogitatione
exsistens extra eamdem etiam rea liter existere. 96 IDEA VERA dicitur, si
quando nca bis rem, uti in seu est, repraesentemus: *verum est lyDICIVM,
siconiungenda co 2 F 6 132 pulemus, separanda seinngamus; 've rum itidem
RATIOCINIVŇ, si ' neque in materia, neque in forma peccaverit, * Idea ergo
singularis ($. 28. ) vera est, si quando eius obiectum extra nos realiter exsi
stat, eoque modo, quo nobis illud reprae sentamus: vera pariter dici debet idea
uni versalis, dum compositio vel abstractio a re rum natura non recedit, ita ut
characteres illam comitantes simul in uno inveniri pos sint. Vides hinc, ideas
deceptrices, chimae ricas, aliasque obiectis suis nullo modo re spondentes dici
non posse veras. Advertas - tamen, absolutam obiecti deficientiam, vel ideae ab
eo discrepantiam veritati nocere. Si namque obiectum non sit evidens, nec ideae
characteres eum eo conferre queamus; con tra vero sufficientibus indiciis de
eius verita te certi simus: notionem illam deceptricem vel terminum eam
exprimentem inanem ad pellare, est contra Logicae regulas, ac pri ma
cognitionis humanae principia tnrpissime peccare. In hunc errorem incidunt
quicum que de mysteriis Sanctae Religionis sermonem instituentes, aliquam
credentibus notam inu rere conantur, quod vocabula mente cassa proferant e id
quod alibi diffuse enodabimus. ** Nimirum si de re quapiam aliquid adfirme mus
vel negernus, quod adfirmari aut negari oporteret: veluti quum soli spendorem
iri, buimus vel tenebras ab removemus? tunc judícia nostra veritate gaudebunt,
f 2 2 eo 2 Cap. I. De ver. eiusq. crit. 133 *** Ratiocinationis, sive
syllogismi materiam es se tres illas propositiones, e quibus confla tur; formam
vero leges. (S. 87. ) expositas, supra docuimus (6- 84.** ). Si ergo pro
positiones fuerint verae: leges autem adcuras te servatae, ratiocinium non
poterit non es se verum: quia, quum qualis est caussa, ta lis esse debeat
effectus, non potest ex veris praemissis falsa legitime fluere conclusic. Ex
quo liquido colligi potest, eum, qui prae missas concessit, non posse negare
conclusio nem ex iis legitimo nexu fluentem. Cave tas men, ne ex conclusione,
licet evidenter ex praemissis deducta, de hárum veritate audeas áudicare:
potest enim conclusio vera legitime ex falsis ambabus oriri praemissis. Talis
es, set sequens syllogismus: Omnis virtus est fugienda: Avaritią est virtus;
Ergo avaritia est fugienda, Vides hic veram conclusionem legitime ex fal sis
praemissis deductam. Possesne conclusionis veritate praemissarum quoque
veritatem ar 97. Quoniam iudicium verbis expres sumi propositio dicitur (§. 60.
): evi dens est. propositionem dici veram, quae adfirmanda adfirmat negandaque
ne gat, servata ubique quantitate. * Sed quia non omnium cnunciationum veritas,
nec ab omnibus distincte perspicitur: criterium aliquod inveniatur, oportet, ad
quod guere? 134 Logica Pars. I1. tamquam ad lydium lapidem, propositio nem
quamcuinque exigentes, eius verita tem dignoscere queamus. ** • Veluti quum
particulariter enunciatur de su biecto quidquid extra illius naturam; vel uni
versaliter quidquid in eius essentia rationem habet sufficientem. Vid. supra
Part. I. Cap. 5. Sect. 1.. 68. ** Hoc autem criterium exsistere debet quo
propositiones veras a falsis, a phanta smatis, realitates ab insomniis
discernere pos simus: alias enim homo in perpetua illusia ne versaretur, id
quod est Divinae sapientiae, homini, ipsiqne humanae menti iniurium. Quia de te
Philosophi omnes in eo consenserunt, li cet in adsignanda illa tessera in
contrarias partes opinando ierint, res 98. CRITERIVM VERITATIS est ra tio
quaedam sufficiens, per quam intel. ligitur cur praedicatum subiecto tribua tur,
vel ab eo removeatur. * Nimirum ut cogitationum nostrarum cum obiectis suis
conformitatem perspicere possimus in 93. ), eiusmodi characteres in promtu
haberi de bent, quibus attributi cuin subiecto con venientia vel discrepantia
ita determinetur, nt mens adquiescat, nec ullus de earum veritate supersit
dubitanli locus. Qua propter characteres illi REQVISITA ad peritatein recte
dicuntur, *** Cap. I. De ver. eiusq. crit. 135 Variae de veritatis criteriis
omni aetate fuere Philosophorum opiniones, exceptis Academi cis, üsqne, qui
Scepticismum ad furorem usque provehere ausi, atque a Pyrrkone Pyr. rhonistarum
nomine insigniti, nihil a nobis vere sciri posse, temerario ausu adfirmarunt,
quorum insania comploranda potius esset, quam confutanda. PLATO yeri tesseram
es se statuit, evidentiam intelligibilem aeterna rum idearum mentibus
participatarum; EPI CURUS fidem sensuum. ARISTOTELES medium inter hos iter
tenens, utramque evi dentiam veri criterium posuit: illam nempe in
intelligibilibus; hanc in iis, quae sensi bus percipiuntur. STOICI, secundum
Laer, tium, veri indicinm aibeant comprehensibilcm phantasiam hoc est,
evidentiam &maginationum; CARTESIUS cum recentioribus, elaram, et distin
ctam perceptionem: in Medit. 4.; MALEBRANCHIUS cam evidentiam, quam inter na
animi coactio sequitur, ut ei adsensum denegare nequeamus. Lib.I.de inquir.
verit. LEIDNIȚIUS in triplici evia dentia, intellectus, sensus et auctoritatis
criterium illud posuit. Quae vero de his ob servari merentur, in ipsis
praelectionibus ex ponemus. In hac ergo propositione: Aer est gravis, qualitas
attributi, hoc est gravitas, per no tionem aeris determinatur: in hac enim
inest ratio sufficiens cur ipsi illam tribuatur. Quum enim aer corpora
inferiora premat; idque > 136 Logica Pars. U. ad costituendam gravitatis
notionem requira tur: clare patescit, aerem esse gravem, adeo que propositionem
esse veram. Et hoc est, quod Wolffius, criterium verae proposi, tionis ésse
determinabilitatem attributi per notionem subiecti. 7 *** E. In hac
propositione: Caius est invia dus, requisita ad veritatem sunt invidiae cha
racterés alibi enumerati, qni in Caio deprehenduntur, quique rationem con
tinent sufficientem, cur Caio to invidum es se tribuatur, Quum igitur veritatis
criterium in ratione sulficiente consistat, et a requisitorum collectione
constituatur sequitur 1. ut inter veritatis crite ria adnumerari debeant
quaecumqne iis de terminationibus praedita sunt, ut a mente, quamvis invita,
adsensum extorquere pos sint. At quia experientia quotidiana docet, mentem
nostram non convinci, nisi ' sen suun testimonio in rebus sensibilibus, * in
tellectus evidentia in intelligibilibus, auctoritatis deuique pondere in iis,
quae neque sensu, nec ratione percipi possunt: liquet 2. criteria illa pro
rerum di. versitate tria statuenda #Y *** esse, intellectus sensuum et
auctoritatis EVIDENTIAM. nempe, Cap.II. De ver. eiusq. crit. 137 * Per res
sensibiles intelligimus non modo cor poreas quae sensibus exsternis, sed et
ipsas animae actiones, quae sensu interno perci piuntur. Quum igitur:Naturae sa
pientissimus Auctor hominem conscientia, sen suque cum omnibns organis
instruxerit, ut: omnium cogitationum suarum obiecta distin gueret, eorumque
conscius esset: non ab re vera esse pronuntiamus, quae internus eter nique
sensus ita se habere testantur. ** Et quidem omnium axiomatum evidentia a primo
cognitionis humanae principio, nempe non posee idem simul esse et non esse, ori
ginem suam repetit; hoc vero principium in timo sensu cunctis innotescit.
Quaecumque porro propositiones a veritatibns evidentibus legitimo nexu
deducuntur eamdem evidentiam adquirunt, quam illae habebant, id quod ra tione
duce ac demonstratioris ope conficitur quibus intellectus convincitur,et mens
adquie scit: evidens ergo est, veritates tam demon strabiles, quam
indemonstrabiles ad Logicae reguias cxactas revera exsistere, ab homini bus
certo cognosci posse, earumque criterium in intellectus adquiescentia reponi
debere nempe ut Malebranchius ait, iu ea 'eviden ' tia, qnae internam producit
coactionem, at que a mente adsensum extorquet. Huiusmodi sunt propositiones
humanum ca ptum superantes, nobisque ideo imperviae, quae quum ab Ente
intelligentissimo tantum agnosci possint, revelatae tandem addiscun tur,
fidemque mereatur: quum entis illius perfectiones sint infinitae, nec de illarum
2 I veritate addubitari sinant. Eiusdem commatis sunt facta, sive propositiones
singulares, quae in locis temporibusve remotis extiterunt, qnae que nec.
sensibus, nec ratione a nobis una quam erui possunt, quidquid contra dicat D.
Rousseau Disc. sur l ' inegalité parmi les ho mm.; sed sensibus olim ab
adstantibus coaevis que percepta, ab his vero vel scriptis vel per manus
tiadita ad. nos pervenerunt: ct quia narrantium auctoritas suspecta non est,
certitudinem, aut saltem probabilitatem in mente producunt. Vides hinc,
sententiam nostram in intelli gibilibus rationem, in sensibilibus experien liam,
in factis rebusve humanum captum ex superantibus auctoritatem commend.ve; adec
que eamdem asse cuin Cartesiana, Malebran chiana, et Leibnitiana. Sed quia
tessera haec certitudinem potius, mentis scilicet nostrae statum, quam rei
veritatem respicit, de ea, quam producit, evidentia plura infra, ubi de
veritate certa sermo erit, haud spernen da dicemus. Interim confereudus Io.And.
Osiander Diss. de Crit. Verit. Tubingae 1748. FALSITAS veritati opposita est di
screpantia cogitationum nostrarum ab obiectis. Quumque oppositorum contrariae
sint adfectiones, patet, falsitatem vel in ideis, vel in judiciis, vel in
ratiociniis reperi ii; * adeoque FALSITATIS CRITERIVM esse manifestum rationis
illius sufficientis defectum. Cap. I. De ver. eiusq. Falsa ergo est idea, quum
aliter se habet a re repraesentata; falsum iudicium aiens., si quando subiecto
non conveniat attributum, negans vero quoties boc illi conveniat; adeo que
falsa propositio, quae neganda adfirmat, adfirmandaque negat, vel quae
universaliter enunciat quod particulariter enunciari debe. bat; falsum denique
ratiocinium, quod in materia vel forma peccat: i illa, quando propositiones
sunt falsae; in bac vero, quum syllogismi leges, violatae sunt. **
Propositionis falsae rera tessera est, si non modo desit ratio sufficiens, cur
praeuicatum subiecto tribuatur, vel non; verum adsit rl tio, cur contrariuin
enuncietur: tunc enim subiecti notio determinal qualitatem attribu ti oppositi.
Porro in ratiociniorum forma fal sitas esse potest vel patens, vel latens. Si
vitinn sit manifestum, dicuntur PARALOGISMI; si vero crypsi aliqua tegatur, vo
cantur SOPHISMATA A Scholasticis am bo vocantur FALLACIAE. Paralogismus est
sequens: Omne homicidium est vitandum, nullum furtum est homicidium ergo nullum
furtum est vitandum. In co enim aperto peccalum est colra Can. 4.6. 87.: me
dius enim terminus his particulariter sumtus est. Sophisma contra crii, si sie
ratiocinabea ris: Populus ex terra crescit: mulliluilo ko. 140 Logica Pars. II.
minum est populus: ergo multitudo hominum ex terra crescit: quatuor namque
termini ir repsere per aequivocationem termini populus, qui in maiori arborem,
in minori hominum multitudinem siguificat. ** Plurima de fallaciis ad nauseam
usque a Scho laflicis tradita invenientur, qui tamen tot tan tisque
tractationibus nullum fecerunt operae pretium. Quia vero in huiusmodi
failaciis, fi ve dictionis, five (ut ipsi aiunt) extra di ctionem, vitium
plerumque latet in quarto termino cryptice tecto: Auditorum nostro rum mentes
non ultra fatigabimus: attamen, si sapient, syllogismi leges memoriae inscul
pent, et ad terminorum numerum semper animum adverlut. Quibens relligiose
servatis, aut nihil scimus, aut numquam, neque de cipi ratiocinando, nec alios
deçipere pote runt. Schol. De huius tandem docirinae usu opus cst, ut aliqua
addamus. Ea paucis iisquo baud spernendis comprehendemus regulis. Qui ergo
Philosophi nomen adse qui cupit, hos probe teneat. Cap. 1. De ver. eiusq. crit.
CANONE S. I Dea, quae characteres continet si * bi invicem repugnantes,
deceptrix est: imaginaria vero, qua ob similitudinem quampiam nobis fingimus
quod non est, ut quasi per imagniem oculis obiectum praesens sistamus. ** * Hae
igitur ideae proprie loquendo non falsae, sed potius impossibiles dici possunt,
quia nihil sumt: ut ' idea circuli quadrati, ligni ferrei, creaturae infinitue',
ec. ** Vocantur istae a Wolffio vicariae realium, quia earum vices gerunt, ut
si memoriam ti bi rapraesentes per receptaculum idearumi: licet enim nulla
adsit analogia inter spiritum el corpus, atque adeo inter eorum proprie lates:
ob similitudinem tamen, quod, sicut in receptaculo plura servamus, quae inde,
quum opus fuerit, depromiinus, ila memoria plures ideas, quae tamdiu latuere
nobis sug gerit, memória ipsam veluti receptaculum nobis sistinus 2. De eo,
cuius clare et distincte ra tionem perspicis sufficientem, tuto adfir mato:
negalo vero, quod eidem pari ratione refragari cognoscis. Si eam non adhuc
nosti: licet pro incerto haberi 142 Logica Pars. II. ſas sit, ne temere
iudicato, donec veri tatis eius, falsitatisve criterio polleas. Hoc quidem modo
vitari poterit audax illa in iudicando praecipitaptia, quae incautos maxime
adolescentes quamplurimis subjicit erroribus. Hi ramque sola suarum virium
praesumtione freti iudicia sua nec rationc ful ciunt, nec ad criterium aliquod
exigunt; quo fit, ut ea praecipitanter nimis prouentiare adsueti, ratione
tandem destituantur, et quid quid in buccam venerit effutiant. 5. Si diu in
veritate invenienda fru. stra taboraveris, examen reintegrato. Si ne id qutdem
profuerit, ne rem pro falsa, aut impossibili venditato, nitam ridiculus sis,
qui mentem tuam veri ful sigue mensurani esse existimes. * * Perutilem harc
cautionem inculcat Genu eusis noster, quae dici non potest, quanto sit omuibus
adiumento. Quum enim obscurilas plerumque sit relativa, eiusque caussa in - bo
mirum n.entibus, raro in re percepta, sit quaerenda (S. 20. ): nullum est
huiusmo di iudicium, quod non ex praecipitantia fluat. Qui enim ita se gerunt,
ni mia de in tellectus sui viribus praesamtione laborant, idque agunt, perinde
ac si supremum persprie caciae cognitionisge gradum obtineant, cui an tefcratur
remo, pauci pares putentnr. In hanc rigrilam offendunt quicumque mundi creatio
Cap. II De ign. et er. cor. caus. 143 nem iu tempore, aliasve doctrinas, quas
intellectu adsequi nequeunt, proimpossibi libus venditant, ut fusius in
Metaphysica docebimns. Id vero quam ridiculum sit, nemo non videt. De
ignorantia et errore, eorumque caussis. A Ctio mentis, qua verum (S. 94. )
agnoscit, resque sibi re praesentat ac percipit, COGNITIO adpellatur. Eius vero
absentia dicitur IGNORANTIA, quae definiri pot est per statum mentis cognitione
desti tulae. * Sic e g. qui disciplinae alicuius veritates ac praecepta novit, eaque
mente tenet, illius cognitione gaudet: contra vero, si ea cogni lione sit
'destitutus, disciplinam illam igno rare diciiur. 103. Experientia quisque sna
it aliena doceri potest, hominnm plerosque nihil aut minipium admodum in rebus
cogno scere; plurima quoque nesciri ab iis, qui acriori se praeditos ingenio
jactant: cos vero, qui doctissimorum virorum nomine gaudent, quo longius sua
sese exserit co gnitio, eo plurima se ignorare comperient. 144 Logic. Pars II.
* Ex innumerabili rerum, quae sciri possunt, puniero ingenii cuiuscumque vires
superante, domesticaque experientia fluxit mos ille lau dabilis ad utilium
rerum cognitionem ani mum adplicandi, neglectis iis, quae ad cu iusqne statum
minime pertinentes, inter su ferflua et inuțilia referuntur. Recte namque
observaverat Seneca necessaria a nobis igno rari, quia superflua discimus. Id
ipsum er go argumento est, homines, postquam ad sublimiorem, ut aiunt,
cognitionis apicem pervenerint, quamplurima adhuc habere, quorum nulla se
gaudere cognitione animad vertant, illoruinqe esse admodum ignaros. 104. Ex quo
patet 1. omnes homines in stalu verae ignorantiae versari, ac ne minem un quani
reperiri posse, qui omui moda rerum cognitione praeditum se tuto adfirmet:
quapropter oportere 2. ordine na in studiorum curriculo servari, ut primo
necessaria * deinde ütilia, postremo iu cunda discantur; adeoque 3. eruditorum
reprchensionem merito incurrere eos, qui neglecta hac methodo ad superfluarum
re rum siudiuin animum adplicant, param curantes ea, quae ad interni extervique
status suiperfectionem sunt necessaria. Necessaria dicuntur, quae Dei suique
cogni tionem spectant, item quae facultatem quam quisque profitetur, postremo
quae ad socie tatis commoda promovenda pertinent. Cap. II. De ign. et er. eor.
cans. 1.45 ** Suo itaque officio deesset Medicus, si ne glecta medendi arte,
eruditioni, hoc est quid quid extra Medicinae ambitum est, operam daret.
Ignorantiam quoque suam magis pro moreret Legisperitus, si pro legum codici bus,
medicos aliosve sibi inutiles libros evol veret. Alque utinam nostro hoc aevo
Lit teratores isti extra aleam aberrantes defide, rarentur ! 105. Ad
ignorantiae porro caussas de tegendas nobis lucem quam maximam ail fert
experientia. Ea enim duce scimus igno rantain oriri a 1. DEFECTV IDEARVM, non
solum in iis rebus, quae nostrum si perant captum, sed etiam in iis, quae iu
jus limites von excedunt, 2. MENTIS IMBECILLITATE, sive impotentia co gnoscendi
idearum nostrarum relationem, LABORIS IMPATIENTIA, qua fit, ut attentio
minuatur, ideaeque fiant deterio res, STVDIORVM CONFVSIONE, MEMORIA vel nimia,
vel labili, 6. denique SVBSIDIORVY INOPIA. (t ) Impotentia haec ab idearum
mediarum defe ctu pendet: quo fit, ut communi illa defi ciente mensura, nec
conferre inter se nolis nec propterea vertalem delegere quaemus. (ones T. 1. ** Confusio studiorum habetur, vel quia fine
attentione aut ordine fiunt, vel quia plurima eodem tempore cursimque discuntur:
ex quo pluribus intentus minor est ad singula sen sus. Hinc nimia illa
sciolorum turba, solis frontispiciis praefationibusque furfuroscrum, nostram
invasit aetatem, ** Nimia namque memoriae praestantia laboris impatientiam,
adeoque ignorantiam parit; illius vero infidelitas cognitionis defectum au get.
Ecqua enim cognitio ei, qui unam al teramve propositionein memoria retinere non
valet? (+ ) Subsidiorum nomine veniunt Magistri, si ve viventes illi sint, sive
mortni, scilicet li bri. Ex horum enim defecte lici non po test, quot sublimia
vilescant ingenia, quae vel mechanicis adeo artibus, aut otio et libidi ni se
addicunt. Elegantissimum est Alciati em blema, quo ingenia ista iuveni euidam
com parat, cuius sinistra manus duabus alis in Coclum tollitur, dextera vero
ingenti pon dere impedita deorsum fertur. Cujus em blematis dilucidationem
reddemus Dolendum autem magnopere est, quod si quando iuvenes isti litterario
furfure vix in crustati Rempublicam invadunt, societatis perturbatores,
bilingues, susurrones, ad pessima demum et turpissima quaeque, (si paucos
excipias ) parati evadunt. 106. Haec de ignorantia. Quando au tem propositicni
verre dissensim, falsae contra adsensum praebemus, tunc ERRA coram Cap. II De
ign. et ei. cor. caus. 147 RE dicimur, sive judicia confundere. Qua propter
ERROR definiri potest, quod sit confusio iudiciorun. Error autem in iu dicando
commissus PRAEIVDICIVM * adpellatur, quod esse dicimus iudicium erroneum
praecipitanter et sine maturi tale latum. Dicitur vero praeiudicium, vel quia
sanae mentis praevenit iudicium, vel quia praema ture et fine criterio
profertur. Talia sunt pleraque vulgi praeiudicia, veluti: discum solis
diametrum habere circiter bipalmarein: cometas esse bellorum caussas: et alia
eius modi. 107. Quum praejudicium sit iudicium erroneum; error vero confusio
iudiciorun: evidens est s. praeiudicia na sci ex idearum ob curitate et
confusione, adeoque 2. eorum originem ab intellectus corruptione unice esse
petendam. Equidem sunt plerique, qui praeiudiciorum originem a voluntaté
repetunt, eamque pri us emendandam esse aiunt; ii tamen io to aberrant coelo:
voluntariam namque praeiudiciis adhaesionem vel negligen liam animum ab iis
liberandi, pro praeiudia ciis venditant. Si vero rem probe per penderint
videbunt, ea, quae voluntatis vitia asserunt, ab intellectus vitiis vel imagin
natione pendere: et si qui méntem obun brant ad feclus, appetitus quippe
sensitiyi * * 7 G 2 148 Logica Pars. It. ** vehementiores molus, non aliunde,
quam ah ideis obscuris et confusis ortum trahunt. Qua de re legatur Syrbius in
Phil. rat p: 5. 108. Duo intérim sunt praeiudiciorum genera, AVCTORITATIS
scilicet, et NIMIAE CONFIDENTIAE. * Illa sunt, quae nostris viribus parum
confisi, nimi aque oscitantia laborantes ab aliorum, quorum apud nos plurimum
valet ancio ritas, scriptis vel sententiis kausta adopta mus, eaque pro sanctis
habenda puta mus; hec vero, quae nostris viribus niinium fidentes, quamquam
praecipitan ter et sine meditatione prolata., tainquam vera lamen adsumunus
illis firmiter achae remus, et proeiis, veluti pro aris et fo. cis, pugnamus. *
Addunt alii praeiudicia AETATIS. At quum illa non sint, nisi opiniones
praeconceptae a nutricibus parentibus, atque magistris a teneris, ut aiunt,
unguiculis haustae: ea ad auctoritatis praeiudicia referri, nemo non ri det.
Illustris VERULAMIUS de augm. scient V. 4. praeiudicia,, quae iilola vocat, in
quatuor dividit classes, quarum prima am plectitur idola tribus, scilicet quae
in ipsa hamana natura fundata sunt; altera idola specus, hoc est hypotheses a
nobis ipsis provenientes; tertia i: lola fori, idest prae concept as opiniones,
quae ab hominum com mercio mabant; quarta denique idola the *** Cap. II. de
ign. et er. eor. caus. 149 atri, videlicet erronea iudicia, quae ex Phi
losophorum sententiis bauriuntur. Quae 0 mnia ad duas, quas retulimus, classes
com mode referri possunt, ut coram ostende mus. * Auctoritatis praeiudicia sunt
ea, quae a nu tricibus, magistris (vivis illis mortuisve ), aut populo haurimus:
eiusmodi sunt opinio pes omnes aliquibus civitatibus, familiis, vel.: sectis
familiares, quarum cultores illis, tam quam glebae, adscripli, nulloque utentes
iu dicio, eas, tamquam oracula, pronuntiant seque inde dimoveri non patiuntur.
Curio sissima est Galilaei narratio in Systemate co smico, de viro quodam
nobili Peripatheticae philosophiae addicto, qui qunm Venetiis in domo cuiusdam
Medici sectionem anatomicam perfici vidisset, in qua maximam nervorum stirpem e
cerebro exeuntem, per cervicem transire, per spiralem distendi, ac postea per
totum corpus divaricari observasset, nec, nisi tenue filamentum, funiculi
instar, ad cor pertingere, a Medico rogatus, adhuc in Aristotelis sententia manere
vellet rumque originem a corde repelere? non sine magno adstantium risu
respondit: Equide:n ita aperte rem oculis subiecisti, ut nisi tex tus.
Aristotelicus aperto nervos corde deducens obstaret, in sententiam tuam per
tracturus me fueris. Quis, quaeso, haec au diens a risu ' temperaret? ***
Vocari quoque solent praeiudicia receptae hypotheseos, novitatis, similia: ut
sunt sy nervo e G 3 750 Logica Pars 11. MAE, stemata omnia ab eruditis inventa,
quibus tam acriter inhaerent, ut uullum sit rationis pondus, quo ab opinione
sua dimoveri pa tiantur. 109. De errorum caussis, restat, ut paulo ca addamus,
Eae vel REMOTAE sunt quae mentem ad errores ac praeiudicia praeparant et
disponunt; vel " PROXI., quae mentem ipsam ad iudicio rum confusionem
impellunt, erroresque producunt. Remotae rursus in generales dividuntur, et
speciales. Caussae generales sunt ATTENTIONIS DEFÈCTVS, qui ideas reddit
deteriores ADFECTVS, quos attentionem turbare, idearumque obscuritatem parere
supra ob. Servavimus, SCIENDI LIBRO ciun ralurali corporis inertia, COMPENDIA
et DICTIONARIA disciplinarum, in quibus nulla idearum analysis reperitur MALVS
vocabulorum VSVS, quo fit, ut auctorum sensus non intelligatur denique LIBERTAS
PHILOSOPHANDI. Praeiudiciorum cnim origo ab idearum ob scuritate repetenda est,
idearum vero obscuritatem pariunt attentionis defe clus et adfectus er his ergo
caussis praeiudicia nasci, quisque intelligit. Quainvis enim corporis inertia
laboris impa Cap. 11. De ign. et er. Cor. caus. ¥ tientiam creet, adeoque
ignorantiae tantum Caussa esse possit (* 105. ): cum sciendi tamen libidine
conjuncta errorum genitrix est: etenim sciendi pruritus efflcit, ut intellectus
tali cupiditate ductus intra ignorantiae fuae te niebras consistere nolit,
opportunisque prae • diis vacuus ea investiget, quibus par non est, ac proinde
in plurimos lahatur errores. ** Libertas enim philosophandi iuxto maior in
receptas hypotheses illidit; nimis autem con etricia in auctoritatis
praeiudicia nos urget, sel saltem crassam parit ignorantiam. 110. Speciatim
autem AVCTORITA TIS praeiudicia oriuntur harum trium abaliqua EDVCATIONE,
scilicet, CONVERSATIONE [conversazione], et CONSVETVDINE; ut et praeiudicia
NIMIAE CONFIDENTIAE aa nimia INGENII FIDUCIA. Et ut de educatione quaedam
singularia attingamus, id sedulo notandum: praeiu dicia, quae ab ca procedunt,
tribus cha racteribus optime distingui, temporis BREVITATE, 2. loci RESTRICTIONE,
cognitionis DEFECTV. Qui quidem characteres si desint, propositio non in ter
praeiudicia, sed inter veritates com muni hominum consensione probat as est
referenda. Quot mala hominibus adferat educatio, vix dici potet. Parentes enim
tantum abest, ut puerorum intellectum perficere eorumquemor is mederi curent,
ut potius eorum aninum maximis praeiudiciis, anilibus fabeliis, erro neisque
opinionibus imbuant. De magistrorum educatione nihil dicemus, ab iis enim quam
multa hauriuntur praeiudicia, quum iuvenes in magistrorum verba iurantes
quaeuis eo run effata sancta esse putent, ac de illis veluti de Religione,
dimicent ! Conversatio cuin libris et eruditis, consuetudo cum po pulo quot
foveant errores, quum res sit me ridiana luce clarior, in ea explicanda nihil
immorabimur Legatur interim Tullius Tuscul quaest. Lib. III. cap. 1. Qui nimium
suo indulget ingenio, fieri non potest, quin in errores incidat, el pacdın
tismum vel contradictionis spirituin induat, quae duo vitia aliorum aversionem
odiuinque conciliant. Praeterquam quod novitatis studi um quanta hominibus mala
produxerit, ii sciunt, qui Ecclesiae vel litterarum vices er annalibus
didicerunt. *** Nimirum educationis praeiudicia tantisper in animo sedent,
donec ad maturitatem ra tionisque perfectionem sit perventum; nou sunt ubique
earlem, sed quamvis in cuius cumque Regionis gentibus praeiudicia sedeant,
diversa tamen pro educationis morumque di versitate inveniuntur; rudium tandem
von eti am sapientum mentes occupant ita, ut dum illi inter praeconceptas
opiniones erroresque iacent, hi eorum insipientiam ac ignorantiam destruere
nullo modo valentes vel rideant, vel de ea conquerantur. Cap. II, De ign. ei er.
eor. caus. 253 mus Omnes illae, quas recensuimus caussae praeiudiciorum remotae
sunt; pro Xima namque est PRAECIPITANTIA. Quae quum ita sint, optimum, idqne
uni cum, ad praeiudicia vitanda remedium est iudicium suspendere, seu DUBITARE:
est: enim DUBITATIO « prudens iudicii su spensio. Tanc autem iudicium suspendi
quum propositionein aliquam nec adfirmamus neque negamus. * Cave la nen credas,
ad praeiudicia vitandą conferre Scepticismum, vel Pyrrhonismum insanam nempe
illum de onnibus dubitandi miorem, quo hodiernos incredulitatis fauto. res uii,
non sine dolore videmus. Stolidi tas enim, nedum temeritas infanda foret sine
sufficienti ratione dubitare. Sobriam quip pe ac prudentem commendamus
dubitationem eo fine institutam, ut suspendatur iu licium, donec mens ad ideas
distinctas clarasve per veniat. ** Totum hoc de rebus intra rationis fines ex
sistentibus, nullaque evidentia suffultis est intelligendum. Etenim quae Divina
auctorita te nituntur, aut mathematica gaudent eviden tia de illis dubitare,
impium; de his ve ro, foret adprime stullum. Schol. Espositis mentis humanae
imbe. cillitate et vitiis, reliquum est jis praebeanius medelam. Quamvis
Feromul, 7 ut aptam ti philosophicarum rerum Magistri, inter quos Nicolaus
Malebranchius, et Antonius Genuensis, quamplurima ad id remedia. proposuerint,
quibus vel minimum quidem addere, non opis est nostrae; licebit ta men, ad
Auditorum nostrorum instructio nem, si plura n quimus, eadem saltem ab ipsis
tradita paucis repetere. Quisquis ergo ignorantiam errorenive yitare cupis, hos
menti infigito CANONES. MEREntem sedulo studio attentio ne, meditatione ab
obscuritate et confusione liberato. * In hoc enim in. tellectus perfectio sita
est, a qua exsu lant ignorantia et praeiudicia. * Ut id consequantur
adolescentes, prae ocnlis habeant quae in prima harum Institutionum parte
observavimus, ea praecipue, quae de ideis cap. 1. Schol. adnotavimus. 2. Ad
studia praeiudiciis liber ac do cilis, uti modo in lucem editis infans,
accedito. Magistrum eligito optimum ab eoque necessaria atque utilia disci io,
nihil verens ab eius, qui te ad sa pientiam manuducit, prius ore pendere: Cap.
II. De ign, et er. eor. caus. 155 ut praecepta demum, quum te ignoran tia
deseruerit ad examen revocare possis. * In Magistrorum electione magna cautio
adhi benda est: abea namque pendet cognitionum nostraram soliditas et
rectitudo. Ad eorum dotes praecipue attendendum, de quibus ideo pauca inferius
delibabimus. 3. Methodum ubique atque ordinem cordi habeto. In studiis
eapraecedant per quae sequentia intelliguntur. Ex hujus canonis neglectu oritur
studiorum confusio, quam ignorantiae caus sam haud postremam esse, experientia
sensusque com munis evidenter ostendit Auctoritati nec nihil, nec multum
deferto. Nimia namque aliis adhaesio servum pecus; sensus vero communi ne
glectus audacem efficit, omniaque sibi permittentem. 5. De iis, quae vel Divina
auctori tate, vel maxima evidentia destituta sunt, prudenter dubitato, donec
certus fias. Rectam rationem prius, sensum dein de optimorum communem consulito.
Quae captum vero tuum superant ne perqui rito, nisi prius opportunis mediis
probę fueris instructus. * G6 156 Logica Pars. II. * Si vero captum humanum
superent, ca non investigare omnino, recta ratio docet. 6. Laboris patiens,
memoriae ac per spicaciae tuae ne nimis fidens esto. Me mento Poetae illud:
ABSQUE LABO RE.NEMO MUSARUM SCANDIT AD ARCEM. Vides hinc, quam immerito a
nostrae aetatis adolescentibus voluptati ac vanitati deditis laboremque
horrentibus cognitio studiorum que felix exitus expectetur. Compendia et
dictionaria, quippe quae nihil solidi profundique continent, ne multum amato.
Paucos habeto libros, eosque lectissimos. * Cum lectione me ditationem semper
coniungito Non nostrum est praeceptum,
sed Senecae, qui ut facilem Lucilio suo viam ad virtutem aperiret, librorum
paucitatem diserte com mendat his verbis: Cum legere non possis quantum
habueris, sat est habere quantum legas. Ep. 2. Vide quae diximns Part. I. 8.
Poetas caute legito, ne inanibus fabellis animunı imbuas. Populum, utpo te
pessimi argumentum, ut anguem fu gito. Senecam audito dicentem: SANA TIMUR,
SIMODO SEPAREMUR A ÇOETU, cap. 1. Schol. Cap. II. De ign. et er. cor. caus. 157
Ad poetas quod attinet, eorum lectionem adolescentibus vel omnino interdicendan,
vel arctissimis includiendam cancellis cuperernus, quippe qui vivida phanthasia
pollentes ima ginationi retinere potius, quam laxare debent habenas: id quod ia
legendis Poetis contra evenit. Populi porro damna paucis expressit idem Seneca,
quum ait: Inimica est mullorum convcrsatu. Ep. 7. De Veritate ceria, melliisque
ad cam perveniendi. $ 12. sis ad veritatis investigationem gradum faciamus.
VERITAS vel CERTA est, si in ea adsint omnia veritatis requisita, ut nulla
nobis de illa re maneat suspicio aut dubium, vel PROBABILIS, si propius ad
certitudinem acce dat, nempe quum non omnia insunt re quisita. De illa nunc, de
hac subsequen ti Capite agemus. CERTITUDO est mentis status veritati adensum
ita praebentis ut nulla de opposito adsit sollicitudo Ex consequitur i, ut si
quam minima adsit suspicio non certitudo, sed INCERTITUDO vocetur. Et quia non
idem est om. nibus mentis status, sequitur 2. eamdem evunciationem uni certam
esse posse, al teri incertam. Tandem quoniam quisque mentis suae statum
agnoscit, consequens est 3. ut nemo aliorum certitudinis sed suae tantum iudex
esse possit. * Quia omne, quod verum est, vel absolute et in se tale est vel in
relatione ad mentem, quae non semper terminorum nexum distincte percipit: ideo
Philosophi certitudinem divide bant in OBIECTIVAM et FORMALEM, il lamque esse,
aiebant, nexum propositionis in trinsecum, hanc mentis nostrae statum respi
cere. Nos illam proprie VERITATEM, hanc CERTITUDINEM adpellamus. E. 8. Axioma;
Totum est maius sua parte, si absolute et in se spectetur, VERUM dicitur, si
vero ad men tem referatur, CERTUM est, quia talia ad sunt indicia, ut ipsi
absque ulla oppositi formi dine adsensuin praestemus. Quoniam indicia ad
certitudinem ducentia trium generum esse possunt, sci licet vel absolute
infallibilia vel dalis tantum permanentibus caussis naturalibus, vel denique
sccundum huinanae prudentiae leges: evidens est 4. triplicem etiam esse
certitudinem, METAPHYSICAM nempe yel MATIEMATICAM, quae illis; PHY. Cap. 111.
De veritate certa etc. 159 SICAM, quae istis; MORALEM tandem, quae his fulcitur
indiciis, quaeque alio no mine FIDES HUMANA adpellatur. * Primi generis sunt
axiomata, aliaeque pro positiones nullis obnoxiae vicibus;alterius haec
propositio: corpus non suffultum cadt: pos fremi vero haec: Augustus fuit
primus Ro manorum Imperator. 115. Experientia abunde constat, men tem nostram
non statim, nec semper, quod verum est, certo cognoscere- Via ergo quaedam ipsi
monstranda est, qua tuto ad certitudinem perveniat: eaque, pro certitudinis
varietate, diversa est; spe ciatim vero triplex, EXPERIENTIA sci licet, RATIO
seu DEMONSTRATIO, et AUCTORITAS, de quibus singillatim, et quantum res ipsa furet,
breviter agemus. Uidquid a nobis sciri potest, vel singulare est vel universale
(S. 26. seqq. ); itemque vel effectus, vel caussa. Singulares porro ideas sensibus
ad quirimus; universales' vero in 160 Logica Pars II. tellectus abtractione
conficimus. Rursus quaelibet caussa effecluin salte in natura, praecedit, ut in
Metaphysica do. cebimus. Duae igitur cognoscendi viae no bis aperiuntur, altera,
quae a singulari bus ad universalia; itemque ab effectibus ad caussas ascendit,
nemp: a sensibus, si ve experientia incipit; ideoqne dicitur co gnitio a
posteriori: altera, quae ab uni versalibus ad particularia, a caussis ad ef
fectus rationis ope descendit descendit,, ac proinde vócatur cogniíio a priori.
De illa nunc; de hac sequenti sectione agemus. Omue itaque, quod experientiae
ope scimus, dicitur COGNITIO A POSTERIORI. Est autem EXPERIENTIA cognitio adqui
sita ex attentione ad obiecta sensibus obvia, Sic per experieutiam novi'nus
aquam made. facere, ignem col fucere, ceram igni admo tam liquefieri, ct id
genus alia. 117. Quum experientia sit in rebus sen sibus obviis; sensibus auien
percipianlur les exisientes sive indiviadua: patet 1. a uobis res tan tum
singulars experimento addisci, * extra eas nsilium alind esse experientiae
obiectum, adeoque 3. eam in abstractiş 2 2. Cap. Ill. de Veritate certa ctc.
161 sensus et universalibus locum non habere, licet haec ab ipsa deriventur. Igi
tur 4. qui demonstrationem aliqu am posteriori conficere vult, is casum singu
larein, allegare debet, dummodo experien tia non sit cuivis obvia; 5. denique,
ex perientia non datur in iis, quorum n ullam habenius ideam. * Quoniam vero
est vel internus, vel externus experientia quoque est vel INTERNA, vel EXTERNA.
Illa habetur qnum nobis ipsis attendentes aliquid in anima nostra contingere
percipimus: e. g quoties nobis malum aliquod repraesentamus; toties taedio nos
adfici animadvertimus; haec ve ro, si res in organis nostris mutationem pro
ducentes percipimus: ut si manu igui admota, calorem igui inesse observemus.
"Experientia rursus dividitur in VVLGAREM, quae mnibus aeque patet, ut
calor ignis, et ERVDITAM, quae speciali studio, atque adhi bitis necessariis
mediis cooficitur, arleoque so lis innotescit eruditis, ut ' aeris gravitas,
elasticitas ctc. 118. Habitus, sive promtitudo aliorum vel propria esperimenta
colline andi, et ex iis conlusiones elicianendi, dicitur ARS EXPERIVNDI. Quae
quidem ab experientia tam longe distat, quantum ba bitus dfert ab actu. * Non
ergo sufficit unam alteramye experientiam peragere, aut aliquot instrumenta s
ertractan. 162 Logica Pars II. di peritiam habere, ut experiundi arte prae
ditus quis dici possit, sed opus est habitn longa exercitatione adquisito, non
solum res experimento subiiciendi, sed propria aliorum que experimenta ad
critices regulas exigendi, atque ex iis conclusiones scientificas, sive corolla
ria legitimo rationis usu deducendi 119. Quoniam experientia sensibus ni titur;
ad sensionem autem duo requiruntur, scilicet mutatio in or ganis sensoriis ab
externis obiectis produ cta, et repraesentatio in anima huic obie cto conformis
(ut in Psychologia ostende mus ): consequens est 6. ut sensus, po sitis ad
sentiendam requisitis quam fallant; * proindeque 7. nos non & sensibus, sed
a iudicio, quod ani ma praccipitanter fert super experientia, persaepe falli.
Rinc. 8. cautiones quaedam ad errorem hunc vitandum adhibendae > num sunt. et
Requisita ad sentiendum tria sunt, orga norum sensoriorum sanitas 2. attentio,
3. justa obiecti distantia. Quotiescumque ve ro de visu agitur, et quartum
requisitum adesse debet, nempe èiusdem mcdii in ter obiectum et organum
interpositio. Quum enim in visione radii lucis in corporum superficiem
incidentes reflectantur, et in acre prius, deinde in oculi humoribus ac lente
cristalli ua refracti ad retinam usque pertingaat, u Cap. 111. De Veritatė
certa etc. 163 hi motum in nervo optico, quod sensationis caput est, producunt:
si partim in aere partim in aqua aliove densiori medio obie clum ponatur, non
eadem erit lucis refra ctio, adeoque non idem locus obiecti parti ' bus
adsignabitur: unde fit, ut illud fractum vel recurvum adpareat. Si ergo
neglecto hoc requisito adparentiam illam pro realitate sumamus, non sensuum,
sed judicii defectú id provenire, fatendum est. Cautiones, quas inculcamus sunt
1. ut sior gana sensoria paullo debiliora fuerint, debi tis armentur
instrumentis, 2. ut obiecta in iusta ab organis distantia posita attente ob
serventur 3. ad tot sensus, ad quot redi gi possunt, redigantur. Si cautiones
istae adhibeantur nullus in percipiendis rebus sensibilibus irrepere poterit
error: si vero quae dicta sunt probe attendantur, non in surgent amplius
difficultates, nec erunt qui vetustissimam cipionis in aqua fracti, turris que
emimus rotundae adparentis cantilenam ad nauseam usque repetentes, sensuum fal
laciam ulterius inculcare velint. 120. Quia vero per experientiam sin gularia
tantum cognoscimus sequitur ut VITIVM SVBREPTIONIS incurrant ii, qui ea, quae
minime ex perti sunt, vel quae imaginationi aut ra tiociniis experientia
deductis debentur, pro experientia obtrudunt. * Tales sunt, qui pliaenomeni
alicuius caussam raperientia constare adserdut. Veluti si quis 164 Logica Pars
II. ferrum a magnete altrahi videns, experien. tia compertum esse diçat, ex
magnete efflu - via exire ferrurn attrahendi vim habentia, vitium subreptionis
incurret. Quum ergo res singulares tantum modo experiamur; earum ve ro
repraesentatio dicatur idea singularis: recte infertur 10. notiones expe
rientiae ope immediate formatas esse ideas singulares, ut et 11. singularia
iudicia ipsis innixa. * Quumque his nova deducta iudicia non nisi
ratiocinationis ope eruan tur: evidens est 12. haec nova iu dicia di ci non
posse singularia, sed DIANOETICA sive ratiocinantia.Vocantur huiusmodi iudicia
INTVITIVA, quia in his, quae in rei cuiusdain notione comprehensa intuemur,
eidem tribuimus: ut ignis est rulidus: aqua madefacit. Scholastici ea vocabant
discursiva: ratioci nium namque ab iis dicebatur discursus. E. g. ignis est
cctivus: vapor est elasticus. Quandoquidem indicia intuitiva conficiuntur
tribuendo rei quidquid in ipsi us potione comprehenditur: sequilur. 13. ut ea
conficianlur accipiendo rem perceptam pro subiecto, eique tribuen I 22. Cap.
III De Veritate certa ete. 165 do quidquid attente consideranti in ipsa
occurrit, vel ab ca removendo quod in aliis, non etiam in illa observatur. *
remove * In primo casu habebis iudicium aiens, in secundo negans. E. g. Ignem
percipis eique calorein inesse observas. Sume ergo ignem. pro subiecto, calorem
pro attributo, et ha bebis iudicium aiens: ignis est calidus. Contra quia alias
observasti aquam madefa cere, id vero in igne non intueris: ab igne hoc
attributum, eritque indiciun negans: ignis non adefacit. 123. Quemadmodun autem
enunciatio. nes particulares in universales comunitari possunt: ita, quamvis
notiones et iudicia ab experientia deducta sint singularia, commode tamen in u
niversalia transmulari possunt, si regulae sequenies exacte servcolur. 12.
Quoniain individua'sunt omnimo de determinata ($. 18., et variis circum stantiis
involuta: 14. at tente separari a re percepta debent acci dentia sive modi ab
attributis essentialibus, quibus tantumu modo est attendendun: 15. allributa
haec essentialia onipibus speciebus vel individuis 166 Logica Pars II.
convenientia abstractionis ope retinenda, atque inde notae characteristicae
depro mendae sunt, quae ad rem illam ab a liis discernendam sulliciant. Hi
quidem ermut characteres definitionis a posteriori ex in dividuis casibus
eruendae. 125. Vt antem operatio recte procedat, oportet 16. tot facere iudicia
intuitiua quot res ipsa percepta suppeditat, 17. ac cidentia omittere, 18.
attributa, quae non seinper eadem sunt, determinationis bus particularibus
liberare, ac tandem 19. plura ea in re adducere exempla magna pe sollertia
attendere in quibus perpcluo conveniant, aut inter se discrc pent. * E. g. Vt
scias quid sit commiseratio, ob serva casum aliquem, in quo videas te, aut
alium alterius commiseratione percelli. Ad duc et aliam huius modi speciem, aut
plu res etiam, si id res exigat, videtoque cir cumstantias, quae sunt perpetuo
similes. Hoc modo in notescet tibi commiserationis idea universalis, cuius
notae definitionem suppe ditabunt realem, commiserationem nempe es. se tacdinm
ob alterius infelicitateir. Conf Wolfi. Log. Lat. §. 492. 126. Nunc quo modo
iudicia universa lia a posteriori coulcianlur, observemus. Cap. III. De
Veritate certa etc. 167 Quia ab experientia oriuntur iudicia intuitiva:
videatur primum, num praedicatum sit attributum rei perceptae essentiale: quo
casu enunciatio erit uni versalis ($. 68* ). Deinde experientiam multoties
repetendo dispiciatur, utjum at tributum illud rei perceptae perpetuo et
costanter insit. Quod si non semper illud inveniatur, investiganda est ratio,
cur in ea aliquando deprehendatur, eamque biecto addendo, indiciuin enascetur
uni versale (5. 69. ): * Ita e. g. esperientia novimus, igni semper calorem
inesse, ceram autem non seinper es se liquidam. Iudicium ergo ignein esse cali
dum erit universale: at non universaliter ius ferre poterimus ceram esse
liquidam;sed opor tet invenire rationem cera aliquando liguescat, quae quun sit
in igne, cui tunc admovetur, hac subiecto addita, universalis orietur
ennnciatio: cera igni admota li quescit. cur > 1 127. Philosophus interim in
rerum ca ussis et rationibus investigandis studiose versatus regulas quasdam
sequa tur oportet, ut veriiates ex experientia de ducere queat. llae regulae
sunt: 1. Si in obiecto aliquo mutatio observetur, qun ties obiecto alteri
iungitur, idquc con 168 Logica Pars I. stanter: tunc hoc esse illius caussano 3
tuto concludi potest. * 2. Si duo vel plura, licet perpetuo, coexsistere wel se
mutuo sequi observeniur, sta tim inferre licet, unum esse alterius ca ussam,
nisi prius recta rario sic esse convicerit. non * Id clare patet exemplo cerae
liquentis igni, aut solis radiis admotae. ** Si ergo bellum simul cum cometa
existat, vel eumdem sequatur: praecipitantia erit iu dicare, hunc esse caussam
illius. 21. 128 Ex quibus omn: bus clare deducitur 20 propositiones ex
experientia legitime uistitala confectas esse certo veras; quouicumque sensioni
omnibus requisitis in stuctae convenit, pro certo haberi, adeo. que 22. et definitiones
experientiae adiu mento legitime efformatas, et 23. axio mata vel postulata ex
his de ducta itidem certitudine pollere.
Rationem definivimus per facile tum distincte perspiciendi. Il la ergo
utimur si qnando enunciationem, de cuius veritate iudicium ferre volumus, ita
cuin aliis connectimus, ut inde ter minorum nexus ctare perspiciatur: id ve. ro
est, quod dicimus COGNITIONEM A PRIORI. Connexio isthaec vocatur DEMONSTRATIO,
cuius est veritates ex certis principiis per legitimam ratioci nandi seriem
eriiere (š. cod. ). SERI ES porro RATIOCINÀNDI habetur, si ex pluribus
syllogismis invicem connexis conclusio prioris sit praemissa sequentis ut inox
adparebit: qni quidem SYLLOGIS MI CONCATENATI dicuntur. 130. Ex quibus nullo
negotio sequitue 1. in omni demonstratione duo requiri, nempe principia
demonstrandi certa it in: dubia, eorumqne cum conclusione coone xionem. Et quia
experientiae rite institu definitiones, axiomata et postulata T. 1. tae, 2 >
H 170 Logic. Pars II. certitudine gaudent (s. 128. ): infertur 2. ea ad
eiusmodi principia esse referen da, proindeque 3. illum adserta sua nou
demonstrare, qui ea ex incertis dubiisque principiis deducit. 131. Quia vero
duplex cognitio datur, a priori scilicet, sive per rationem; et a posteriori,
seu per expe rientiam: sequitur hiec 4. duplicem quoque dari demonstrationem,
earoque vel A PRIORI confici vel A PO. STERIORI: illam haberi, quando veri
tatem aliquam a principiis legitime connexis deducimus, vel effectum per suas
caussas probamus; si quando eam ex experientia reete institu ta, vel caussam
per suos effectus demon stramus. ** Quum ergo a priori demonstrare volumus,
principia statuamus necesse est, antequam ad syllogismorum concatenationem
deveniamus. Id darius fiet exemplo. Ponamus hanc proposi tionem: Deus caret
adfectibus. Eam a prio. ri sic demonstrabimus. DEFINITIONES. 1. Deus estens
perfectissimun. 2. Intellectus perfectissimus est, qui omnia * hanc vero, sibi
distinctissime repraesentat, 3. Appetitus sensitivus est. qui oritur ex idea
boni confusa. 4. A'fectus sunt motus vehementiores appe 1. tu sensitivi. Cap.
II!. De Veritate certa etc. 1. ): sed era mo AXIOMATA. 1. Ens perfectissimum
gaudet in tellectu perfectissimo. 2. Distinctissima omnium repraesentatio ex
cludit quamcumque idearum confusionem. THEOREMA. Deus caret adfectibus.
DEMONSTRATIO. 1. Ens perfectissimum in tellectu gaudet perfectissimo (ax. Deus
cst ens perfectissimum (def. 1. ); go Deus gaudet intellectu perfectissimo. 2.
Quicumque intellectu gaudet perfectissi omnia sibi distinctissime repraesentat.
Deus vero gaudet intellectu perfectissimo (num. 1. ): onania ergo sibi
distinctissime repraesentat. 3. Qui omnia sihi distictissime rapraesentat,
ideis caret confusis (ax. 2. ): at Deus om niasibi distinctissime repraesentat.
(num. 2 ): ergo Deus caret ideis confusis. 4. Ab ideis boni confusis oritur
appeti !us ser sitivus (def.?. ): quuin ergo Deuts careat idcis confusis (num.'
3. ); liquet, eum care re quoque appetitus sensitivi. 5. Qui appetău caret
sensitivo, is caret adfe clibus (def. 4. ): atqui Deus carct appetitie
sensitivo (num. 4. ): ergo Deus caret adfe ctibus. Vides hic syllogismorum
connexione a principiis ceriis deducta confectam esse demonstratio nem. ** A
posteriori demonstratur animae in nobis exsistentia hoc modo. EXPER. Si nobis
ipsis attendamus, obserica biinus, aliquid in nobis esse, cuius ope nosa H 2
172 Logic. Pars. II. metipsos ab aliis rebus extra nos positis, inter eas vero
alias ab aliis distinguiinus, boc est nostri rerumque extra nos positarum
conscii sumus. DEFINITIO. Id. ipsum, quod nobis sui rerumque extra se positarum
est conscium, dicitur anima. TIIEOREMA. Exsistit in nobis anima. DEMONSTRATIO.
Experientia enim constat, aliquid in nobis esse nostri rerumque extra nos
positarum conscium: id ipsiin autem est quod dicitur anima (per defin. ): e: c
sistit ergo in nobis anima. Demonstratio iterum est, vel D. RECTA sive
Ostensiva * vel INDIRE DIRECTA seu apogogica. **. Illa est qua ex notione
subiecti colligitur eius nexus cum attributo; haec autem in qua oppositum
tamquam verum assumen tes, conclusionem falsam inde deduci mus, ut propositionis
nostrae veritas elucescat. Directa ergo erit demonstratio, si ordinem sequatur
hactenus explicatum ($. 131., si ve a priori sil, sive a posteriori: ut videre
est in superadductis exemplis ($: 131 " ); ** Indirecta demonstratio
vocari quoque solet redactio ad impossibile vel ard absurdum, quia oppositam
propositionem ut veram alla sumens, ex ea absurdum aliquod, sive cou clusionem
impossibilem, eruit. Talis crit de monstralio scyueas. THEOREMA. Nibil est sine
ratione sufficiente. DEMOSTRATIO. Ponamus aliquid esse sine ratione
sufficiente. Ratio ergo, cur id sit aut fiat, erit in nihilo: adeoque nihilum
ex sistet simul, et non exsistet. Essistet, quia aliter non posset esse caussa
alterius: non exsistet, quia aliter non esset nihilum. Quod quum
contradictionem involvat, sitque ideo impossibile: ergo nihil est sine ratione
suffi ciente. 133. Ex hactenus dictis patet 1. quam cumque propositionem
legitime demonstra tam esse certo veram idest certitudine gaudere metaphysica,
proindeqne 2. de inonstrationem csse viam ad certitudinem perveniendi
praestantissimam. Quumque ex perientiae et demonstraționis excellentiam
ostenderimus: ' recie concludi mous 3. veritatem certain dici. dubia ' sensione,
vel evidenti principio ni titur, dummodo in demonstrando CIRCU LUS non
irrepscrit. In hoc vitiuni incurrunt ii, qui propositio nem probantem
demonstrant per propositio nem probandam: quia in tali casu idem per idem
demonstratur. Huic adfiuis est illa, quae a Scholasticis adpellari solet
PETITIO PRINCIPII, nempe quum principium de monstrandi vel nullum est, vel
nulla certi tudine aut ' evidentia gaudet. Huiusmodi sunt pleraeque
enunciationes Epicuraeorum, Pla quae in H 3 174 Logic. Pars Ir. quis tonicorum,
Stoicorum, aliorumque, de bus in Metaphysica erit disserendi locus. 134.
Quoniam autem in detegendis per demonstrationem veritatibus ordo, sive methodus
requiritur: ne longius hic pro grediamur, de ea sequenti capite, prout res
exegerit, breviter enodateque tracta bimus. R Elite ut de AVCTORI TATE pauca
dieamns. Ea non scientiam, ut experientia et rutio; sed FIDEM parit. Est autem
FIDES: ad sensus propositioni datus, alterius te stimonio itinixus. Ex quo
patet, rationem fidei sufficientem esse narrantis auctorita tem. Quumque
auctoritas vel Divina sit, vel humana: fides quoque in DIVINAM et HVMANAM recte
dispertitur. 136. Ex qnibus liquido infertur 1. fidei fundamentum in eo
consistere, ut narrans taliasit, qui nec falli nec tallere possit; ac proinde
2. eo firmiorem esse fidem quo certiores sumus de scientia et veraci tate
narrantis. Et quia Deus est omniscius Gap. VI. De Veritate certa 175 et
infinite verax, quippe in quem nulla cadere potest ' imperfectio (per princip;
Theo. nat. ): evidens est 3. fidem Dic vinam parere certitudinem omni
exceptione maiorem; pariterque 4. Dei loquentis au ctoritatem esse fundamentum
veritatis com pletum, omnibusque numeris absolutum; adeoqu 5. debere nos Deo
loquenti ad quiescere, nec umqnam Dei testimonio demonstrationem ullam opponere,
utpote vel falsam prorsus, vel indigestam. * Non potest enim certitudo
certitudini adver: sari, quia si id esset, tunc contrariarum propositionum
utraqua vera esset, adeoque idem simul esset et non esset: quod quum repugnet,
non potest ergo fidei Divinae demonstratio ulla obiici. Quumque Dei verbum sit
fundamentum veritatis com pletum (num. 4. f. huius. ): patet, quam cumque
demonstrationem ei adversantem esse falsam. Quandoquidem autem auctoritas
humana fidem parit bumanam, et certitudinem moralem: de ea pauca adhuc addenda
supersunt. Et primo quidem, quum fundamentum fidei sit opi nio, quam de
narrantis scientia bitate habemus; eoque fir mior sit fides, quo certiores
sumus de hu et pro H 4 196 Logic. Pars II. jasmodi dotibus (S. eod. ): liquet
6. l dem humanam parere in nobis certitudi Nem moralem completam, si non adsit
ra tio, cur in narrante aut imperitiain, aut malitiam supponere possimus:
veluti si evidentia scientiae probitatisque indicia de derit si nihil
emolamenti ex iis, quae narrat, perceperit, si ' parratio rectae ra tioni non
repugnet; si denique pro nar rationis suae veritate dimicaverit, vel per
secntionem passus sit. * Deinde quoniam non omnes homines eadem praediti sunt
scientia et probitate, nec de his semper certo iudicare possumus, quum id io so
la opinione versetur: exsurgit hinc probabi litas, de qua paullo post praecepta
dabimus. * Postremâ haec conditio maius certitudini mo rali pondus adiungit: si
vero deficiat, liu modo priores adfint circumstantiae, certilu do vim suam non
amittit.. Schol. Nunc in eo sumus, ut explica tae doctrinae usum paucis
tradamus. Qua propter Philosophus noster hos, qui se quuntur, observet. CANON E
S. AMD quidlibet erudite experiundum, nisi necessariis praemunitusa in
strumentis me accedito. Si haec desint, Cap. III. De Veritate certa etc. 177
aliorum experimenta consulito, dummo do eorum integritatis scientiaeque con
stiterit, atque inde tuas deducito con clusiones. Si per insrumenta liceat,
aliorum experimenta ad examen revo cato ut sacriorem eorum ideam ad quiras,
caussasque facilius investigare possis. * Et quidem experientia erudita
instrumentis opus habet, sine quibus experimenta fieri nequeunt. Si ergo desint,
observationes nul lae erunt: ac proinde aliorum experimenta consulenda,
praemissis cautionibus, quae de eorum veritate dubitare non sinant. Hinc
Physicis admodum necessarius est machina rum instrumentorumque apparatus, ut
phaea nomena observari possint, a quibus ad caus sas proximas rationis ope
concludendum est. 2. Ne phantasiae partus, aut ratiocim nia ex experimentis
deducta pro expe rientia venditato ne subreptionis ar guaris. *. Quidquid enim
imaginationi debetur, reale non est, sed phantasticum. At in experientia realis
rerum exsistentia observatur; adeoque qui phantas mata pro rebus obtrudunt, su
bripiendo a dsensum extorquere conantur: et tunc evenit, ut cum ratione
experientia pu gnare videatue, de quo infra sermo erit. Quod sem el expertus es,
ne teme? depromito, sed experimenta saepius H 5 178 Logic. Pars II. repetens,
an costantia sint, observato; nec, nisi certior omnino factus, de iis enunciato.
Saepe enim accidit, ut effectus aliqui a cir cumstantiis oriatur accidentalibus,
vel caus sae cuidam externae debeantur. Repetenda er go experimenta, ut
diiudicari possit, utrum principali, an accessorüs caussis, effectus il le
tribuendus sit, adeoque non mirum, si facta semel observatione, effectus
productio propriae caussae non tribuatur, 4. Demonstrationes non nisi certis in
dubiisque principiis superstruito. Ratio ciniorum catenam ne interrumpito; sed
sequentium veritas ex antecedentibus patefiat. * Eo namque modo habebitur
legitima syllo gismorum concatenatio in qua demonstras tionis essentia sita est,
ut supra diximus. Ne ciedito, quamcumque enuncia tionis probationem pro
demonstratione sumi posse: qaamvis omnis demonstra tio sit probatio. Ex
debilibus enim prae inissarum probationibus exilis enervisque exsurgit
demonstratio cui nihil potest roboris accedere. * Nimiruni demonstrationis
robur a praemis stabilitate, legitimaque connexione procedit, adeoque pro;
earum firmitate con clusionis pondus augetur, vel minuitur. sarumriat, 6.
Demonstratio, ut certitudinem ра talis esto, quae neque per mate riam, neque
per formam ulla possit ra tione convelli. Iunc enim adsensum etiam ab invito,
extorquebis. 7. Si metaphysicae certitudini expe rientia adversetur, haecfallax
esto. Absurdum namque foret id exsistere, quod rectae rationi repugnat. * Eo
namque casu duas habemus 'propositiones inter se contradicentes, alteram
singularem, quae quidpiam exsistere pronuntiat, univers salem alteram, quae
idem existere posse ne gat; adeoque duo haec enunciata inter se pugnantia ita
comparata sunt, ut quod pri mum sensibus perceptum fuisse ait, illud alte rum
solidis rationibus intrinsecus impossibile esse demonstrat. Quum itaque ab
impossibi litate ad non exsistentiam conclusio duci pose sit (per princ, Ontol,
): recte colligitúc, in hac collisione rationem vincere, ac proinde
experientiam dici debere fallacem, quippe non experientia, sed subreptionis
vitium rea pse adpellanda. Et hoc universali omnium phi losophorum consensione
pro inconcusso axiom mate habendum est: ut ita Genuensis noster praecipuum
inter suos de veritatis criterio cả nones illum posuerit: Si intellig:bili
evidentiae physica adversetur, FALLAX HABETVR PHYSICA, est enim haecminor, cui
proii # 6 180 Logica Pars 11. + de vals dicere, quam de intelligibili
subdubitan re, quae summa est, acmathematicam parit certitudinem, par est. Cui
deinde subiungit: Fingamus (quaquam id falsum keputo, ma thematica evidentia
demonstrari terram mye veri: si qui sensuum evidentiam reponeret, non esset
audiendus, nisi matorem minori evi dentiae praeferre velimus. Art. Lozicocrit
Lib. IIT. cap. 3. 15. can 1, Sed quid, in quies, alienam auctoritatem in re tam
evi, denti confulere conaris? Nimirum quia canon bic a quibusdam, apud quos
Genuensis no stri plurimum valet auctoritas, nigro lapillo notatus est: ut
sciant sententiam nostram non singularem aut phantasticam, sed ratio De aç
unanimi hominum ratione utentium consensione fultam. cum eius quoque Viri ipsis
non suspecti adsertione congruere. 8. Nihil Divinae auctoritatį opponere fas
esto, Quum Deum loquutum esse con stal, cuncta silento. Huic metaphisicą,
certitudo numquam refragator: sed si per rationem liceat, demonstrationes ad
calculum revocato; * vel si Dei vera bum explicatione egeat, Ecclesiam in,
fallibilem eius interpretem con sulit o. * Referentes nồs ad ea, quae diximns,
quia demonstratio Dei verbo repugnans fal sa est, dummodo intra rationis fines
quaer stip sit rationes,iterum conficiautur, e de Cap. IX. De. Methodo. 181
monstrationes ad calculum revocentur, ut adpareat, undenam oppositio illa ortum
duxe rit, principiisne dubiis et incertis,, an a defectu legitimae connexionis?
* Ratio huius canonis haec est, Onnis lex eiusdem Legislatoris spiritu est
explican da Si enim leges humanae difficultate aut: ob scuritate aliqua
laborent, earum explic atio et interpretatio tantum a Legislatore, eius que
Administris est petenda, non a pri vatis Doctoribus proprio marte cudenda. Quan
to magis ergo Divina lex quae verbo Dei con tinetur, ab eo qui eiusdem Dei
spiritu gau det est explicanda. Ecclesiam autem Dei spi șitum habere, patet ex
ipsis Servatoris no stri verbis Matth. ult, ubi Apostolis ait Ec ce ego
vobiscum sum omnibus diebus usque ad consumationem saeculi. Et loan. XVI. 18.
Cum, venerit ille Spiritus veritatis (Pa. raclitus ), docebit vos omnem
veritatem. Quid quid ergo Ecclesia pronuntiat, assistente su premo animarum Pastore
Christo, et docente Spiritu Sancto pronuntiat; adeoque per eana Deus ipse suum
interpetatur verbum 182 Logica Pars. Į1. G A PUT QVARTV M De Methodo. 138. Vum
in demonstrationibus con clusiones ex certis principiis per legitimam
ratiociniorum seriem dedu ci debeant; illa vero series arglimentorum METHODVS
dicatur: non abs re brevem hanc de metho do tractationem doctrinae de
demonstrationis bus subiungiinus. 139. Quilibet experiundo agnoscere po - test,
enunciationis cuiusvis veritatem du plici modo detigi posse, scilicet vel eam
dividendo, et ope analyseosed prima simpliciaque principia perveniendo, vel
componendo idest, principiis ad conclu siones sensim ac legitimo nexu progre.
diupdo. Vnde clare patet, methodum esse vel ANALYTICAM sive divisionis, vel
SYNTHETICAM seu compositionis. * Methodus ergo anulytica a principiatis ad
principia, synthetica a principiis ad princi piata (uti Scholae aiunt )
procedit. Dla composita resolvit. haec simplicia componit, Rem exemplis
illustrabimus. Ad demqnstran dam enunciationem alibi (S. 131, ) allatam? Deus
earet adfectibus: analytice ita ratio cinabimur. 1. Quicumque caret appeti
tusensitivo, caret @ap. IV. De Methodo, 183 etiam affectibus (per defin. aff. ):
atqui Deus caret appetitu sensitivo; ergo Deus caret affectibus. a, Min. prob.
Quicumque caret repraesentatio nibus confusis, caret quoque appetitu sensi tivo
(per defin. app. ): Deus vero caret repraesentationibus confusis, ergo Deus ca.
ret appetitu sensitivo. 3 Min prob. Quicumque omnia sibi distinctist sime
repracsentat, repraesentationibus caret confusis (est axioma ): sed Deus omnia
si bi distinctissime repraesentat: caret ergo repraesentationibus confasis. 4.
Min. prob. intellectu gaudens perfcctissi mo omnia sibi distinctissime
repraesentat (per defin. intell. Quum igitur Deus gau deat intellectu
perfectissimo: omnia sibi distictissime repraesentat 5. Min. prob. Ens
perfectissimum intellectu gaudet perfectissimo (est axioma ): Deus autem est
ens perfectissimum (per defin. Dei ): ergo Deus gaudet intellectu perfe
ctissimo Eamdem propositionem synthetice demonstravi mus ($. 131. * ). At in
gratiam Tironum, quos ad Philosophiam manuducere instituimus, aliam adhuc
dabimus demonstrationem, bre vem illam, at mathematico more confectam hoc modo:
THEOREMA, Deus caret affectibus. DEMONSTRATIO. Est enim ens perfectism simum
(defin. 1. ), cuius est intcllectu gaudere perfectissimo (ex 1. ), qmniaque 184
Logica Pars ir. sibi distinctissime repraesentare (defin. 2. ) id quod
omnimodam ab eo idearum confu şionem excludit (ax. 2. ), Quum itaque ab idearun
confusione pendeat appetitus sen sitivus (defin. 3. ) ', cuius vehementiores
motus dicuntur affectus (defin. 3. ): iure colligitur, Deum omnino affectibus
carere. Vides hic, quam bene monuerimus in fine primae partis, maximum atque
insignem esse usum syllogismorum in conficiendis mathema ticis
demonstrationibus: atque hinc patet, quam inepti ad demonstrandum sint ii, qui
syllogisınıim eiusque leges negligunt, et igno rata vituperante 140. Quoniam
methodus analytica a dif ficilibus ad facilia, a compositis ad sim. plicia
progreditur (s. 139. ); synthetica vero a principiis ad conclusiones (S. eod. )
conséquens est 1. ut illa in veritate inve nienda, haec in alios docendo
adhibeatur; * adeoque 2. eruditorum reprehensionem in currant qui ip docendo
illam potius, quain hanc sequi amant. Et quia feracior illa est, haec sterilior
**: novit quisque 3. docendi ordinem id exigere, ut post quan auditoribus
synthetice veritas fuerit explanata, iisdem "analytice modus. indi cetur,
quo fuit ab auctore inventa. Analyticam enim methodum in docendo ad bibere idem
esset, aç opposita et difficili ti 9 Cap. IV. De Methodo. 185 rones ducere via,
eosque ad veritatem vel numquam, vel raro admodum pervenire ** Feracior quidem
est analytien methodus quia singula ad examen revocat, minuta quae que
considerat, atque possibiles omnes fin git casus, inde ab hac quasi sylva
conserta, enodatis extricatisque ambagibus, ad rem ipsam perveniat; synthetica
vero sterilior, & generalibus namque principiis brevi atque ex pedita via
pergit conclusiones. Eadem autem ratione illa difficilior, haec facilior est:
adeoqne illa viatori tramitis inscio, qui di vinando et om nia tentando difficiliter
quo tedebat pervenit: haec eidem perito similis, qui brevi apertaque via iter
conficit, et finem ideo suum cito consequitur, 541. Iam ad melhodi leges, tum
utri que communes cum alterotri peculiares, tradendas acMilanius. Eas
aliquot complc clemur regulis; quarni quinque genera les, ceterae vero
speciales sunt, analyticae praesertim methodo inserviturae. Quicum que igitur
veram: methodum in veritatis investigatione cailere cupit, hos rigides servet.
186 Logica Pars. II. CANON E S. I. Q Votiescumque ad demonstrandum accedis, cur
ato, ut a facilibus notisque incipias, indeque ad ignota et difficilia gradatim
progrediaris. Prin cipia itaque solida, ideasque selig ito medias, atque ea
semper cordi habelo * Est haec lex, quam inculcavimus ($. 130. ) et alibi
retulimus. In -singulis ratiocinationis gradibus eamdem semper servato
evidentiam, ut altei um ab altero derivari clare sentias. * * Ita vitabitur
paedantismus, hoc est inutile illud memoriae pondus iudicio destitutum, et in
minimis quibusque sectandis vanam quae ritans gloriolam, de quo vide supra
Part. I. Cap. 3. Schol. Can. 4 3. Stilo utitor facili, ac naturali, non
oratorio vel ampulloso. Verborum tantum, quantum ideis clare exprimen dis satis
est adhibeto: nec, nisi in ideis claris, quidquam tentato. * Verborum enim
copia ignorantiae confusioni sve indicium est: quae namque ignoramus vel
confuse scimus, ea nimia verborum cir cuitione explicare cogimur. Cap. IV. De
Methodo. Argumentum pertractanduſ ab am biguitate, si quafuerit, liberato prius;
deinde in tot membra dividito, quot ca pax est: singula attente examinato ac
definito: * omnia clarissimis explica to verbis, ac quaestione quam simplicis
sime exprimito. * Prae oeulis tamen habeantur, quae de de finitionibus diximus Verba:
quce obscuritatis aliquid habent, adcurata definitione dctermina to, in eoque
semper sensu adhibeto. * Confer quae diximus SS. 5. 46. De methodo analitica
livec habeto: 6. Ad veritatem inveniendam, quae stionemve solvendam, ne nudus
princi. piorumque inscius accedito: num sorida cognitione ad id paratus
advenias, se dulo perpendito. * Sinamque incapax principiisque destitutus rem
aliquam adgrederis, fieri non poterit, quin inepta et ridicula effutias.
Quaecumque cum proposita quae stione aliquam habent connexionem di 古 88 Logica
Pars II. ligenter exquirito: omnes possibiles ti bifingito hypotheses:
quaecumque ei lu men adferre possunt, ne rciicito sed Omnia simul colligito et
comparato. 8. Principia quaeque atque ideas mutuo conferto: omnium relationes
perpendito efinesque sectator, eaque, superflua de mendo in parvum referto
numerum. Omnia deinde corrigito diuque considera to, ut tibi familiaria fiant.
* Speciatim vero principiis diu haereto. Repetitione namque attentio renovatur
ius ope ideas meliores fieri docuimus F. 19. Schol. Quas de syudetica methodo
tradenda forent, ea partim a nobis incul. cata sunt, partim infra, ubi de modo
alios docendi sormo erit, enodabuntur. Si quis autem metho dum hanc callere
cupiat, is Christiani Wolf fii tractatum de methodo mathematica, universae
Matheseos elementis * praemis-. sibi curet reddere familiare CU sum * Exstant
haec 5. voluminibus in 4. excusa Ha lae Magdeburgicae. Cap. V. De Veritete
Probabili. GA P VT QUIN T V M De Veritate probabili -542. o 142 Eritatein dici
certam mnia adsunt requisita quamcum que oppositi formidinem excludentia, su
pra docuimus. At intellectus nostri infirmitas persarpe impedimento est, quo
minus nobis illa veritatis indicia pa. teant ita, ut veram absque ulla oppositi
suspicione perspiciamus. Hinc ergo est, cur in praesenti capite de
probabilitate, quantum satis erit, dicere instituerimus. Est autem PROBABILITAS
status mentis ex indiciis insufficientibus verita ti adhaerentis, cum aliqua
tamen op positi formidine, PROBABILIS ergo di cilur enunciatio in quc adest
ratio in sufficiens, cur praedicatum subiecto tri bu atur. * Ita Cicero pro
Milon. cap. 10 probabilibus argumentis probat, Clodium Miloni insidias
struxisse. Ait enim: Clodium dixisse, Milo nem esse occidendum; 2. eum Miloni
neces sarium iter Lanuvium facienti obviam ivisse, 3. idque itinere effecisse
maxime expedito, et praeter consueludiuem; 4. servos cu: n les lis ante fundum
suum collocasse. Probat id 190 Logica Pars I. esse > in quidem, sed
probabiliter, insufficientibus quippe indiciis, adeo ut aliqua adhuc adsit
oppositi formido. Ex quibus definitionibus clare de ducitur 1. eo probabiliorem
esse proposi tionem, quo plura adsunt veritatis indicia 2. dici vero DVBIAM, si
ex alterutra parte aequalia fuerint rationum momenta, adeoque 3. IMPROBABILEM
qua paucissima inveniuntur; quibusque e contrario fortiora indicia opponuntnr;
4. omne probabile, esse quoque possibile, quamvis 5. non omne possibile dici
pro babile possit. * Probabilitas enim supponit possibilitatem: quum enim
probabilitas veritatis alicuius exsi sicntiam indicet, exsistere vero nequeat,
cui deest possibilitas, liquet, tunc de pro. babilitate qnaestionem institui
posse quum rei possibilitas firmata sit: ut ita qui eam esse im possibilem
demonstravit, uihil aliud oneris habeat, omnemquede probabilitate contro
versiai tollat. Possibilitas autem non infert probabilitatem: nam quum
possibile sit, quod non involvit contradictionein (per princ. Onol. ), non ideo
probabile dici potest, nisi quaedam adsint circumstantiae, quae id revera
exsislere evincant. 145. Quia dantur enunciationes probabi les, sillogismus
autem propositionibusconstat: liquet 6. Cap. V. De Veritate Probabili. 191 dari
quoque syllogismum probabilem. Et quia couclusio sequidebet partem debiliorem;
debilior vero est pro positio probabilis, prae certa: consequens est 7. ut
conclusio sit probabilis, si alte rutra praemissarum talis sit. Sed quoniam
conclusionis vis est aggregatum virium praemissarum (s. 82. seqq. ), infertur
8. ut si utraque praemissarum sit probabilis, conclusionis probabilitas
minuatur pro sum ma graduum, quibus illae a certitudine recedunt. * Denique
quum demonstra tiones coficiantur ex syllogismis concatena tis, quorum unus ab
altero vim sumit: evidens est 9. integram de monstrationem, in qua vel una
probabi lis propositio irrepsit, non esse, nisi 7 pro babilen. * Certitudo
namque in philosophicis se habet, ut aeqealitas in mathematicis. Sicuti ergo ae
qualitatis nulli sunt gradus, ita et certitudi nis. Probabilitas autem maior
est vel minor provt minus magisve a certitudine recedit,ut et inaequalitas
servata proportione. Ponamus ergo certitudinem constare gradibus 12. Si una
prae missarum tantum certa sit, altera duobus gradibus ab ea recedat, habebimus
conclu sionem probabilem duobus dumtaxat gradi 192 Logica Pars II. Io bus a
certitndine distantem: tunc enim ma ior erit Ei, minor -, quibus addie tis,
babetur in conclusione summa = 2. quae duobus tantum gradibus ab unitate, sive
certitudine diftat. Ponamus porro prae missarum unam ita probabilem esse, ut
duo bus gradibus a cerit udine deficiat, altera ve ro tribus; habebimus
conclusionem sive summam fractorum et E quae quinque gradibus ab uuitate pe a
certitudine recedit, quot deerant in am babus praemissis. Dem. 146. His
generatim expositis, ad pro babilitatis species transeamus. Probabilitas recie
dividitur ib HISTORICAM, PHYSICAM, POLITICAM, PRACTICAM, et HERMENEVTICAM. De singulis
pau ca delibabimus. A probabilitate differt OPINIO, quae est propositio
insnfficienter probata, scilicet a principiis nondum certis, et precariis dedu
cta, quae ideo est mutabilis, ac proinde po test ut plurimum esse falsa: unde
opinio di viditer in PROBABILEM, et IMPROBA, BILEM, prout principia sunt prout
princi pia sunt probabilia, vel precaria, omni nem pe rationis auxilio
destituta. Sap. 7. De Veritate probabili. He completanarratio eae De
probabilitate historica. SISTORIA, est factorum fidelis et. Eius au ctores sunt
homines: fidem ergo parit hu mapam. Homo vero factum aliquod fideliter et
complete narrans, HISTORICUS vel TESTIS dicitur. Sed quia aliorum narrationes
neque experientia, nec demonstratione ad examen revocari possunt ob vitae
intellectusque nostri brevitatem mentisque imbecillitatem, nec de omnium
probitate certo constare potest: quando ` id in sola opinione versetur, non
certitudinem, sed probabilitatem in nobis gignunt. Quumque hominum aucto ritate
freti adsensun historiae praebeamus: evidens est, historicae probabilitatis
funda mentum esse fidem humanam. * Ut autem narratio historia dicatur, dcbet
non modo esse fidelis, hoc est res clare, eoque, quo contigerunt, ordine
narrare, sed completa etian ', omnia scilicet factorum adiuncta, circumstantias,
relationes, caussas; et fines amplecti.Hinc Cicero Historici perinde, ac
Oratoris dotes paucis expressit, nempe talem esse debere ne quid falsi dicere audeat
ne quid veri non audeat.Quia fides aliorum testimonio in nititur, estque
fundamentum pro babilitatis historicae; homines autem ob ignorantiam malitiamve,
aut fal li aut fallere possunt, ut experientia testa tur: consequens est, ut ad
adsequendam probabilitatem historicam cautiones quae dam adhibendae sint,
quibus testium an ctoritas, factorum genuinitas, natrationuin qucque veritas
dignoscatur. eam * Hinc ergo enata est ARS CRITĪCA, sive habitus aliorum
auctoritatem ad trutinam re. vocandi, recte adhibendi, factaque scienter ac
sine erroris nota dijudicandi:Tapinps 1 namque indicium notat. Et quamvis artis
cri ticae officium, vulgarem sequuti opinionem, infra ad solum librorum examen
atque in terpretationem restringamus; non ideo no bilissimam hanc artem
cancellis adeo angu stis coarctare volumus; sed quidquid de usi auctoritatis,
rernm gestarum examine ac in dicio dicenda sunt, ea ad artem criticam:
pertinere, qnisque sciat: id quod semel pro sem per observandum. 119. Quia ergo
in omni narratione tria considerari possunt; narrans nempe, bar ratiun, et ipsa
narratio: hinc est, ut in fide humana ad tria potissimum attendi so leat,
scilicet i. ad homines narrantes, ad res narratas, 3. ad modima parran di. * Ab
hominibus nunc ordiamur. * Atque in his, quae sequuntur, regulis tam historicam,
quam hermeneuticam probabilita tem respicientibus, nedum librorum genui nitatem
integritatsmve expendentibus, gene rales totius críticae leges ad singulares
spe cies et circumstantias adplicandae consistunt, in quibus addiscendis eo
maiorem operam collocare debet, qui philosophi nomen tue ri cupit, quo
frequentius in evolvendis li bris, factisque diiudicandis erit ei, re exi gente,
versandum, Quoniam hominibus, licet eadem natura, non cadem tamen est
perspicacia, mcrumque probitas, nec omnes iisden sensibus eamdein rem percipere
possunt (per cxper. ); hoinnes autem factum aliquod narrantes testes vocantur
147. ): patet in quolibet teste tria concia derari posse, scilicet INTELLECTVM,
VOLUNTATEM et SENSUS, Si intellectus spectetur, testesa sunt vel PRVDENTES ac
PERSPICACES, yet RVDES et IGNARI; si VOLVNTAS,idem sunt vel NEVTRI PARTI, vel
VNITANTVM faventes, itemque vel PROB!, vel IMPROBI; si denique SENSVS, sunt vel
I 2 ATI 196 Logica Pars II. OCVLATI, qui factum quod narrant ocu lis
perceperunt, vel AVRITI, qui illud ab aliis audiverunt; et hi denno vel Co AEVI
sunt, qui eodem facti tempore vi xerunt, vel RECENTIORES qui id postea ab aliis
acceperunt. Sic Livius inter testes
prudentes est referen dus: multo namque po!lebat iudicio. Idem tamen Romariorum
parti favebat, quippe Romanus et ipse. Tandem factorum, quae sua aetate
evenerunt, testis coaevus, eorum autem, quae ante conditam condendanıve urbem,
ac per tot saecula ad sua usqne tem posa accidisse tradebantur, recentior dicen
dus est. 152. Ex quibus omnibus patet 1. in fa cti alicuius narratione, quod
attentionem iudiciumque requirit, homines prudentes et perspicaces rudioribus
ignavisque esse antehabendos; promiscue vero se habe re in rebus solis sensibus,
non etiam iu dicio, indigentibus, dummodo in illis af fectus partiumve studium
non metuatur: tunc enim rudiorum testimonium proba bilius erit; 3. testes
neutrales alterutri parti faventibus recie pracferri, nec non 4. oculatos
auritis, 5. coaevos recentiori. bus, inter auritos autem prudentes ru dioribus, eos
tamen, ad quos ex oculato Cap. IV. De Veritate Probalili. 197 nullam esse, fide
digno magnaque auctoritate pollente facti fama pervenit, ceteris incerto alio.
quin rumore ductis esse anteferendos, ac denique 8. coaevi testimonium plurium
contestium narratione augeri, cui nescio quidnam ad probabilitatem ultra deesse
possit, 153. Quod altinet ad res ipsas narratas síve facta; observandumu 9.
probabilitatem si circumstantiae adsint sibi invicem repugnantes;nihil enim
impossibi le potest esse probabile (S. 144. ); 10. nullam quoque esse
probabilitatem, si testis unicus factum aliqnod insolitum et mira bile narret:
licet 11. probabilius id ha bendum sit, si a pluribus probatae fidei viris
unico contesta narretur; 12. nulla itidem probabilitate gaudere, narrationem,
quae claris rationibus -aperto repugnat; 13. non idem tamen dicendum de ea,
quae moribus opinionibusque nostris ad versatur, *** nec 14. si caussa modusque
ignoretur, aut vim artemque nostram su peret. Sic pleraque prodigià ab uno
Livio narrata nullam merentur fidem, utpote omni proba bilitate destituta:
veluti quod scribit Lib. 1. ca. 12. post pugnam Romanorum cum Albanis, Tullo '
Hostrilio Rege 1 factam, I 3 198 Logica Pars. II. in Monte Albano lapidibus
pluisse; vel quando, Tarquinio Prisco regnante, Au guris Attii Nevii cotem
novacula discissam refert Lib. I. cap. 25.: id enim mirabile quidem et
insolitum, sed a Livio tantum relatum. Qua de re iure idem Historicus de his,
fimilibusque factis improbabilibus vocabulo ferunt fidem suam sartam tectam
servat, non modo singulorum narratione, sed et in historiae suae proaemio, ubi
cas ideo nea adfirmare, nec refellere velle fatetur, ut potc poeticis magis
decora fabulis, quam incor. ruptis rerum gestarum monumentis confirm mata.
nempe Lu nam ** Huiusmodi sunt fabulae illae, quibus Mu hamedanum scatet
Alkorauum, a Muhamede bifarian digito divisam partemque in vestis manicam
delapsam iterum in coelum repositam; palmae eiulatus in eius absentia, et id
genus alia. > *** Sunt enim, mores pro regionum ac tem porum varietate,
varii. Quidquid ergo mori bus nostris turpe est, fortasse apud alias Gentes
honestum erit, et quod nostro sae culo nefas habetur id licitum esse alio:
tempore potuit. Quis enim ut cum Cornelio Nepote loquamur, non vitio verteret
The bano Epaminondae, saltasse eumcommode scienterque tibiis cantasse? Et tamen
haec aliaque nostris moribus indecora inter eius virtutes commemorantur. Nepos.
in Proem. Cap. V. De Veritate probabili. 199 154 Quoad modum narraudi tandem,
id sedulo advertendum, facta stilo simplici non oratorio aut poetico, narrari
debere. Si itaque simpliciter atque historice nar ratio scripta legatur,
maiorem meretur lidem, quam quae poeticis pigmentis aut oratorio fuco
lasciviens aures demulcere conatur. SECTIO II. De Probabilitate physica,
politica, et practica. 153.TJAEc de fide humana, quam qui ritatis praeiudicio
occupatus conseri debet. Ad alteram nunc probabilitatis speciem ac Milanius,
nempe PHYSICAM; quae ha betur, quum ex pluribus phaenomenis ad caussam aliquam
physicani concludimus, cui illos tribuimus effectus. Gravesandius eas vocat
hypotheses. 8 Probabile est, fluxum maris à lunae solisque attractione pendere:
nam ex plurie. bus phaenomenis hanc illius caussam ess posse, compertum est. Ad
physicam probabilitatem eruen dam quatuor adhibendae sunt cautiories: 1. ut
phaenomenon adstumtum sit certum, eiusque distincta idea, aut clara saltem,
habeatur, ne chimaeram pro re, aut nu bem pro Iunone amplectamur; 2. si phae
nomenon illud sit ab alio relatum ad historicae probabilitatis regulas, tamquam
ad lydium lapidem, exigatur: 3. eius porro caussae omnes pose sibiles
investigentur, et.cum phaenomeno conferantur; ac denique 4. ex iis una plu
resvc adsumantur, quae cum omnibus cir cumstantiis apte conveniant. * Quum
autem doctrina haec ad Physicam fa cultatem pertineat: sufficiat de ea quaedam
tantum hic notasse: commodius enim in Phi. sica tractabitur. POLITICA
probabilitas ea est, qua ex alicujus personae phaenomenis in dolem animi
arguimus. ' Quumque in ex propensiopuni signis ad ipsas propen siones
concludamus: evidens est tracta tionem hanc ad Ethicam potius, quam ad Logicam
pertinere: adeoque non mirum, si eam inoffenso pede oniittamus. ea Ut clarius
politica probabilitas intelligi pos sit, sumamus e. g. aliquem, in quo vultus
hilaritas, iocandi studium, corporis mobi litas, laboris impatientia,
prodigalitas', in constantia, garrulitas etc. observentur: non ne eum statim
voluptati deditum esse con Cap. V. De Veritate probabili. cludes: Haec erit
probabilitas politica. Lega tur interim Cl. Heineccii dissertatio: Dein cessu
animi indice. Quae de probabilitate PRACTICA dici inerentur, ea fusius
persequuti sunt Andreas Rutigerus in Lib. de sensu peri et falsi. III. 8., et
Ludovic. Mart. Kallius in Elementis Logicae probabilium Nos paucis rem
expediemus. Eam Rudige rus vocat, qua ex physicis vel moralibus principiis
futurum aliquem praedicimus even tum. Quod quum in practica casuum si milium
expectatione consistat, eaque ex pectatio vocetur analogia evidens est
practicam probabilitatem recte adpellari ARGUMENTUM AB ANALOGIA; id quod maximo
apud Politicos usui esse solet. * * Politici namque in gubernandis rebus publi
cis probe versati probabiliter unius aut alterius Regni praedicunt eversionem,
propte rea quod aliae res publicae post easdem cir cumstantias subversae sint:
adeoque a simi Jium casuum exspectatione practicam eruunt probabilitatem. CA
habetur, quum a quibus dam in Auctoris scripto obviis eius sen. surn eruimus.
Saepe enim accidit, ut in auctoris alicuius interpretatione quaedam occurrant,
quae multiplicem sensum ad mittunt: tunc ex auctoris fine, verborum
significatione, locorumque collatione pro babiliter colligitur, quidnam auctor
ille voluerit intelligere, idque fit ope ARTIS HERMENEUTICAE, quae definiri
potest per habitum Auctorum loca interpretan, di, sive eorum sensum eruendi. SENSUS
AUCTORIS est ceptus, quem scriptor vel loquens vult in legentium auditorumve
animis per ver ba produci. Auctorem ergo interpretari dicimur, qumun ex legitimis
principiis eius sensus investigamus. Et quia ars hermes neutica est facultas
auctorum loca inter pretandi; consequens est 1., ut eius sit genuinum auctoris
sensum erue Te; adeoque 2. regnlae tradantur, opor tet, quarum ope sensus ille
quam proba, bilius investigari possit, соп Cap. v. De Veritate,probabili. 203
Quumque in his regulis totius Hermeneuticae adeoque et Criticae artis leges
Auctorum in terpretationem respicientes pofitae fint: non mirum, si a canonibus
huic sectioni subii.. ciendis abstineamus, quippe qui superflui omnino forent,
et loquacitatem potius, quam logicam praecisionem arguerent. Quoniam Scriptoris
sensus perver ba significatur: colligitur in de 3. ut interpres linguam, qua
scriptor conceptus suos expressit, eiusque idiotis, mos probe calleat: adeoque
patet 4. falli eos, qui linguam illam ignorantes aliorum versionibus
translationibusque fidunt; 5. ut ad scriptoris sectam, finem, affectus,mu nus,
aetatem, gentis suae mores ' attendat: unde 6. integrum Auctoris systema prae
oculis babeat, ac de eo secu dnm dome sticas notiones, non ex propriis opinioni
bus, iudicium ferat., quid > * Praeclare id monet Clericus Arte Critica
Part. Il Sect. 2. cap. 2. $. 7. et 8. Opor tct, inquit Vir eruditissimus,
nostrarum opi nionum veluti oblivisci, el quaerere, veteres illi Magistri
senserint non quod sentire dcbuisse nobis videniur, ut sape rent. 162. Ex eodem
principio fluit 7 inter pretein affectibus, praeconceptisque opinionibns omnino
vacuum esse debere; nee 8. Auctoris verba extra contextum legere aut
considerare, sed antecedentia et con sequentia attente conferre: multoque ma
gis y. loca parallela auctoris eiusdem sol licite comparare, ut quod
obscuritatis ir, repserat, statim evanescat. Quumque ad cognitionis claritatem
ac distinctionem om ne momentum ferat attentio (m. 19. ): sequitur 10. ut qui
librum aliquem probe interpretari vult, eum attente atque ordi ne legat, et
codicem habere ' curet quam emendatissimum. ' * Quantum ad librorum
interpretationem con ferat editio, ratio in promptu est. Videmus enim, quam
multis scateant erroribus edi tiones quaedam ab indoctis ignarisque con fectae
typographis, ut Delio saepe notatore opus habeant. "Nitidissimae prae
ceteris sunt editiones a Viris claris, qui id oneris susce perunt, effectae,
quibus multum iure merita debet Respublica litteraria, Cop. V. De Veritate
probabili. Uoniam magno Hermeneuticae adiumento est Ars Critica: non abs re
fuerit, pauca de hac illustri arte haud contemnenda degustare. Quam bene de ea
meritus sit Vir multiplici eruditione praeditus Ioannes Clericus, communi sa
pientum consensu probatur. Nos eius du ctu regulas saltem generales nostris
audi toribus trademus ut quantum fieri pote rit, libros genuinos a nothis,
integros a corruptis discernere valeant. Res quidem foret laboris plenissima et
satis prolixa, si Critices distincte praecepta trade re conaremus. Id adcurate
cxsequutus est Clericus, quo'nemo elaboratius eam pertra ctare, operaeque
pretium facere posset. Nos autem tironibus scribentes, notiones maxime
genericas jis suppeditare adlaboramus; quia, quum perfectum fuerit ipsorum
iudicium, et matura aetas, omnia, quae hoc super argu mento scienda forent, in
eodem Clerico legent. ARS CRITICA est habitus libro Fum genuinitatem et
integritatem diiudi, 20 Logica Pars I. Candi. * Quae definitio ut intelligatur,
oportet claras notiones genuinitatis, et in tegritatis librorum in legentium
animis excitare. * Notandum tamen hic Crilices vocabulum strictissimo iure
usurpari', regulasque ea in re generales tironibus suppeditari: latiori Damque
significatione tam historicam proba bilitatem, quam hermeneuticam amplectitur,
de quibus per summa capita praecedentibus sectionibus sermonem instituentes
praecepta, yeluti per lancem saluram, ex hibuimus. Earum. LIBER GENUINUS
dicitur, qui ab eo, cuius nomen prae se fert,-. fuit exaratus; SUPPOSITUS autem,
qui ab alio, quam cuius nomine insignitúr, scripius est. * Liber dicitur
INTEGER, si tantum contineat, quantum Auctor in eo descripsit, CORRUPTUS vero
al quid ab alio additub sit, vel demtum: speciatin Viro si additum INTERPOLATVS;
sin den tuni, MVTILVS appel. latur. si 2 * Dici quoque solet spurius fictus vel
fictitius: liniec vocabula ab aliis distinguantur. Sed non est idoneus huic
quaestioni locus, Cap. V. De Veritate probabili. 2014 * Huius corruptionis
quatuor caussas tradit Clericus: nempe Librarios (dictantes perin de, ac
scribentes ), Criticos, impostores, tempus. Satis erit haec generatim scire
guia singillatim percurrerenon vacat. 166. Criticae leges ab eodein Clerico de
cem adisignantur. Eas nos sequentibus ex ponemius regulis, quas philosophus nos
ter observabit. Sequantur ergo. CANONES t. " S " ppositum habeto
librum, qui in vetuslis codicibus alii tribuitur Auctori; interpolatum, si in
aliis de sideretur, quod in eo reperitur; muti lum denique, si quae in ipso
desunt in antiquis codicibus inveniantur. 2. Si a veteribus quaedam a libro ali
quo exarata sint, ea vero nunc in li eadem inscriptione. insignito deside
rentur: aut alius esto, aili muiilus. Si aliter legantur, suspeciels. Si vero
omnia aptu cohaereant, genuinus esto et inte ger, nisi alia adsit ratio
dubitandi. 3. Liber, cuius nulla fit inentio in veteribus catalogis, aut a
scriptoribus proxime sequentibus, plerumque fictus esto, cut saltem suspectus,.
209 Logica Pars I. > 4. Scriptá a veteribus diserte reiecta, aut in dubium
vocata, nequit recentio, rum auctoritas, nisi gravissimis rationi. bus,, pro
genuinis admittere. 5. Liber dogmata continens iis con trária, quae scriptor
cuius nomen praefert, alibi constanter defendit, ut plurimum aut spurius esto,
aut interpo latus. 6. Idem iudicium ferto de eo, in quo personae, facta, uut
nomina com memorantur Auctore, cui tribuitur, recentiora. 7. Spurium quoque aut
interpolatum iudicato librum in quo controversiae tractantur post Scriptoris
tempora na tae, vel adest scriporis imitatio. 8. Talis quoque ut plurimum esto
si fabulis scatens, aut ineptus, viro docto minimeque imperito tribuatur. 9.
Liber stilo scriptus diverso a stilo Auctoris aut saeculi, in quo ille vixit,
spurius esto, eiusque censendus, ius stilo est conformis. In. Vocabula
recentiora Auctorem arguunto recentiorem, aut libri interpo Talioncm: in
translatione vero, si ni hil est quod sapiet linguam, in qua scripsisse constat
Auctorem, cui tribyi: utr, translatio non esto, cu * Cap. V. De Veritatc
probabili. 209 * Pluribus hanc doctrinam persequi deberemus, idoneisque
illustrare exemplis: sed res est maximi momenti, et nimis implicata, nec in
stituti brevitas eam disquisitionem patitur. Quivero plura cupit, adeat
Clericum in Ar te Critica, ubi plurima inveniet suo gustui. adcommodata. Id
interim notasse sufficiet, in hisce omnibus ad praxin adplicandis ma gna
cautione opus, esse ne in praecipitan tiam, adeoque in errores prono cursu la
bamurSendus pecialior Logicae usus nunc evol vendus, nempe PRAXIS, qua mentis
nostrae operationes sint in verita tis investigatione dirigendae.Veritas inveni
tur vel proprio marte, sive per meditatio nem rite institutam; vel ab aliis
inventa quaeritur et ud trutinam revocatur. Quia vero nec meditationi, nec
bonae lectioni par est, qui hasce lautitias nondum degus tavit: Logicae est
regulas suppeditare quibus mapuducti adolescentes et recte mea ditari, et
libros cum fructu legere dis cant. Quumque nostrum sit auditorum nos trorum
utilitati studere: de duobus his veri tatem inveniendi modis hoc capite agemns.
MEDEDITATIO est conformis co gitationum nostrarum bonae methodi legibus
adplicatio. Meditamur itaque, quum cogitationes nostra's bonae methodi legibus
g. 138. seqq. ) ita dirigimus, ut veritates ex veritatibus, co gnitiones ex
cognitionibus eruamus. Ex qua definitione sequitur 1. ait quantum diſfert
regula ab eius adplica tione, tantum optima methodus a medi tatione distet,.
meditaturus leges quibus bona methodus absolvitur (S. 141. ), callere debeat;
adeome 3. eo felicius meditetur, quo exactius leges illas esequitur; nec non 3.
aliquarum saltem veritatum debeat es se gnarus, ut ex ijs veritates aljas erue
re legitime possit (S. 167. ). 5. Tirones ergo, aliique bonae methodi,
veritaium que ignari ad meditandum sunt inepti. * Cui enim serei principium
deest, nullo mo do seriem ipsam, hoc est veritatum catenam conficere potest.
Pari modo qui concatenationis leges ignorat, quantumvis veritatum mente te *}
Cap, VI. De Veritat. inquisitione. 211 neat, nec illas recte disponere, nec
ordina tam seriem formare valet. 170. Quia ad bonam methodum requi ritur
idearum claritas (5 141. cap. 3. ); ad claritatem autem confert attentio (S.
19. );consequens est 6. ut qui feliciter meditari vult, attenitonem praecipue
colat; quin 7. et praeiudiciis liber et 8. certis indubiisqoe principiis (S.
131 ) praemunitus ad meditandum accedat. Quum que ad principia referantur
praecipue de finitiones (f. eod. ): recte consequi tur 9. ut res de qua
institui vult mcdi. tatio, edcurate definiatur, f. 141. cap. 5. ), ac inde
novis definitionibus omnia dividantur. El * Serventur tamen, quae de
definitionibus (Par. I. Cap. 3. ), et divisionihu:s (Cap. 4. ) docuimus, et
quomodo definitiones ex ex perientia eruantur. quoniam inter principia etiam
axiomata et postulata enumerantur (S. 130 ), eaque es definitionibus legitimue
eruuntur: liquido infertur 10. medita turo innotescere quoque debere modum ex
definitionibus axiomata eruendi, * ut om nes principiorum species probe tencat.
Quonam autem modo ex unica definitione ar. iomata et postulata formentur, hic
adden dum. Tribus quidem modis id effici posse certum est: scilicet PARTIS
OMISSIONE, nempe quum genus vel differentiam specificam omittimus. E. g. ab hac
definitio ne: Invidia est taedium ob alterius felicita tem, omitte genus, et
habebitur axioma: Invidia respicit felicitatem alterius: omitte differentiam,
eritque aliud axioma: Invidia est taedium 2. INVERSIONE, si definitio in
definiti locum substituatur. E. g. Qui er alterius felicitate taedium percipit
est invi. dus 3. CONVERSIONE, si aientes pro positiones in negantes convertamus
E. g. Qui ex alterius felicitate non percipit taedium, -non esi invidus; vel
eum, qui non est in vidus, alterius feliciiaiis non taedet. Postu lata eadein
ratione conficiuntur, si nempe modus exprimatur, quo quid fieri potest: sed ea
melius ex realibus, quam ex nomi nalibus definitionibus deducuntur. Sic ex ea
dem definitione habebis postulatum: Invidia excitatur, si invido alterius
felicitas reprae sentetur. 172. Praestructis ita principiis, opor tet il. ut ex
eorum collatione THEO REMATA, vel PROBLEMATA compo nantur, j 12. et unde
consequentiae im mediatae sese offerunt, COROLLARIA deducantur, vel 13. ubi maiori
explicatio ni locus erit SCHOLIA subiungantur. De Veritatis Inquisitione. 213
Est enim Theorema propositio theoretica de monstabililis, demonstratio autem ex
principiorum collatione conficitur, ut videre est in superioribus Cap 3. Sect.
2. et Cap. 4. Hoc modo ex principiis (§. 171. * confectis erui poterit theorema:
Invidia oritur ab odio, et similia. Pari mo do quia Problema est propositio
practica, eius solutio et demonstratio ex eorumdem principiorum collatione
petitur. Ita ex eisdem principiis orietur problema: Juvidiam in altero excitare;
cuius solutio haec erit Invidia ex odio nascitur. Fac er go ut is, in quo
invidiam excitare vis, ala terum odio prosequatur, cuius inde felicita tem ei
ostende: ex ea namque taedium per cipiet, adeoque in eo invidia excitabitur.
Corrollaria vero tam ex indemonstrabilibus, quam ex demonstrabilibus
enunciationibus des duci possunt. Sic ex superioribus axiomatis varia oriuntur
corollaria, veluti ergo qui tae dii non est capax, invidus esse non potest:
item ex postulato: ergo ubi non adest feli citatis repraesentatio, locum non
habet invi dia ex secundo item theoremate ergo qui alterum amat, ei non invidet;
atque ita porro. 173. Haec omnia vero praecepta, ut aemoriae infingantur,
brevissimis ample temur regulis, quas, qui sequuntur, shibent 214 Logica Pars
II. CANONES. ANicquam meditationem instituas, ipsam quantum natura ipsa fert,
exa cte dividito. 2. Ex definitionibus axiomata, item postulata deducito, atque
ab his per im mediatas consequutiones corollaria con ficito. 3. Plura principia
vel antecedentes propositiones mutuo conferto, et sic theoremata vel problemata
efformabis, ex quibus, quae haberi poterunt, erues consectaria. 4. Propositiones
- inventas bona me thodo legitimoque nexu comparato, et id agito, ut omnia per
demonstratio nes apte cohaereant. 1 * Ita novae orientur veritates, novaque
semper ratiocinia fluent. Perinde ' vero est, qua met hodo ratiociniorum series
in ordinem rediga tur, modo regulae alias ($. 141. ) propositae rite
observeutur. Scol. Sint haee satis de meditatione, ei usque legibus, quae
numerosias protra here non fert instituti compendium. Qui Cap. YI. Da Veritatis
Inquisitione. 115. vero longius et distinctius meditandi re gulas vellet
addiscere, ei Baumeisteri dis sertatio de arte meditandi attente legen da foret,
eaque in syccuin et sanguinem vertenda. Interim ad auditorum nostrorum
instructionem hic brevem subiicere praxin censuimus, quo facilius artem hanc
per discere possint. Qua de re eruditissimiVic ri exemplopi addncemus
pulcherrimum. Si quis AMICI characteres sit exploratu. rus, absque librornm
auxilio, sequentem instituens meditationen, haec habibit. §. I. Ex casuum sin
vularium observa tione g. 124. seq. ) critor Amici DEFI TIO: Amicus est persona,
quae nos amat, f. II. Ad definitionis porro notas atten dens quisque videt,
notionem amoris de. finitione indigere. Eodem igitur modo. hacc noya definitio
eraalur. Sic. amare alierum nihil aliud significat, quam ex alterius felicitatc
volup'atem percipere. 6. JIÍ. Ex his definitionibus eo, quo diximus, artificio axiomata
de dacantur. Et quidem ex prima definitione (1. ) fiunt AXIOMATA. 1. Amicus al
terum amat. 2. Qui alterum non amat non est amicus.3.Quicumque obligatur ad ali
un amandum, ad amicitiam ei praestan 116 Logica Pars 11. dam obligantur.4. Vbi
nullus amor, ibi nulla omicitia. 5. Quamdiu durat amor, tamdiu durat amicitia.
6. Qui efficit, ut ab alio ametur, eum sibi red dit amicum. Quidquid amorem in
altero excitat amicitiam foret. 8. Quid quid amorem impedit, amicitiam tollit.
Ex amoris defimtione ori untur sequentia. 1. Qui alinm amat, ex illius
felicitate deleciatur. 2. Quicumque obligatur ad volupiatem ex aiterius fe
licitate capiendan, obligatur ad alte rum amandum. 3. Qui iubet, ut volup tatem
ex a terius felicitate capiamus, alterum, iubet, ! ť umemus. 4. Quid quid
promovet voluptatem, ex alterius felicitate capiendain, promovet amo rem. 5.
Qui illum impedit, hunc sis tit. V. Collatis inter se duabus illis de.
finitionibus, nascitur. THEOREMA. Amicus alterius feli. citate delectatur.
DEMONSTRATIO. Qui alterum a. mat, alterius felicitate delectatur (s. 1. ):
amicus alteruu amat (§. III. cud 1. ); ergo amicus alte rius felicitaie
delectatur. 5. VI. Ex quo inmediata consequutico ne cequentia fluunt, IV. AX
Cop. IV. De Veritatis Inquisitione. 217 COROLLARIA. 1. Anicus ergo ex amatae
personaefelicitate nullo taedio afficitur. 2. Sed potius ex eius infeli citate
taedium sentit. S. VII. In quibus, quum taedii facta sit mentio, perapte addi
potest. SCHOLION. Est autem invidus, qui, ex alterius felicitate taedium
percipit misericors vero, quem alterius infelici. tatis taedet. $. VIII. Hinc
ergo habentur THEOREMA I. Amicus non est in vidus. DEMONSTR. Invidus enim est,
qili ob'alterius felicitatem taedio adficitur (S. VII. ): Quod quum in amico
non reperiatur: amicus " go non est invidus. THEOREMA. Amicus est mise '
icors. DEMONSTR. Taedium enim percipit x personae amatae infelicitate ) $. II.
or. 2: ): quod quum dicatur coinmise atio (5. VII. ): amicus ergo commi
eratione tangitur erga personum ama zm. §. IX. Nova rursus inde sequenlur
COROLLARIA. 1. Invidus ergo non si bonus amicus. 2. Qui ergo nescit Tom. 1. 218
Logica Pars. Ij. > novae r'e commiserari alterius vices, eumque ab
infelicitate, dum potest, non vult eri pere, non se dicat amicum. 6. X. Si
meditatio continuetur inde sequentur veritates. Et quidem defi niendo rursus
notas voluptatis et felicita tis, maxima enunciationum seges adpare bit. Sint
ergo. DEFINITIONES. Voluptas sive delectatio est sensus perfectionis. 2. For
licitas est status durabilis gaudii.. XI. Ex quarum prima oriuntur AXIOMAT'A.
1. Delectutio ex aliqua supponit eius bonitatem ac per feciionem, earumque
repraesentationem. 2. Quicumque obligatur ad sensum per fectionis in altero
promovendum, obli gatur. ad voluptatem in eo excitandum. 3. Oui - iubet primum,
praecipit secun dum. §. XII. Ex altera vero fluunt sequentia AXI. 1. Qui
alterius felicitate dele ctatur, ex eius statu durabilis gaudii voluptatem
capit. 2. Qui alterius statum durabilis gaudii promovet, eius felici tatem
promovet. 3. Qui illud iubet, hoc quoque iubet. 4 Quicumque obligatur ad primum,
obligatur ad secundum. 1. XIII. Conferantur definitiones cum antecedentibus,
indeque nasceutur. Cap. VI. De Veritatis Inquisitione. THEOREMA I. Amicus
alterius feli citatem sibi, tamquam bonum, reprae sentat. DEMONSTR. Alterius
enim felicita te delectatur ($. V. ): quod quum fie ri nequeat, nisi illam sibi,
iamquam bonum, repravsentet. Ergo amicus alterius felicitatem sibi tamquam
bonum, repraesentat. THEOREMA II. Amicus delectatur alterius statu durabilis
gaudii. DEMONSTR. Quum enim ex alterius felicitate delectetur; felicitas vero
sit status durabilis gaudii (S. X. def. 2. ): ex hoc patet, amicum, quo que va
luptatem percipere, THEOREMA. Amicus alterius gauuium durabile sibi, tamquam
bonum repraesentat. DEMONSTR. Eius namque statu de lectatur (per theor. 2. ),
quod fieri non potest, nisi id, tamquam bonum, sibi repraesentet. Ergo amicus
alterius gaudiun durabile si bi, tamquambonum, repraesentat. §. XIV. SCHOLION.
His praemissio succurrit lex appetitus, qua anima id, quod sibi, tamquam bonum
repraesen tal, adpetit, et promovere studet. Plurimae hinc propositiones de
duci poterunt. Et quidem THEOREMA. Amicus alterius felici tatem, idest gaudium
durabile, adpe tit, et promovere studet. DEMONSTR. Omne, quod nobis, tamqnam
bonum, repraesentamus, ad petimus et promovere studemus (XIV. ) amicus sibi
alterius felicitatem statum que durabilis gaudii, tamquam bonum, repraeseníat:
er go ea omnia adpeiit; et promovere stil det. *. XVI. Ex quo, sponte manant,
COROLLARIA. Ergo amicus om nia cavet, quae alterum taedio affi ciunt 2. nec
ullam omittit occasionem quai personae amatae iucunditatem et voluptatem
promovere possit. S. XVII. Durabilis gaudii porro notio nem evolvendo occurret.
DEFINITIO. Durabile gaudium est voluptas eminentior ex possessione ve iarum
perfectionum grta. 9. XVI. Ex qua ultro sese off -rt. AXIOMA. Qui alterius
gaudium du rabile promovet, eius quoque proinovet perfectiones. Atque inde
exurget novum THEOREMA. Amicus alterius per fectiones promovet. DEMONSTR. Eius
enim gaudium durabile promovet ($. XV. ), quod idem est ac promovere eius
perfections. F. XX. SCHOL. Est autem
legis Natu rae iussum: Tuas aliorumque promove to perfectiones. S. XXI. Jude
ergo oriuntur. COROLLARIA. 1. Amicus ergo legem Naturae observat 2. Nos ergo
obligati sumus ad amicitiam colendam, 3. Adeoque,qui homines sibi reddit ini.
micos Naturae legem violat. 4. Vo. luntati ergo Divinae: conveniens est, ut
aliis simils amici. etc. Haec brevi meditatione compertae sunt veritates, Quod
si modilatio aliquamdiu proferretur, dici non potest, quot novae propositiones
exurgerent. Huic autem exer citationi si adolescentes adsueverint, aut nostra
nos fallit opivio, aut sine multa lectione, brevi tempore, minimoque la bore
Philosophi acutissimi evadent. K 3 2? 222 Logica Pars IT S E C T I O. II. De
librorum lectione. Q" non 174 Vum intellectus noster arctis simis sit
limitibus circumscrip tus, atque adeo veritatibus omnibus pro pria meditatione
eruendis incapax:facile est and intelligendnm, cur aliorum scripta le genda
sint, ut quae proprio marte possumus, ab alis detecta inueniamus. Sed quia non
omnia ab omnibus adcurate scri pta, plerique etiam intellectus voluntatis vitio
laborant, ideoque errare possunt: cautio quaedam adhibenda est in legendis
eorum libris, ac proinde Lo gicae interest praecepta tradere, quibns in jis ad
examen revocandis, dijudicandisqne veritatibus ab aliis inventis aut exaratis
mens dirigatur: id quod in praesenti se ctione docendum. 175. LIBER est aut
HISTORICVS, aut ŚCIENTIFICVS.Ille, in quo facta, seu enunciationes singulares;
hic, in quo pro positiones universales et dogmata traduntor.* * Hac librorum
divisione nulla alia exactior. Quorum eum librorum habemus notitiam, Cap. VI.
De Veritatis Inquisitione. 223 nihil, nisi duorum, quae enunciavimus, ar
gumentorum alterutrum esse potest obiectum Patet ergo ratio, cur libros omnes
in histo ricos, et didacticos sive scientificos distri buerimus. 176. HISTORIA,
quum sit rerum quae acciderunt fidelis narratio (S. 147. ), facta vero vel
Naturae opera, vel Societatem vel fidelium communionem nempe Eccle siam, vel
deniqne litterariam Rempublicain spectent, esse potest NATVRALIS, ClVILIS,
ECCLESIASTICA, vel LITTERARIA. * Rursus quoniam omnium, aut quo rumdam, vel
alicuius ex quatuor illis, fa cta refert, dividitnr in UNIVERSALEM,
PARTICULAREM, et SINGULAREM. Jarum prima Naturae opera enumerat, altera hominum
vices et facta commemorat, iertia Ecclesiae vicissitudines et annalia narrat,
po strema vel disciplinarum et librorum, vel eru ditorum vitas et fata omnia
refert. ** Historia Naturalis ergo erit VNIVERSA LIS, si omnia in ea Naturae
opera eno dentur; PARTICVLARIS si alicuius tantum classis, veluti ex Regno
vegetabili, fossili, ani mali etc. SINGVLARIS si alicuius tantummo do plantae,
lapidis, metalli, aut viventis inventio, usus, incrementum etc, narrentur. K 4
224 Logica Pars II. civili, ecclesiastica, et litteraria, de quibus plura coram
177. Quia libri vel scripta ideo. legun tur ut veritates ab aliis inventae et
dete ctae discántur (5. 274. ); ea vero verbis referta sunt, ut auctoris sensus
intelliga. tur (§. 160. ), idest eaedem ideae ver bis adsignentur, quas Auctor
cum iis con iunxit (S. eod. ): per se patet genera lis in legendo servandus.
CΑΝΟΝ. IMN legendis, aliorum scriptis curato, uit easdem notiones cum verbis
con iungas, quas Auctor voluit iisdem adfigi. 178. Ex quo legitima
consequutione na scitur i. in cuiuscumque libri lectione at tendendum esse ad
definitiones, quibus sin gularum significatio determinatur, vel and conceptum
ab usu loquendi tributum 11s, quae sine definitione adsumuntur. Et quia claras
ideas ac distinctas adquirere si ne attentione non possumus (9. 19. ): se
quitur 2. ut ad id potissimum requiratur attentio, crebriorque repetitio, in
libris praecipue historicis ut facta facilius me inoriae mandentur. * 9 Cap.
VI. De Veritatis Inquisitione. 225 * Vide quae de attentione ac repetitione
dixi mus in Part. I. cap. 1. Seol. can. ult. 179. Et quoniam in historia tria
potis simum spectantur, nempe veritas, ordo ac finis, facile patet 3. in libris
histori cis legendis attendi debere ' ad rerum sive factorum veritatem, ad
eorum ordinem et legitimam seriem et ad finem an sci licet liber Auctoris scopo
respondeat. > * Pro diiudicanda rerum VERITATE, bislo ricae probabilitatis
regulae traditae sunt($.152. seqq. ). ORDO vero tuin in locorum, tuna in
temporis circumstantiis consistit. Eius ergo legiiimitatem quoad loca
suppeditat GEO GRAPHIA, circa teinporis autem seriem CHRONOLOGIA. FINIS demum
ex üsdem scriptis abunde patebit, adeoque, an ei res pondeant, ex eorum
lectione diiudicari pote rit Historiae nituralis finis est obiecta rario ra
adcurate describere, phaenomeni alicuius cuncta notatıı digna, partiunqne nexum
di stincte exponere; Civilis est politices civilis que prudentiae regulas
exemplis et factis con firmare; Ecclesiasticae scopus est, statum Ecciesiae,
incrementin, in file costantiain, in profligandis erroribus - prudentiam Su
premi item Numinis, in ea conservanda au gondaque Providentiam, 2 gelis,
ostendere; Litteraria? tandeſ, inveniendi arlena, quam EVRISTICAM vocant, aptis
aliaque id K 5 226 Logica Pars II: subsidiis, et veritatum a veteribus invenla
rum cognitione perficere. Cognito itaque libri scopo, restat ut attente legatur
(S. 178. ) statimque innotescet, utrum suo fini respon deat. 1 180. De librorum
scientificorum lectio ne sat erit, si pauca degustemus. Quo niam in scriptis
didacticis methodus reqni rit, ut nullus adsumatur terminus, nisi notionem
habeat sibi adiunctam, atque ut ea praemittantur, per quae sequentia in
telliguntur: consequens est 4. ut in iis legendis singulae veritates prius in
classes dispescantur, ibique videatur utrum ad principia an ad propositiones iu
de deductis pertincant; deinde 5. ad sin gulas voces et notiones jis ab Auctore
ad fixas attendatur; (ac deni que 6. ut legens veritates antecedentes si bi
reddat familiares, nedum demonstratio nes in syllogismos resolvat, in quibus
vi. deat, si quid doli contineatur. 181. In scriptorum porro didacticorum
examine ad eorum dotes potissimum respi ciendum, de quibus sequenti capite age.
mus. Id unum porro meminisse juvabit; ad illorum examen conficiendum requiri
absolụtam et continuatam libri lectionem, Cap. VII. De l'erit. comm. 227
attenta mque veritatum earumque nexus con templationem: * quae omnia si desint,
le ctio dicetur SUPERFICIARIA. * Ad id ergo ineptissimi videntur scioli quidam
in sola romanensiiim fabellarum lectione ver sati, qui in dijudicandis per
tabernas comoe diis scurrilibus, aut ephemeridibus omnia studia sua contulerunt;
vel adolescentuli vo culis tantum, phrasibusque meinoriae infi gendis adsueti,
qui vix e paedagogorum fe rula manum subduxerunt: " Requiritur autem
laboris patientia, attentio, mens methodo ac meditationi adsuefacta, non vero
in expen ex. dendis rerum corticibus solo sensuum et phan tasiae ductu
exercita. OVampdoquidem a Platone * monitum non praeclare, non est no bis solum
nati sumus, adeoque nec nobis sed aliorum commoda pro movere debemus: veritates
a nobis dete ctas, vel quae ab aliis inven tae nobis ope lectionis innotuerunt,
aliis proponere Natura obligamur. Qui vero verbis alium ad ignotarum veri talum
cognitionem perducit, is eum Do 5 K 6 228 Logica Pars. Ir. CERE dicitur adeoque
DOCTOR CO gnominatur. 7 * Ip Ep. ad Archytam Tarentium. Vid. Cic. de Fin. Lib.
II. cap. 14. ** Latius hic patet docendi vocabulum, qu am a Cicerone de Offic.
Prooem. usurpatur. Id ve ro ex definitione admodum completa prono, ut aiunt,
alveo fluit. Ceterum in hoc usum loquendi sequuti sumus: vulgari namque ser
mone tritum est, Magistrorum alios esse vi VOS, alios mortuos, qui Scriptorum
vel Auctorum nomine distinguuntur, ita ut libros melonymicę magistros mortuos
vulgo appel lent. 183. Et quoniam verba vel voce profe runtur, vel scripto
exaranțur (S. 42. ): patet, duplicem esse docendi modum, vo ce scilicet, atque
scriptis; adeoque MA GISTRUM dici debere, tam eum qui li þros in lucem edit,
quam cum qui in A cademiis iuventutem instruit. Speciatim autem in sequentibus
eum, qui scripta didactica (de quibus hic tantum ser mo est ) conficit,
SCRIPTOREM vel AU. CTOREM; eum vero, qui adolescentes ro ce docet DOCENTEM,
DOCTOREM, MAGISTRVM dicemus: idque ad evitan dam confusionem, atque inutilem
verborum repetitionem. Sed quia doctrinam hanc in dus as dividere instituimus
sectiones, nt de utri Cap. VII. De Verit. commun. 229 se esse usque virtutibus
ac vitiis aliqua dicere posse mus: nunc, quae utrique communia sunt,
dispiciemus. Ad calcem denique capitis quae dam de discentium dotibus ae naevis
com pendii loco addemus. 184. Quia vero docents est, alios ad ignotaruin veritatum
cognitiovem prducere; cognitio avlein debet certa et distincta eaque vel a posteriori
vel a priori: consegucas esi 1. ut lectores vel auditores de veritatibus certi
reddendi sint, adeoque 2, indiciis sufficientibus at que inf.l.bilibus ad
veritatis cognitionem adducendi ($. 1: 4. ). quod ut fiat, 0 portet 5. ut
docens ab iis intelligatur, ideoque 4. sit perspicuus, ad quod requiritur 5. ut
artein, in qua versatur, distincte intelligat * ($. 24 ) 6. bonam methodum
rigide servet (. 138. seqq. ), 7. et si quid implicatum confu suinque occurrat,
distincte explicet. > * Criterium enim notionis distinctae est, si cum aliis
eam possimus per verba communi Care: nisi ergo distincta artis suae docens cognitione
gaudeat, fieri non potest, ut eius praecepta perspicue aliis proponere queat. CONVICTIO
est actio, qua al terum de veritate certum reddimus. Quod quum fiat
demoustrationis ope (. 133. ) quisque videt, convictionem sola demon stratione
absolvi. * Ex quo liquet 8. do centem alios de veritate, quam docet, debere
convincere, ** ac proinde 9. pro babilibus argumentis uti ei non licere: ***
nisi res talis sit, ut sola probabilita te cognosci possit. * Quoniam ergo
convictio demonstratione ab solvitur demonstratio vero est vel directa vel
indirecta, vel a priori vel a poste riori: non abs re convictioni ea dem nomina,
prout veritates demonstrantur, a Philosophis tributa sunt. ** Vt vero rationis
pondus in convincendo ani mum sese insinuet, oportet, ut iHe sit atten tus, in
demonstrationibus versatus, et talis; qui rationum momenta perpendere possit.
Quapropter solidis demonstrationibus, non conviciis, irrisionibus, dictisque
iniuriam in ferentibus ad veritatem est trahendus. Convi cia nanque odium
iramque pariunt, et atten tionem turbant. *** Dici haec solet PERSUASIO, quae
quum sit rationibus insufficientibus innixa, convi ctio dici nequit, quippe
quae a convictione longe multumque distat. " Hinc vides, convictio sit
Philosophcrum propria, perсиг Cap. VII. De Verit. commun. 231 suasio vero
Oratorum, qui in investigatione verosimilium argumentorum versantur, quan tum
sufficiat ad caussam probabilem redden dam, de quo conferendus est Cicero de In
vent. cap. * 186. SOLIDITAS est completa artis, quam profitemur, methodique
cognitio, Hinc ergo patet 10 maximam et praeci puam doceotium dotem esse
soliditatem, adeoque 11. litteratos superficiarios es se ad scribendum aeque,
ac docendum ineptos. * Vitium vero soliditati oppositum in speciali bus
tractationibus infra explicabimus. Ad eas itaque progrediamur, SECTIO I. De
Librorum dotibus. IBER, in quo veritates continen tur, SCIENTIFICVS dicitur,
alio nomine SCRIPTUM DIDACTICVM. Eius dotes sunt SOLIDITAS, PERSPICVITAS, METHODVS,
et SVFFICIENTIA. SOLIDITAS consistit in principio rum firmitate, ac
deinonstrationum stabi 232 Logica Pars II. bilate. Solidus ergo dicitur liber
1. si eius dim principia certa fuerint atque indubia ($. 150. ), 3. si propositiones
singulae rig de sini demonstratae, si bona me thodus in demonstrando adbibita pec in demonstrando cir culus irrepserit. Si
vero bonae methodi leges fuerint negle ctae, tunc liber SVPERFICIARVS dice tur.
Huiusmodi vero libris Rempublicam ca rere litterariam, foret maguopere optandum.
189. PERSPICVITAS in verborum pro prietate, iustaque eorum cum ideis pro
portione sita est. Verborum PROPRIETAS es'git, ut voces omnis secundum usum
loquendi fixo sign ficatu adbibeantur, adcuratisque definitionibus deter
spineniar. Iusta verborum cum ideis PROFORTIÓ requirit, ut liber non sit
prolixior, nec brevior, quam scopo SIO conveniat. * Quemadmodum enim prolixitas
verborum mul titudine mentem obruit: ita et nimia brevi tas Auctoris sensum
occultat, adeoque am bae oliscuritatem pariunt, scilicet vitium per spicuitati
oppositum Vid. Heinec. Fundam. Stili culiior. Part. S. cap. 2 §. 50. Cap.
VII.De Verit. comm un. nexu 190. METHODVS in eo est ut veri tates ex
veritatibus et principiata, ut aiunt, ex principiis legitimo et continuo sint
deducta, nihilque confusionis vel perturbationis inveniatur; denique si ea praecesserint,
per quae sequentia intel. ligi possunt. SVFFICIENTIA tandem id exigit, ut liber
sit COMPLETVS, idest veritates et propositiones exhibeat Auctoris fin i suf
ficientes: qui namque finem non ahso lvit, INCOMPLETVS adpellatur. * Longum
valde foret, si sufficientiae particu lares characteres, hoc est fines lot
tantorum que librorum percurrere vellemus. Sufficiat tamen generales eiusdem
notas evolvisse: id enim ex attenta cuinsque libri lectione quisque poterit
diiudicare. 192. SYSTEVIA est congeries verita tum inter se connexurum, et a
prin cipiis suis legitime deductarum. Et quia id quatuor, quas recensuimus, dotibus
absolvitur: hinc est, ut Logici dicant, librum quemcumque scien titicum
systematice scribi oportere. * Non omnes tamen qui libros scribunt systema
conficere possunt; sed ii tantum qui veritates a se detectas, et ad eumdem 234
Logica Pars IT. > scopum tendentes in libros referunt. Eorum autem, qui
alienis laboribus insudant, alii sunt COMPILATORES, qui aliorum opera hinc inde
dispersa colligunt, atque in lucem edunt, mulla ordinis habita ratione; E
PITOMATORES qui brevius aliorum scripta prolixiora componunt. Et hi qui dem
reprehensionem numquam, quandoque vero laudem (illi praecipue ) ab eruditorum
universitate reportant. Sunt vero quidam, qui aliorum scripta suffurantes ea
typis man dant, impudentique fronte suo nomine inscrie bunt, iique PLAGIARII
nuncupantur. De his autem quidnam dicendum, sit, omnes no runt. SECTIO II. De
Doctorum virtutibus et vitis. DOCTO OCTOR appellatur, qui alios voce ad rerum
ignotarum co gnitionem perducit, vcos de veritatibus, qnas tradit, certos reddit,
atque convincit. Eius virtutes partim ab inte !lectu, par tim a natura, partim
a voluntate penden tes, sunt quatuor: ab intellectu SOLIDITAS, et in doendo
PRUDENTIA; a na tura DOCENDI DONUM; a volnntate ve ro AMOR. De singulis pauca
disquiremus. Cap. VII. De Verit. Commun. Ex doctoris definitione sequitur 1. ut
generales docentis characte res possidere debeat is, qui doctoris munere fungi
vult; adeoque 2. prima et praecipua eius virtus sit SOLIDITAS qua fit 3. ut res
abstractas et intellectu difficiles exemplis illustret, at que propositionum
omnium sive a se, si ve ab aliis enunciataruin analysin instituat. Nisi enim
exemplis ac similitudinibus res dif ficiles illustrentur, aegre ab auditoribus
au dietur, quibus abstrahendi ars vel ignota prorsus est, vel laboriosa:
adeoque taedium concipientes attentione carebunt nihilque intelligentes
doctorem fine suo frustrabunt. 195. Quia vero doctor auditores suos de veritate
cerlos reddere debet (S. 184. ); ad certitudinem autem ducit demonstratio:
consequens est 5. nt scientia praeditus, verborum facilitate in fructus ct ad
rationem de omnibus red dendain promlus esse debeat. Et quia au ditores
convincendi sunt, et ad hoc in eis attentio requiritur: patet 6. Doctorem
DOCENDI DONO in. signitum esse debere, idest dicendi promti tudine et suavitate,
quo deficiente, ad proprium munus obeundum ineptus erit. 236 Logica Pars II.
parvum in eo 9 a do * Vt enim auditor sit attentus, cavere debet qui eum docet,
ne taedio, eum adficiat. Tae dium autem haud excita bit, si verborum inopia,
dicendi infelici tate, animique imbecillitate laboret. Eo nam que casu non modo
attentionem minuet sed et illius ludibrio se exponet. Qui ergo se huiusmodi
suavitate ac promtitudine senserit destitutum, ei auctores fuerimus, ut cendi munere
se abstineat, si operae preti um perdere nolit. 196. Quoniam autem non eadein
omni bus est adolescentibus perspicacia, que non tam voce, quam exemplo
erudiuntur: liquido infertur 7. ut doctor facoltate gau deat doctrinas ad
discentium captum ge niumgne adcommodandi. ac media ad fi nem rite disponendi,
nec non 8. in ex sequendis praeceptis auditores manuducat, seque iis pracheat
antecessorem: praecipue veio 9. si in moralibus vitaque civili ver setur
institutic, animum ipse prius ad vir tutem instruat, ut ad hoc vivum exemplar
omnes conformari studeant. * Et hoc est, quod dici soiet PRVDENTIA INDOCENDO. *
Si namque docentis actiones a praeceptis dis crepent, nequicquam laborum suorum
fru ctum exspectabit, et adolescentes exemplum potius malum, quam bonam vocem
sequuti Cap. VII. De verit. commun. 237 nihil, praeter praeceptoris imitationem,
prae se ferent: quum bene monuerit Iuvenalis: Omnes duciles sumus pravis ac turpibus
imi tandis suos.Postrema doctoris virtus eaque magni momenti, est AMOR erga
Quum enim in erudiendis pueris aut ado lescentibus permulta opus sit fidelitate
inserviendi promtitudine, patientia patientia, et labore haec auien omma nisi
ab iis, qui nos amant, sperare non possumus: recte infertur 10. doctorem
sincero audi tores suos amore prosequi; adeoque 11. et studio; 7 commoda
promoveadi adfcctum esse debere. eorum * Quam necessaria sit haec in doctore
virtus, ex sequentibus alimde patebii. Si namque amor deficiat, et studium
deerit disceniium utilitati inserviendi: ac proinde pro doctore exsurget
mercenarius vel utilitati, vel existi mationi propriae consulens; et tanc nec
morun ratio umquam habebitur, et omnes lucri fa cendi artes promovebuntur. Si
haec omnia ponantor, habebimns magistrum, vel leo poribus inservientem, in
muneris exercitio ne gligentem, timidum, sui dumtaxat studio abreptum, et ad
vilissima quaeqne facilem; vel inaccessibilem, clatum, ' omnia sibi per
mitientem, quandoque etiam garrulum, ét e cathedra, tamquam e suggestu, aliorum
no mina lacerantem, quo tutius possit de suis virtutibus declamare. 198. Si
virtutum quas recensuimus opposita evolvautur, illico doctorum vi tia ad
parebunt, quae breviter enumera bimus. Eorum primum et praecipuum est IMPERITIA,
idest artis methodique-igno. ratio. Huius effectus sunt 1. obscuritas, qua fit,
ut talis doctor terminis inanibus, vagis obscuris, nec recte definitis sit con
tentus, resque difficiles exemplis illustrare nequeat: 2. confusio quae methodi
negli gentiam, analyseos ignorantiam, ac con vincendi impoientiam parit: 3.
docendi ineptitudo; quum enim ars ignoratur et methodus, deficit prompitudo et
suavitas, quibus ducendi donum absolvitur * (S. 95.): 4. molesta prolixilas,
aut obscurabre vitas; ignorata namque arte vocabula quoque technica ignorantur,
quo fit, ut vel inanibus circumloquutionibus, vel paucis et insufficientibus
rei explicandae verbis uta tur: 5. superfluorum tractatio et necessa riorum
omissio, quam veram ignorantiae causam esse ait Sencea (S. 103. * ): 6. ser
monis barbarics, cui proxima est obscuri. tas et taediuin, adeoque ad minuendam
ten dit attentionem. Non desunt equidem, qui naturali quodam suavitatis defectu
laborantes nec genio, nec captui auditorum se accommodare sciunt, li cet
doctissimi sint et omnimoda, eruditione praediti. Naturalis autem haec
imbecillitas non inter vitia sed inter defectus est referen da, adeoque
imperitia dici neqnit. Quamvis enim huiusmodi doctoribus lepor desit: me diorum
tamen excogitatio aliaqne pruden tiae subsidia praesto sunt. Ineptitudinis ergo
caussa non alia adsignari debet, quam impe ritia, scilicet soliditatis
absentia. > 199. Alterum doctoris vitium a primo oilum ducens est
IMPRVDENTIA in docendo, quae in caussa est, ut auditorum Caplui genioque se
adcommodare, atque media ad finem ducentia excogitare, ac proinde animis morbo
aliquo laborantibus mederi nesciat. Quae enim prudentia in imperito?
Imprudentiae quoque debetur illa paedagogo rum imbecillitas, qua inter se
invicem de futilibus inoptisque rebus decertantes, vel aliis invidentes
discentium animos adversus aemulos stimulanti. et ad pueriles irrisiones
dicacitatesque concitant: quo fit, ut ipsi in spretum et abietionem incidant,
adolescentes contra pessimos, audaces, ridiculosque mo res induant. 240 Logica
Pars II. 200. Ad voluntatis vitia, quae amorem excludunt, referuntur: AMBITIO,
si ve nimia gloriae laudisque cupiditas, qua fit, ut vana eruditionis, autº
eloquentiae ostentatione, nimioque sermonis fuco di sciplinarum praecepta non
explicentur, sed implicentur, propriaeque existimationi potius, quam discentium
utilitati doctores consulant. - 3. AVARITIA, quae omnia trabit commodum
efficitque, ut sola sit utilitas iusti prope mater et aequi: VOLVPTATIS CONSECTATIO,
quae ignaviam, laboris im pa tientiam oilierique neglectum parit, atque
soliditatis defecium arguit, quum bene monterit Genuensis.noster: difficile
esse reperire hominem vere doctum simul autem et mollem, ad suum > * * * *
Inde quoque fluxit Cynicus iile mos, et ef fraenis alios lacerandi consuetndo,
quae in caussa fuit, ut de quorumdam adolescentum petnlantia ad satyras
proclivium emunctae nae ris homines conquesti · gint: videbant enim pravam
consuetudinen a pessimo doctorum exemplo vatan in naturam paullatim ac cor
ruptionem abituran Ex codem tandem fons te manat ctiam illa docentium
praesumtio, qui, ne discipulus supra magistrum esse vie deatur, vel aliquot
sublimiores doctrinas sla Cap. VII. De verit: commun. 241 bi solis reservant,
vel sublimia auditornm in genia deprimunt ac despiciunt. Praeterquam quod
ambitio in doctoribus novitatis amorem gignit, eosque opinionum singularium et
ab surdarum, saepe etiam impietatis studiosos efficit: id quod maximo
adolescentihus detri mento est, praecipue quum auctoritatis prae indicium
altius in iis radices agat. Vid Hei nec. Ethic. l. 77. ** Quando quis avaritiae
studet, non aliorum, sed sua tantum commoda promovet, idque per fas an nefas,
nihil sua referre videtur. Hinc auditorum quosdam opibus pellantes, vel
praeceptorum gratiam muneribus ementes reliquis praeferunt, eos seorsum
instruunt, ac speciali cura in aliquibns reconditis rebus erudiunt, eaque
praedilectione prosequuntur, ut se aliorum odio, invidiae vero illos expo nant,
adeoque nihil neque hi pro. ficiant. *** Art. Logicocritic. Lib. I. cap. Voluptati
nanque dediti plerumque sunt ignavi, desides, et laboris impatientes; atque
inde fit, ut non satis praeparati ad doces dum accedcntes in lycaeo quidquid in
buccain vererit effutiant, et quia ex abundantia cor dis, ut Servator ait, os
loquitur, bonos persaepe mores verbis factisme corrumpant. Delicatuli isti suat
etiam meticulosi, adeoque veritatem, quam alias intrepido vultu, si ri te
munere suo fungi vellent, dicere debe ne aliorum indignationen incurruni Tom.
I. L neque illi reni, ) 242 Logica Pars II. aut dissimulant, aut tegunt, aut (quod
val de dolendum ) foede corrumpunt. Praeterea in huiusmodi hominibus ridicula
quaedam et thrasonica reperitur ambitio, scilicet paedan tismus', quo furentes
nusquam, nisi de suis rebus gestis plurima exaggeranti, auditorum, que risui se
exponunt. 201 • Superest, ut doctrinae usum do etorumque officia exponamus, ut
si qui munus hoc inire cupiunt, bene incipere, feliciusque prosequi possini.
Quicunque cr go ad istruendam iuventutem animum ad. pellis, hos diligenter
observato: CANON ES. Avditores eligito perspicaces, mui toque supientiae umore
Nagrantes. Eo rum porro attentionem excitato sae pius, ac vitia, quibus eos
laborare per cipis, prudenter sensimque corrigito. 2. Doctoris munus, nisi
solida artis methodique cognitione imbutus, ne te mere suscipito: idque summa
fidelitate, prucuttia, ac sincero erga discentes amore absolvito. 3.
Adolescentes in moralibus civili Cap. VII. De Verit. comm. 243 busque
disciplinis non tam voce, quam exemplis erudito. Evidentissimum numiz que,
teste Augustino, docendi genus est subiectio exemplorum. 4. Religionis amorem,
morumque in tegritatem in discentibus foveto, neque te illis familiarem nimis
reddito, ne, excusso subiectionis fraeno, doctores parvipendentes nihil
proficiant, et ad pessima quaeque praecipites ruant. "De Discentium
dotibus ac naevisn's 202, Am de dotibus IAm vitiisque discça tium pauca
apperidicis loco ad damus. Eorum est de veritatibus certos reddi; solidache
imbui co gnitione, quae non nisi es claris distinctisque oritur notionibus. Ad
claras vero ac distinctas ideas adquirendas requiritur attentio et libertas a
praeiudiciis: Quidquid ergo attentionem tur bat, vel praeiudicia fovet, ab iis
abesse debet. 203. Priina ergo et maxima discentium dos est BONA NENS,
DOCILITAS, ATTENTIO sincerus erga stu. dia et docentes AMOR, LABORIS PATIENTIA et otii fuga, + 6. de. nique
ANIMI SOLITUDO. It * Bonae mentis vocabulo intelligimus non mo do naturalem
ingenii perspicaciam, cuius de fectus hominem reddit cognitionis incapacem,
verum etiam animum bene educatum vcrae que Relligionis amantem: quum Divino
oracu lo monituin sit initiuin om nis sapientiae esse timorem Domini. Hoc est libertas a praeiudiciis,ut supra di
clum est, animique inclinatio ad quaecunque praecepta ediscenda, et ad pra xin
adplicanda. ID adeo Si namque Doctores et studia amemus, his sedulam navamus
operam, illosque atter te auscultamus: si vero amor hinc absit, taedium
supervenit., attentio minuitur, que aut parum aut nihil in studiis profie mus.
| Laboris enim impatientia ignorantiae cause est, ut dixiinus; quoniam veri
tates vel propria meditatioue vel Aucts rum lectione inveniuntur, medtatio vero
perinde ac lectio laborem cai gunt, ut ex superioribus abunde constat. De
verit. eomm. 245 # Multitudo namque non modo praeiudicio rum fons est sed at
tentionem quoque distrahit aut saltem mi nuit: adeoque solum oportet esse, qui
sa pientiae sentit amorem. Ex iisdem principiis sponte manant discentium vitia,
qualia sunt 1. Religionis spretus, quem conse quitur voluntaria praeiudiciis
adhaesio, 2. mentis hebetudo, 3. attentionis distra ctio, 4. otium et laboris
impatientia a dolescenlibus familiarissima, 4. aversio a studiis vel doctoribus,
6. denique spe ctaculorum, multitudinis, et sodalita tum amor, quo fit, ut
attentio distraha tur ($. 40. Schol. Can. 5. ), et ad voluptatem inde ac
perditionem praccipiti Cursu ruant. Schol. Quae de discentium officiis tra
lendae forent regulae, eae ab eadem do trina huc usque exposita facile deduci
po erunt. Quapropter hic a canonum addi tione con mode abstinemus. De
litterario certamine. zv ERTAMINIS LITTERARII no Emine intelligimus quascumque
disputationes, quae pro veritatis disquisitione vel diiudicatione instituuntur.
Hae disceptationes similiter vel scriptis, vel vo. ce liont: et quidem SCRIPTO,
vel alio rum errores confutamus, vel nosmet ab eorum imputationibus defendimus:
VOCE autem rationes utrinque conficiuntur, et ad examen revocantur. Si ergo
alterius errores scripto detegantur, actio haec dicilnr CONFITATIO; si pro
positiones ab alterius impugnatione vindicentur, DEFENSIO, si denique coram
disce platio instituatur, propio nomine DISPVTATIO adpellatur. De harum qualibet
diversis sectionibus agemus qua alium erroris convincimus. Ex qua definitione
patet 1. confutantem de Cdium erroris convincimus. Ex bere falsitatem
propositionis, quam alter pro vera asseruit demonstrare, idque a priori vel a
posteriori, directe aut apogogice indiciis sufficientibus, hoc est principiis
demonstrandi certis ei utendum esse. Etquia eadem propositio non potest esse
simul vera et falsa (alias in contradictionem inpingeretur ): evidens est.
propositio nem legitime denionstratam confutari non posse, adeoque. eius
demonstration, nem esse contrariae confutationem. Antequam vero confutatio
instituatur opore tet STATVM QVAESTIONIS conficere, idest verum suctoris sensum
intelligere, ut propositionem falsam ex ipsius auctoris men le demonstret. Eo
enim ipso vitabitur LOGOMACHIA, qua propositio vera impetitur, cuius veritas,
licet ab adversario sit cognita, aliis tamen verbis expriiuiiur et impugnatur,
adeoquc insurgit quaestio de verbis. Vid. Weienfelsium de logomachiis
eruditorum. Si vero indicia fuerint insufficientia, scilicet principia
probabilia et precaria, tunc non con L'utilis, sed IMPVGNATIO dicetur.
Impugnari tamen potest, nempe dubiis au dificultatibus quisbusdam subiici, ut eius
veritas clarius elucescat, nec ulla remaneat op positi suspicio, id quod infra
in Seet. 3. docebimus. Quoniam confutatio ost convictio; haec autein requirit,
ut con vincendus sit attentus, nec adfectus in eo attentionem turbantes
exciteptur: liquido infertur 5. confutantem ea omnia quae attentionem in altero
per turbant, atque adfectus excitant, vitare debere; consequenter 6. a
conviciis, ir risionibus, vel consequeniiis periculosis, quae confutandi famam laetlunt,
abstinen dum esse. Sunt autem PERICVLOSAE huiusmodi CONSEQVENTIAE, quae non
quidem ex genui no Auctoris sensi, sed ex confutantis opi nione eruuntur,
quaeque non veritatis de fendendae gratia deducuntur, sed ut adver sarii fama
in discrimen vocetur, isque alio rum ludibrio exponatur. Harum porro con
sequentiaruin confectores proprio nomine CONSEQVENTIARII vocantur. 208. Qaum
ergo consequentiae pericu losae aliorum odium Auctori concilient eique invidiam
creent: non abs re a Philosophis argumenta ab invi L4 1 + Cap. ult. de titt.
cerlamine. 249 * dia fuerunt appellatae. Ex quo patet ARGUMENTUM AB INVIDIA
ductum in confutando sollicite esse vitandum; a deoque 8.non abs re
consequentiarios a Wolfio PERSECUTORES cognominari. * Logic. Lat. pag. 752.
Idque iure merito. Nam confutator vere dicitur, qui veritatem ab al terius
paralogismis vindicare studet. At qui non veritatem, sed adversarii famam perse
quitur, nullo inodo confutator dicendus est, sed alterius persecutor, quia id
non rationis auxilio, sed invidiae stimulo perficit. Schol. Quoniam itaque in
confutante solius veritatis amor exigitur: ut in con futatione nihil vel
minimum peccetur, hos qui sequuntur, servare curato. CAN ONE S. I. A, D
confutandum solo veritatis a more, non odio adversus alte rum ductus accedito.
Adversarium soli dis rationibus non conviciis, dictisve famae nocentibus de
errore et falsitate convincito. 2. Si obscuro impropriove stilo ad edəssarius
scripsit, ut dictionem corriagat, seque intelligendum praestet, ad wertito. Si
quid ab altero in demonstran do peccatum, sive principia falsa sint, sive
connexio illegitima, cuncta distincte modesteque patefacito. Demonstrationis
rigidus custos principiorum diligens investigator esto, ne tibi ab adversario
nota inuratur. E tenim TURPE EST DOCTORI, QUUM CULPA RE DARGUIT IPSUM. DEFENSIO
est propositionis ab alterius impugnatione vindi catio. Ex eadem ergo
definitione sequitur 1. ut propositio legitime confutata defen din non possit,
ut et 2. ad defensionem propositionis sufficiat eius veritatem solide
demonstrare, aut 3. si de terminis tan tum quaestio sit, eos adcuratis definitio
nibus determinare. Duobus vero modis defensio insti taitur. Vel enim
propositionis veritatem ab alterius impugnatione vindicamus, vel Cap. ult. De
litt. ccrtumine. 251 impugnantis errores itidem detegimus. Pri mae classis
seripla dicuntur APOLOGE TICA; alterius vero POLEMICA vel E RISTICA. * jin, *
Horum quidem scriptorum minorem num rum Respublica optaret litteraria. His nam
que nec veritas invenitur, nec ratio perfici tur, sed contentiones animique
perturbatio nes aluntur, nulla prorsus utilitate, magno autem Societatis, ac
iuventutis studiosae malo.? 211. Defendenti ergo, ne a recto. aber ret,
Sequentes proponimus., C ANONES. 1. PhoRopositionem a te légitime demon Stratam,
aut notionem cum ver bis rite ' conjunctam ab alterius cuiusvis impugnatione ne
defendito. Pro të nam que evidentia pugnabito?? 2. Eius, qui te maledictis
conviciis que laesit, scriptis modesto respondeto silentio. * la cedendo victor
abibis. * Si namque simili stilo, respondeas, nullum operae pretium facies,
adversarii petulantiam temeritate lua iustificabis, inque idem vitium incides,
quod in alio reprehendis. Quidquid ab altero tibi impugnari sentis, in eo tua
versetur defensio. * Si vero argumentis ab invidia periculosis que
consequentiis ab aliquo persecutore adfectus fueris, sat est eius malitiam et
nocendi studium ostendere teque commiseratione potius, quam ira per citum
perhibere. Si ergo deverborum sensu quaestio sit, eum te explicasse sufficiet:
si principia impugna tor urgeat eorum certitudinem ostendas oportet: si in
demonstrationibus te ar guere velit, earuin legitimam connexiouem prae oculis
ponere; si vero aliqua consequen tia absurda tibi impPombaur, aut ipsius conse
quentiae veritatem, aut eam ab adversario non recte deductam, demonstrare
debebis. Quod si persecutor obscurae famae sit, te tacente veritas ipsa
loqietur, tuaque mo destia impudeutem adversarium confusione " obruet. Ad
veritatis tandem disquisitionem acMilanius, quae non scripto, sed voce fit,
quaeque disputationis no. De litt. certaminemine venit. Est igitur DISPUTATIO
-aru ritatis alicuius discussio voce facta. Ea tribus ' personis absolvitur,
quarum una propositionem'impugnat, altera eamdem defendit, tertia vero huic
suppetias fert. * Adeoque qui veritatem difficultatibus du bisque implicat,
OPPONENS; qui vero eaka ab eiusmodi impugnatione vindicat, DEFENDENS, vel
RESPONDENS; qui deni que huic aliquid adiumenti adfert, PRAESES aupellatur. Ex
qua definitione liquet 1. di-, sputationem esse impugnationem proposi tionis
veraen eiusque. defensionem; ideo que 2., utramque demonstratione absol vi, ut
disputantium alteruter de veri tate convincatur; quare 3. quidquid ge neratim
de convictione dictum, de disputatione etiam intelligatur, prae cipue vero 4.
status quaestionis formandus et 5.
oportet, ut lingua loquantur clara et intelligbili, hoc est amboruin captui
adcommodata 6. ut u trique nec animus nec lingua deficiat. Su per omnia autem 7
affectibus carcant, odio, praesertim et invidia, Non enim ad rixandum, sed ad disputandum.
descendunt. At affectus convicia iniuriasque pariunt, quibus attentio turbatur (S.
207. ): ac proinde a disputantibus louge debent ab esse, ne ira odiove perciti
tantum absit ut veritatem inveniant, ut potius.a convicis ad manus transeánt. Ex
eadem definitione fluit 8. di sputantes debere in terminis contradicto. riis
versari, hoc est ut idein ab uno a d. firmetur, ab altero negetur'. Et quia
idem subiectum in contradictione requiritur; eruitur 9. disputantes debere in
terminorum notionibus convenire: quapro pter 10 si verborum sensus- lateat,
eorum explicationem a respondente peti posse, ut in claris distinctisque rebus
incidat contro versia, ct ' sic logomachiae vitentur. Disputatio vel' ACADEMICA
est, vel DIALECTICA. Illa continuato ac paene oratorio dicendi genere, haeć
syllo gistico more conficitur. In illa opponens disscrtatione quadam propositionis
veritatem impugnat, respondens contra eodemstilo obiectiones diluit, ihesiique
defendit; in hoc vero syllogisniis aliisque ratiocinandi modis chunciationem
opponens inpugnat, ' et ex Cap. ult. De litt. certamine. adverso respondens
ratio cinia ad trutinam revocans propositiones veras concedit, falsas negat,
dubiasque distinguit, eoque progre diuntur, donec ad principia perveniant.Addi
potest methodus disputandi SOCRATI CA, quae Opponentis interrogationibus, et
Defendentis responsionibus dialogico stilo ab solvitur. Sed quum ea iam pridem
ab usu recesserit: ab eius explicatione merito ab stinemus: in ipsis tamen
praelectionibus, quae de ill a dicenda forent, paucis expe diemus. Vides ergo
methodum Academicam ad eru ditionis et eloquentiae ostentationem in Aca demiis
prae se ferendam unice inventam esse. In disputando autem, quum homini pede
stanti in uno ñec eruditio, nec verborum copia praesto esse possit, Dialectica
metho dus merito praeterenda, Vtcumque vero disputatio instituatur invabit
disputantiirin munera paucis expo nére: id quol sequentibus exequemur re gulis.
Et primo quidem amborum, dein de opponentis; postremo respondentis mu nia
recensebimus. Quisquis ergo ad dis putandum accedis, hos religiose castodito: Phim
Rimum omnium controversiae sta tum conjici ! ). Nihil porro, nisi terminis
claris fixisque expressum, in e am incidito. Obscura quaeque explica to. 2.
Dispu'ans adfectibus vacuus, veria tatis tantum amans, eiusque invenienda
cupidus esto. Cuncta modeste, suaviter, amice proferto. Convicia et dicta mor
dacia, velut angiem, fugito. OPPONENTIS hae fere partes sunto. 3. Quacunque
meihodo thesin aliquam adoriris, syllogisticam artem cuidi ha beto. Argumentu
solida non sophismata ineptasve fallacias, proponito. Conclu sio thesi
impugnatae semper e diametro contraria esto 4. Si quid a respondente tibi propo
nitur explicandum, explicato: si vero probandum, tamdiu syllogismorum, au xilio
probato, donec ad principia per veneris. Ad singula respondentis verba et
distinctiones attendito. Si illa obscura sint, illi explicanda dato; si vero
clara, Cap. ult. De litt. certamine. 257 novas exceptiones, prout res tulerit,
contra formato. Praecipue videto, si ad versarium ex assertis suis convincere
et refutare, proprioque, ut aiunt, gladio iu gulare possis Et hoc est, quod
vocari solet ARGVMENTVM AD HOMINEM, de quo tamen videa tur lo. Lockius de
intell. bum. IV. 17., qui eius insufficientiam in vero inveniendo et de
bilitatem ostendit. Nos autem tantum in ex ercitationibus litterariis, quae
coram fiunt id commendamus: de veri namque investiga tione fusius supra
tractavimuis. RESPONDENS demum id sibi negotii sciat praecipue datum. Argumentum
opponentis prius repe tito, deinde sedulo perpendito, num de bila gaudeat
soliditate. Praenissarum quae tibi dubiae videbuntur, probatio nem postulato.
Syllogismum in forma peccantem totum reiicito. Si haec bene processerit
materiam ad examen reyocaio. Propo sitiones falsas negato, veras concedito,
dubias vero distinguito: sed de omnibus rationem reddere memento., ne
ridiculas, evadas. 258 Logic. Pars. ii. 本
Perridicula ergo est illa Scholasticorum regula: Semper nega, numquam concede
raro distingue. Si namque casu neges, duo rum alterum exspectare debebis, vel
ut ne gationis caussam adferas, vel ut lucem quo que neges meridianam: utrumque
homini sen sibili acerbissimum.. 8. Si oppositae propositionis impossi
bilitatem demostrare possis; nihil ultra oneris habebis. Si vero in auctoritate
probatio ' versetur: sat erit adversarii te.ctus obscuros claris auctoritatibus
re fellere. 9. Caveto, ne propositionem concedas, in qua adversarius struxit
insidias: ne cx eius admissione incidas in laqucos. Schol. Ceterum disputandi
regulac usu magis ct exercitio, quam praeceptis, ad discuntur '. Si tamen
dicendum quod res est, in huiusmodi litterariis contentionibus von soliditas,
sed promtitudo, immo ve ro impudentia valet et veritas amittitur potius, quam
invenitur: Qua de re vide inus eruditos doctosque viros raro admodum ad
disputandum descendere. Legatur Bud seus Obseru. in Plit. instrum. Pur: III.
Cup. 3. g. 11. AN OUTLINE OF SEMATOLOGY; OR, AN
ESSAY TOWARDS ESTABLISHING A NEW THEORY OF GRAMMAR, LOGIC, AND
RHETORIC. “Perhaps if words were distinctly weighed and duly considered,
they would afibrd us another sort of Logic and Cretic, than what we have
been hitherto acquainted w4th." — Locke. LONDON
: JOHN RICHARDSON, ROYAL EXCHANGE. G WOODPALL, AHQEh COUBT, •KllfWl*
tTRWT, LOWDON. I PUT not my name to these pages, nor shall I, beyond this
notice, speak in the first per- son singular, but assume the pomp and
cir- cumstance of the editorial "we". Why I choose for
the present to remain unknown, I leave the reader to settle as his fancy
pleases. He is at liberty to think that, being of no note or
reputation, and fearing for my book the fate of George Primrose's
Paradoxes, I do not place my name in the title page, because it
would inevitably make that fate more cer- tain. Or, if he chooses, he may
imagine a better motive. He may suppose me to be the celebrated
author of ***** *, with half the alphabet in capitals at the end of
my name ; and that I prefer an incogfiito, lest he, my "
cotirteous reader", should relax the rigour of examination, and receive
as true, on the authority of a name, a theory that may be
false. In the last chapter of Locke's Essay on the Human
Understanding , there is a threefold division of knowledge into
^uo-t*^, TrpaxriK^, and trtjfieiaTiK'^. If we might call the whole
body of instruction wliich acquaints ua with TO. <f>v<TtKa by
the name Physicology, and that which teaches to -irpaKTixa by the
name Practkology, — all instruction for the use of TO <7?j^aTo,
or the signs of our knowledge, might be called Sematology. Physicology,
far more comprehensive than the sense to wliich Physiology is fixed,
would in this case signify the doctrine of the nature of all things
what- ever which exist independently of the mind's concep- tion of
them, and of the human will ; which things in- clude all
whose nature we grow acquainted with by ex- perience, and can know
in no other way, and therefi>re include the mind, and God ; since of
the mind as well as of sensible things we know the nature only by
ex- perience, and since, abstracted from Revelation, we know the
existence of a God only by experiencing His providence, Practicology, the
next division, is the doctrine of human actions determined by the will to
s preconceived end, namely, something beneficial to in- dividuals,
or to communities, or the welfare of the kJ The signs which the mind
makes use of in order to obtain and to communicate knowledge, are chiefly
words; and the proper and skilful use of words is, in different ways,
the object of, 1. Grammar, of 2. Logic, and of 3. Rhetoric. Our
outline of Sematology will therefore be comprised in three chapters,
corresponding with these three divisions. species at large. As to
Sematology, the third division, it is the doctrine of signs, showing how
the mind operates by their means in obtaining the knowledge comprehended in the
other divisions. It includes Metaphysics, when Metaphysics are properly limited
to things TB /*ETa Tct pi/fiKa, i. e. things beyond natural things
— things which exist not independently of the mind's conception of them ;
e. g. a line in the abstract, or the notion of man generally: for these
are merely signs which the mind invents and uses to carry on a
train of reasoning independently of actual existences; e. g.
independently of lines in concrete, or of men individually and particularly.
But as to the class of signs which the former of these instances has in
view, and which are peculiar to Mathematics, there will be no
necessity, in this treatise, to make much allusion to them: it is to the
signs indicated by the other example that reference will chiefly be made:
for these are the great instruments of human reason, and we believe
they have never yet had their suitable doctrine. To ascertain the true
principles of Grammar, the method often pursued will be adopt- ed here j
namely, to imagine the progress of speech upward as from its first
invention. As to the question, whether speech was or was not, in
the first instance, revealed to man, we shall not meddle with it : we do
not propose to inquire how the first man came to speak Beattie and
Cowper, poets if not philosophers, ate among those who insist that speech
must have been revealed. The former thus turns to ridicule the well
L known passage in the Satires of Horace, Cvm prorepseruntf
&c. lib. I. Sat 3* v. 99 : When men out of the earth of old A dumb
and beastly vermin crawled. For acorns, first, and holes of shelter,
• They, tooth and nail, and bdter dceker, B 2 4 ON
CiSAUMAH. [CHAP. I. but whether language is not a necessary
effect of reason, as well as its necessary instrument, Fought fist
to fist ; then with a club Each learned hia brother brute to drub ;
Till more experienced grown, these cattle Forged fit accoutrements for battle.
At last, (Lucretius Bays, and Creech,) They set their wits to work on
speech : And that their thoughts might all have marks To make them
known, these learned clerks Left ofi' the trade of cracking crowns,
And manufactured verba and nouns." Theory of Language, Part I.
Chap 6. (in a note.) The other poet does not, on this occasion, appear
in metre, but is equally merry. " I ta';e it for granted
that these good men are phi- Bophically correct in their account of the
origin of language ; and if the Scripture had left us in the dark
upon that article, I should very readily adopt their hypothesis for want
of better information. I should suppose, for instance, that man made his
first effort in speech in the way of an interjection, and that ah !
or oh ! being uttered with wonderful gesticulation and variety of
attitude, must have left hia powers of ex- presdon quite exhausted ;
that, in a course of time, he would invent many names for many things,
but first for the objects of his daily wants. An apple would
consequently be called an apple ; and perhaps not SECT. 1.]
ON GRAMMAR. 5 growing out of those powers originally bestow-
ed on man, and essential to their further deve- lopment. many
years would elapse before the appellation would receive the sanction of
general use. In this case, atid upon this supposition, seeing one in the
hand of another man, he would exclaim, with a most moving pathos, *
Oh apple !' Well and good, — ' Oh apple,** is a very affecting speech,
but in the mean time it profits him nothing. The man that holds it, eats
it, and he goes away with ' Oh apple!** in his mouth, and nothing
better. Reflecting on his disappointment, and that perhaps it arose from
his not being more explicit, he contrives a term to denote his idea of
transfer,, or gratuitous communication, and the next occasion that
offers of a similar kind, performs his part accordingly. His speech now
stands thus — * Oh give apple ! ** The apple-holder perceives himself
called upon to part with his fruit, and having satisfied his own hunger,
is perhaps not unwilling to do so. But unfortunately there is still
room for a mistake, and a third person being present, he gives the apple
to him. Again dis- appointed, and again perceiving that his language
has not all the precision that is requisite, the orator retires to
his study, and there, after much deep thinking, conceives that the
insertion of a pronoun, whose office shall be to signify, that he not
only wants the apple to be given, but given to himself, will remedy all
defects; Now instead of taking it for granted, as others have done
who have pursued the method proposed, that men sat down to invent
the parts of speech, because they found they had ideas which respectively
required them, we as- sert that men have originally no such ideas
as correspond to the parts of speech. The im- pulse of nature is,
to express by some single sound, or mixture of sounds (not divisible
in- to significant parts) whatever the mind is conscious of; nor is
there any thing in the na- ture of our thoughts that leads to a
different procedure, till artificial language begins to be he
uses it the next opportunity, succeeds to a wonder, obtains the apple,
and, by his success, such credit to his invention, that pronouns continue
to be in great repute ever afl^er. Now as my two syllable-mongers,
Beattie and Bl^r, both agree that language was originally inspired, and
that the great variety of languages we find on earth at present, took its
rise from the confusion of tongues at Babel, I am not perfectly
convinced, that there is any just occasion to invent this very ingenious
solution of a diiEculty, which Scripture has solved already."
Letter to the Rev. Wm. Unwin, April 5, \'J8i.
invented or imitated. Let us take, for our first fact, the
cry for food of a new-born infant: that is an instinctive ciy, wholly
unconnected, we presume, with reason and knowledge. In proportion as the
knowledge grows, that the want, when it occurs, can be supplied, the cry
be- comes rational, and may at last be said to signify, " Give me
food," or more at full," I want you to give me food." In
what does the rational cry, (rational when compared with the instinctive
cry,) differ from the still more rational sentence? Not in its meaning,but
simply thus, that the one is a sign suggested directly by nature,
and the other is a sign aijsing out of such art, as, in its first
acquirement, (we are about to presume,) nature or necessity gradually
teaches our species. Now, that the artificial sign is made up of parts, (namely
the words that compose the sentence,) and that the natural sign is
not made up of significant parts, we affirm to be simply a consequence
of the constitution of artificial speech, and not to follow from any
thing in the nature of the communication which the mind has to make. The
natural cry, if understood, is, for the purpose in view, quite as good as
the sentence, nor does the sentence, as a whole, signify any thing
more.Taking the words separately, there is indeed much more contained in
the sentence than in the cry; namely, the knowledge of what it is
to give under other circumstances as well as that of giving food ; —
oi'Jbod un- der other circumstances as well as that of being given to me;
— of me under other circumsttances as well as that of wanting food: but
all this knowledge, in this and similar cases for which a cry might
suffice, is unnecessary, and the indivisible sign, if equally understood
for the actual purpose, is, for this purpose, quite adequate to the
artificially compounded sign. The truth is this, that every
perception by the senses, and every conception which [By Conception
I mean that power of the mind, which enables it to fonn a notion of an
absent object of perception ; or of a sensation which it has
formerly follows from such perception, as well as every desire,
emotion, and passion arising out of them, is individual and particular;
and if language had continued to be nothing more than an outward
indication of these its passive affec- tions, it would have consisted of
single indivi- dual signs for single individual occasions, like
those which are originally prompted by nature. But it was impossible to find a
new sign for every new occasion, and therefore an ex- pedient was of
necessity adopted; which expedient, from its rudest to its most refined ration,
will be found one and the same, — an expedient of reason, and that
through which all the improvements of reason are derived. The
expedient is nothing more than this : — when a new expression is wanted,
two or more signs, each of which has served a particular purpose,
are put together in such a manner as to modify each other, and thus, in
their united fclt." — Dugald Stewart : I'hilos. of the
Human Mind, Vol. I. Chap. 3. [capacity, to answer the new
particular purpose in view. In this manner, words, individually,
cease to be signs of our perceptions or con- ceptions, and stand
(individually) for what are properly called notions', that is, for what the
mind knows ; — collectivelif, that is, in sen- tences, they can signify
any perception by the senses, or conception arising from such per-
ception, any desire, emotion, or passion — in short, any impression which
nature would have prompted us to signify by an indivisible sign, if
such a sign could have been found : — but individually, (we repeat,) each
word be- longing to such sentence, or to any sentence, is not the
sign of any idea whatever which the mind passively receives, but of an
abstractiont • Notio or notitia from «o«co, I knov. (It is a
pity we cannot trace the word to ado instead of noac.->.) Note,
Locke will be mucli more intelligible, if, in the majority of places, we
substitute " tlie knowledge of" for what he calls " the
idea of" His wide use of the word idea has been a cause of the
widest con&slon in other writers. t Home Tooke's doctrine
is very different from wliich reason obtains by acts of
comparison and judgment upon its passively-received ideas.
tbis. He says (Diversions of Purley [2d edit. 1798] Vol. I. page
51,) " That the business of the mind, as far as regards language,
extends no further than to re- ceive impressions, that is, to have sensations
or feel- ings"; — he affirms (pa££^im) that what iscalled
abstrac- tion has no existence in the mind, but belongs to lan-
guage only, and that " the very term metapht/sic is nonsense "'
{page 399). It is hoped that what follows in the test will prove these
opinions to be erroneous. Could the proper name John, or any word being
an artificial part of speech, have been invented, if the mind had not
exerte d its active powers upon its passively r&- ceived
ideas ? For whatever ideas of this last kind we have of John must be
ideas arising out of particular perceptions ; and ve must irame him to
our minds standing, or sitting, or walking; talking, or silent;
dressed or undressed, with other circumstances which imagination can
vary, but cannot set aside. It is only by comparison that we know John to
be independent of all these, and the name is the effect of this
know- ledge, not the cause of it. The abstraction is not in the
word only ; for till we know that Jolm is separate (abstract) from
whatever circumstance the perception of him includes, how can his name
exclude it ? Neither is the terra iiietaphysic nonsense when applied to
this The sentence " John walks " may express what is
actually perceived by the senses ; or any other abstraction. For John
separate from circumBtancea that must enter into an actual perception,
ifithe nameof anotion /iCTa^ua-ixii, i.e.outof nature, or of which we
have no example in external nature, though it may esist in our minds,
like a line in mathematics, which is deifined as that which has length
without breadth, and which is therefore, for the same reason,
properly called a metaphysical notion, and pure mathematics are justly
considered a part of metaphysics. It was because H. Tooke set out with
these principles thus fiindamentally erroneous, that he could not
complete his system when he had brought it to ail but a close. With
admirable acuteness of inquiry, he had tracedup every part of speech till
he found it, originally, either a noun or a verb, and he then left his
book im- perfect, because he could not, on the principles he had
started with, explain the difference bet ween these : — he promised
indeed to return to the inquiry, but he never fiiliilled his promise for
the best of reasons, that there was no pushing it further in the way he
had gone ; he must have contradicted all his early premises to have
reached a true conclusion. The whole cause of his error seems to havebeen
a too unqualified understanding of Locke's doctrine, that the mind has no
innate ideas. but neither word, separately, can be said to express a
part of that perception, since the perception is of John walkmg, and if
we per- ceive John separate from walking, then he is not walking,
and consequently it is another perception ; and so if we perceive walking
se- parately from John, it must be that we perceive somebody else
walking, and not him. The separate words, then, do not stand for
passively received ideas, but for abstract notions ; — so far as they express
what is pec- ij ceived by the senses, they have no separate meaning
; it is only with reference to the un- derstanding that each has a
separate meaning. The separate meaning of the word John is a
knowledge (and therefore properly called a I notion not an idea*) that
John has existed and ] Hence, TOOKE acknowledges nothing originally
but ] the senseB, and the experience of those senses, calling reason
" the effect and result of those senses and that experience."
See Vol, II. page 16. " If indeed the word idea were uniformly
employed to signify what is here meant by notion, and nothing else,
little objection could be made: such use would will exist, independently
of the present perception, and the separate meaning of the word •walks,
is a linowledge that another may waik as well as John. This is not an
idea of John or an idea of walking such as the senses give, or such
as memory revives : for the senses present no such object as John in the
abstract, that is, neither walking, nor not walking; nor do they
furnish any such idea as that of •walking inde- pendently of one who
walks. There is then a double force in these words, — their
separate force, which is derived from the understanding, and their
united force, by which, in this instance, they signify a perception by the
senses. nearly correspond in effect though not in theory,
with the old Platonic Bcnse, and in the Platonic sense Lord
Mooboddo constantly employs it in his work on the "Origin and
Progress of Language." But as Dr. Reid observes, ** in popular
language idea signifies the same thing as conception, apprehension. To
have KD idea of a thing is to conceive it." This sense of the
word Dugald Stewart adopts. (Philos. of the Human Mind, Vol. L Chap. 4.
Sect. 2.) Locke, as already intimated, uses the word in all the senses
it will bear. In otlier instances, the united significa- tion
of words may not be a perception of the senses j but whatever may be
their united meaning, they will separately include know- ledge not
expressed by the whole sentence, though, if the meaning of the sentence
be ab- stract, the knowledge included in the separate words will be
necessary to the knowledge ex- pressed by the sentence. " Pride
offends," is a sentence whose whole meaning is abstract; but
pride separately, and offends separately, are still more abstract, and in
using them to form the sentence, we refer to knowledge be- yond the
meaning of the sentence as a whole, namely, to pride under other
circumstances than that of offending, and to offending under other
circumstances than that of pride offending; and here, tlie knowledge referred
to seems necessary, in order to come at the knowledge expressed by the
sentence. " John walks," (or, according to our English
idiom, " John is walking,") is a perception by the
senses, and does not therefore depend on a knowledge of John, and of
walking in the abstract ; (though to express the perception in this way
requires it;) but " Pride offends," does not express an
individual perception, nor would many individual perceptions of
pride offending give the knowledge which the sen- tence expresses :
we must have obser\'ed what pride is, separately from its
offending, and we must have observed what offending is, separately
from pride offending, before we can rationally understand, or try to
make known to others, that Pride offends. In this DOUBLE force of
words, by which they signify at the same time the actual thought, and
re- fer to knowledge necessary perhaps to come at it, we shall
find, as we proceed, the ele- ments, the true principles of Logic and
of Rhetoric; while in tracingthe necessity which obliged men to
signiiy in this manner even tliose individual perceptions which
nature would have prompted them to make known by a single sign, (if
such sign could have been found,) we shall ascertain the true
principles of Gkammau. The last mentioned subject must occupy
our first attention. 5. To get at the parts of speech on our hypothesis,
we must consider them to be evolved from a cry or natural word. Not that
this is the present principle on which words are invented ; for art
having furnished the pattern, we now invent upon that pattern j but
our purpose is to consider how the pattern itself is produced by
the workings of the human mind on its first ideas. Those ideas can
be none other than the mind passively receives through the senses ;
and perhaps the first active operation of the mind is to abstract (sepa-
rate) the subjects or exterior causes of sensa- tion from the sensations
themselves. When we see, we find we can touch, or taste, or smell,
or hear ; and when the perception through one of these senses is
different, we find a difference in one or more of the others. We
also recollect (conceive) our former per- ceptions, and finding the
actual sensations not recoverable by an effort of the mind alone, we
recognize the separate existence of the ma- terial world. All this is
Knowledge, acquired indeed so early in life, that its com- mencing and
progressing steps are forgotten ; but we are nevertheless warranted in
affirm- ing that not the least part of it, is an original gift of
nature. Along with this knowledge we acquire emotions and passions ; for
to knoia material objects, is to know them as causes of pleasurable
or painful sensation, and hence to feel for them, in various degrees, and
with various modifications, desire and aversion, joy and grief,
hope and fear. And here, as the same object does not always produce the
same emotion, or the same emotion arise from the same object, we
begin a new class of abstractions: we separate, mentally, the object from
the emotion or the emotion from the object: we are enabled in consequence
to abstract and consider those differences in the objects, from
which the different effects arise, and to ascer- tain, by trial, how far
they yield to volition ope- rating by the exterior bodily members,
which SECT. we have previously discovered to be subservient to the
will. In this new class of abstractions, and the consequences which arise
from them, we shall find the beginning of that knowledge which
human reason is privileged to obtain, compared with that which the higher
orders of the brute creation in common with man, are able to reach
j and from this point we shall be able to trace how man becomes
/ie'poyjr, or divider of a natural word into parts of speech *,
while other animals retain unaltered the cries by which their desires and
passions are first expressed. 6. As we are able to separate,
mentally, the object from the emotion, and to remem- ber the natural
cry after the occasion that produced it ceases, the natural cry might
re- main as a sign either of the object or of the emotiont. But
this does not carry us beyond Thia is the sense in which we choose to
under- stand the word, and not merely voice-dividing or ar-
ticulating. f For instance, as, in the present state of language,
the exclamation of surprise ha-ha '. is either an inter-
to the mind which forms the abstraction, and has the power to
establish a sign (wliether audible or not) to fix and remember it: —
our inquiry is, how a communication can be made from mind to mind,
when the signs which na- ture furnishes are inadequate to the
occasion. And first be it observed, that only such occa- sions
must, at the outset, be imagined as do but just rise above those for
which the cries of nature are sufficient: — we must not suppose a
necessity for communicating those abstract truths which grow out of an
improved use of language, and which could not there- fore yet have
existence in the mind. And we have further to observe that no
communication can be made from one mind to another, but by means of
knowledge which the other mind possesses; — the cries of na- ture
can find their way only into a conscious breast, — that is to say, a
breast that has known, jection eignifyiDg that emotiou, or the
n so placed ae to give occasion to it. or at least can know, the
feelings which are to be communicated, and is capable, therefore, of
sympathy or antipathy ; and knowledge of whatever kind can be conveyed to
another mind only by appealing to knowledge which is already there.
To suppose otherwise, would be to attribute to human minds what has
been imagined of pure spirits, — the power of so mingling essences
that the two have at once a common intelligence. To human minds It
is certain that this way of communicating is not given, but each mind can
gain knowledge only by comparing and judging for itself, and to
communicate it, is only to suggest the sub- jects for comparison. Let us
suppose that a communication is to be made for which a na- tural
cry is not sufficient, — the difficulty, then, can be met only by
appealing to the knowledge which the mind to be informed already
possesses. The occasion will create some cry or tone of emotion ; but
this we presuppose to be insufficient. It will however be under-
stood as far as the hearer's knowledge may enable him to interpret it —
that is, he will know it to be the sign of an emotion which himself
has felt, and he will think perhaps of some occasion on which himself
used it. But the cry is to be taken from any former par- ticular
occasion, and applied to another; and he who has the communication to
make, will try to give it this new application by joining another
sign, such as he thinks the hearer is hkewise acquainted with. The
natural cry thus taking to its assistance the other sign, and each
limiting the other to the purpose in hand, they will, in their united
capacity, be an ex- pression for the exigence, and will, to all in-
tents and purposes, be a sentence. In some cases, nature seems to
furnish an instinctive pattern for the process here described : —a man
cries out or groans with pain ; he puts his hand to the part affected,
and we at once interpret his cry more particularly than we could
have done without the latter sign. In other cases, we are driven to
the same process not by an instinct, but by the ingenuity of reason
seeking to provide that which nature has not furnished. If a man
unskilled in language, or not using that which his hearers understand,
should try to make known what art expresses by a sentence such as
" I am in fear from a serpent hidden there," his first effort
would be the instinctive cry of fear ; but aware that this could be
particularly interpreted only of a known, and not of an unknown occasion,
he would, by an easy effiirt of ingenuity, fix it for the present purpose
by add- ing a sign or name of the reptile, (for mimick- ing the
hiss of the reptile would obviously be a name,) and by joining to both
these a ges- ticulative indication of place. The instinctive cry
thus newly determined and appUed, is a sentence ; and however clumsy it
may seem when compared with the more complicated one previously
given, yet the art employed is of the same kind in both. We leave the
read- er to smile at the example as he pleases, and will join in
his smile while he compares it with that in the epistle of the poet in
the note at Sect. 1.; and, if he is disposed to smile again,
we will suppose another example : — Two men going in the same direction,
are stopped by an unexpected ditch, and ejaculate the na- tural cry
of surprise ha-ha/ This is remem- bered as the expression suited for that
par- ticular occasion; and the mind, the human mind, seems to have
the power of generalizing it for every similar object. Suppose one
of these men finding another ditch very offensive to his nose,
signifies this sensation by screwing up the part offended, an d
uttering the nasal interjection proper for the case ; — the interjection
may not be sufficient j for the other man may remain to be
informed of what his companion knows, namely that the offence
proceeds from the ditch. To fix the meaning, therefore, of the interjection to
the case in hand, the communicator adds the former natural cry in
order to signify the ditch, and the two signs qualifying each other, are
a sentence. 8. An artificial instrument as language is, growing
(as we suppoaej out of necessity, and adapted at first to the rudest
occasions ; per- fected by degrees, and becoming more com- plicated
in proportion as the occasions grow numerous and refined ; — such an
instrument, when we compare its earliest conceivable state with
that in which it has received its iiighest improvement, must
appear clumsy and awk- ward in the extreme. But in the very rude
state in which we here suppose it, the art em- ployed is essentially the
same as afterwards : — two or more signs are joined together, each
" sign referring separately to presupposed know- ledge, but in
their united capacity communi- i eating what is supposed to be unknown.
Of the signs used, that must be considered the , principal by which
the speaker intimates the , actual emotion j the other signs, which do
but j fix its meaning, are secondary. Thereforej ; though the
appellation word (that is p^/io, i dictum, or communication,) strictly
belongs to the whole expression or sentence, we may reasonably give
that appellation to the principal sign. According to this supposition,
the original verb was an expression equiva- lent to what we now signify
by I hunger, I thirst, I am warm, I am cold, I see, I hear, IJeel,
&c., / am in pain, I am delighted, I am angry, 1 love, I hate, I
fear, I assent, I dis- sent, I command, I obey, &c. Whether
this a priori conjecture has any facts in its favour, is an inquiry
suitable to the etymologist, but fo reign to our purpose, because,
whether true or not, the general argument by which we in- tend to
prove the nature of the parts of speech, will remain the same*.
" Vet it may be worth while to quote the coinci- dent
opinion of another writer. " It may be asked " says Lord
Monboddo, " what words were (irst invented. My answer is, that if by
words are meant what are commonly called parts of speech, no words at all
were first invented ; but the first articulate sounds that were
formed denoted whole sentences ; and those sentences expressed some
appetite, desire, or inclination, relating either to the individual, or
to the common business which I suppose must have been carrying on by a
herd of savages before language was invented. And in this We
have next to imagine the use of any of the foregoing verbs in the third
per- son ; for that, it should seem, would be the next step. In
communicating that anothet- hungers or thirsts, or sees or hears, or is
angry or pleased, &c., the difficulty would be to give the word
this new application, and a limiting sign would, as usual, be necessary.
A proper name would be the sign required ; and if not too great a
tax upon fancy, we may conceive the invention of these from the mimicking
of a man's characteristic tone, or his most frequent cry ; not to
mention the assistance of gesticu- lative indication. But when verbs had
thus lost the reference which, at first we presume, they always
bore to the speaker, a sign, whether a change of form, or a separate
word, would be wanted to bring them back to their early meaning as
often as occas ion required. A gesticulative indication of the
speaker and way I believe language continued, perhaps for
many ages, before names were invented." — Origin and Pro-
grese of Language. Vol. I. Book 3. Chap. 1 1- of the person spoken to,
can easily be con- ceived : how soon tliese would give place to
equivalent audible signs, the reader is left to calculate j and as to the
pronoun of the third person, he may allow a longer time for its in-
vention, especially as even in the finest of lan- guages, tliere is no
word exactly answering to ille in Latin and he in English.
10. We have suggested a clew to the in- -yention of proper names,
and (for the reader jnust allow us much) we will suppose these, L ^
far as need requires, to be invented. But r piost of these, from the
difficulty of inventing a new name for every individual, would gra-
dually become common. If a man has called I the animal he rides on by a
proper appellation I corresponding to horse, what shall he call t
Other animals that he knows are not the same; and yet resemble?
Because he is unprovided .. r jwith a name for each individual, he will
call' I each of them horse*, and the name will then "
Compare Adam Smith, " Considerations con- cerning the First
Formation of Languages," appended no longer be proper but common. But
the same powers of observation which acquaint us with the points of
resemblance, likewise show the points of difference, and when we
wish to distinguish the animals from each other, how is this to be done ?
The question is easily answered when we have a perfect lan- guage
to refer to, but it was a real difficulty when the expedient was first to
he sought. Yet the difficulty not unfrequently occurs even in a
mature state of language, and the manner in which it is overcome, will
enable us to conceive how, in the rude state of Ian- guage we are
supposing, itwas universally met, till the noun-adjective became a part
of speech*. Of two horses, we observe that one to his work on
the Theory of Moral Sentiments. As a proof how prone we are to extend the
appellation of an individual to others, he remarks that " A child
just learning to speak, calls every person who comes to the house
its papa or its mamma ; and thus bestows upon the whole species those
names which it had been taught to apply to two individuals."
' The Mohegans " (an American tribe) " have
so has the colour of a chestnut, and the other is variegated hke a
pie ; and we call the former a cfieslnut horse, and the other a pied or
piebald horse. Here we perceive are two nouns-sub- stantive joined
together to signify an indivi- dual object, and employed, Ui their united
ca- pacity, to signify what would otherwise have been denoted by an
individual or proper name. This, then, is their meaning,
respectively, as a single expression. In their abstract or separate
capacity, the one word denotes either one or the other of the two animals
without reference to the difference between them : the other word
denotes, not a chestnut or a pi^ but that colour in a chestnut, and those
varie- gated colours in a pie, by which one of the animals is
distinguished from the other, and these words are no longer
nouns-substantive DO adjectives in all their language. Although it may
at first seem not only singular and ciuious, but im- possible that a
language should exist without adjectives, yet it is an indubitable
fact," — Dr. Jonathan Edwards — quoted by H. Tooke, Diversions of
Purley, Vol. II. p. 463. but nouns-adjective *. And here the
ques- tion will naturally occur, how would a hearer know when a
noun was used substantively, and when adjectively ? As this would
often be attended with doubt and ambiguity, the necessity of the
case would soon suggest some slight alteration in the word as ofi;en
as it was used adjectively ; and the same all- powerful cause would
likewise, in time, dia- tinguish adverbs from adjectives : for at
first an adjective would be used without scruple to limit the verb,
as to limit the substantive j since • " The invention
of the simplest nouns-adjective,*' says Adam Smith, " must have
required more meta- physics than we are apt to be aware of." But the
dif- ficulty he imagines is done away by the hypothesis suggested
above ; and how near it is to the truth, will fae conceived by calling to
mind the ready use of al- most any substantive as an adjective, as often
as need requires : e. g. a chestnut horse, a horse chestnut ; a
grammar school, a school grammar ; a man child, a cock sparrow, an earth
worm, an air hole, a (ireking, a water lily ; not to mention the
innumerable com- pounds that are considered single words ; as,
seaman^ Iiorsenian, footman, inkstand, coalhole, bookcase, Sic.
«t this is often done even in the
present state of language j but the doubt whether it was to be
taken with the substantive or the verb* would soon produce some general
difference of form ; and thus the adverb would be brought into
being as a distinct part of speech. 11. Still it would often
happen, that in endeavouring to limit a verb to the particular
communication in view, no substantive or pro- noun joined to it, not even
with the further aid of an adjective or adverb joined to the
substantive or verb, would suffice ; and failing, therefore, to convey
the communication by one sentence, it would become necessary to add
another to limit or determine the significa- tion of the first. Now a
qualifying sentence thus joined, when completely understood in
connexion with that it was meant to qualify, would be esteemed as a part
of the same sen- tence, and the verb, in the added sentence,
• E. g. whether " I love much society " is to be
understood / much-li/ve suciety, or, / Iwe 7iutch- society.
would possibly then lose its force as the sign
of a distinct communication. This again, will easily be understood
by a reference to what occurs in the present state of language.
Look- ing at the sentence, " In making up your par-- ty,
except me," no one hesitates to call concept a verb ; but in this
sentence, *^ All were there, except me," although the word except
has pre^^ cisely the same meaning, yet, as we do not con^ sider the
clause except TTie to be a distinct com- munication, but only a
qualification to suit the whole sentence to the purpose in view, we
call except a preposition *, that is, a word put be^ *
This solution of the difficulty in the invention of prepositions, which
seems so considerable to Adam Smith, is suggested, as the reader will
perceive, by the etymological discoveries of Home Tooke, and will
receive complete confirmation by the study of his ad- mirable work. Let
it not be supposed, however, that we have nothing to object to in the
Diversions of Purley : some ftmdamental principles we have already
marked for inquiry ; and on the point before us, we have to observe on
that curious way of thinking, which leads him, because a word was once a
verb or a noun. fore another to join it to the sentence
that goes before. 12. But in thus qualifying sentence by
sen- tence, it may sometimes be necessary to use three verbs, one
of them being merely the sin- gle verb that joins the two sentences
together ; as, " I was at the party, and (i. e. add, or join
this further communication) I was much de- lighted." Sometimes a
noun will be used in this way ; as, " I esteemed him, because (i.
e. this the cause) I knew his worth." Any par- ticular form of
verb or noun used frequently in this manner to join sentence to
sentence, will cease at last to be considered any thing more than a
conjunction *. IS. As to the article, we have only to sup- to
esteem it always so ; on the same principle, no doubt, that, because the
word truth comes from he trou-eth or thinkelh, a.aA a man's thoughts are
always changing, he denies that there is any such thing as eternal,
im- mutable truth. * Again the reader is referred to the
Diversions of Purley, for a confirniation of this account of the
birth of conjuncticms. pose some adjective used
in a particular limit- ing sense so frequently, that we at last
regard it as nothing more than a common prefix to substantives : —
as to a participle^ it is confess- edly, when in actual use, either a
part of the verb, or a substantive, or an adjective : — and as to
an interjection^ this we have supposed to be the parent word of the whole
progeny ; and if it is sometimes used among the parts of an
artificial sentence, it is only as a vibration of the general tone of
feeling that belongs to the whole. 14. In this manner, or in
a manner like this in principle and procedure, would lan- guage
grow out of those powers bestowed on man by his Creator, even though it
had not been directly communicated from heaven :-— in this manner
is the progress from natural cries to artificial signs contemplated and
pro- vided for by the constitution of the human mind; — in this
manner would the parts of speech be developed j and men placed in
so- ciety, and endowed with powers for observation, reflexion,
comparison, judgment, would, in time, become fiepoire^f or dividers of a
na- tural word into significant parts, with the same kind of
certainty that they become bipeds or walkers on two legs* ; being bom
neither one nor the other. * And according to Monboddo, with
the same certainty that they lose their tails; for when they were
mutu/m, et turpe pecus^ he appears to think they might have been so
appendaged ; nay, he knew a Scotchman that had a tail, though he always
took care to hide it : (his lordship was surely in luck^s way to
find it out.) After all, it would be difficult to prove, notwithstanding
the authorities Monboddo quotes, that herds of men were ever found
destitute of language. Leaving, therefore, the origin of the first
language, and the subsequent confiision or division of it precisely
as those two &ct8 stand in Genesis, all we mean to assert in the text
is this, — that if a number of children having their natural faculties
perfect, were suffered to grow up together without hearing a language
spoken, they would invent a language for themselves : though, for a
long time, it might remain nothing better than that of the Hurons
described by Monboddo, (Origin and Progress of Lang. VoL I. Book 3. Chap.
9.) in which the parts of speech are scarcely evolved, from the
original elements, but what in a formed language But the
object of the foregoing at- tempt, was not so much to trace the
origin is expressed by several words, is expressed by a
sign not divisible into significant parts. Thus, he says, there is
no word which signifies simply to cut, but many that denote cuttingjish^
cutting wood^ cutting chaths, cutting the heady the arm^ &c. And so
of the language throughout. More than one generation would be re-
quired, and very favourable stimulating circumstances, to bring such a
chaos of a language into form ; but that the human mind has within itself
the powers for accomplishing it sooner or later, we see no cause to
doubt — These words, and the whole of the hypothesis in the text above,
were written before the third Volume of Dugald Stewart's Philosophy of
the Human Mind had been seen. From that part which treats on Lan-
guage we quote the following passages : ^^ That the human faculties
are competent to the formation of language, I hold to be certain.* Language
in its rudest state would consist partly of natural, partly of artificial
signs ; substantives being denoted by the latter, verbs by the
former.*" These are among the many passages which
coincide with the views opened in the previous hypothesis. It is to
be added, that D. Stewart considers the imperative mood to be the first
form in which the artificial verb would be displayed. and
first progress of language, as to get at the real ground of diflference
among the se- veral parts of speech. On this subject, there
prevails a universal misconception. Prom the definitions and general
reasoning in Gram- mar ; — from the theories laid down in Logic ; —
and the basis on which the rules and prac- tice of Rhetoric are presumed
to stand, this principle seems to be taken for granted, that the
parts of speech have their origin in the mind independently of the
outward signs, when, in truth, they are uothing more than parts in
the structure of language ; contrivances adopted at first on the
spur of theoccasion, the shifts and expedients to which a person is
driven, ■when not being able to lay bare his mind at once according
to his consciousness, he tries, by putting such signs together as were
used for former occasions and therefore known as regards them, to
form an expression, which, as a whole, will he a new one, and meet the
pur- pose in hand. True indeed it is, that these very contrivances
become, in their more refined use, the great instruments of hmnan rea-
son by which all improvement, all extensive knowledge, is obtained; but
we are not to confound the instrument with the intelli- gence that
uses it/ nor to suppose that the parts of which it is composed, have, of
ne- cessity, any parts corresponding with them in the thought
itself. It is not what a word signi- fies that determines it to be this
or that part of speech, but how it assists other words in ma- king
up the sentence. If it is commissioned to unite the whole by the
reference immediate or mediate which all the other words are to
bear to it, and to signify that they are a sen- tence, that is, the sign
of a purposed commu- nication, then it is the verb : — if it has
not this power, (namely, of uniting the other words into a sentence,)
and yet is capable, in all other respects, of standing as an independent
sign, (this sign not being the sign of a purposed communication)
then it is a substantive .-—if it is the implied adjunct of a
substantive, it is an adjective or an article^ — if of a verb^ an adverb
: — if we know it to be a word, which, in a sentence, is fitted to
precede a substantive, (or words taken substantively) in order to
con- nect such substantive with -what goes before, then it is a
preposition : — and if it goes before, or mingles in a sentence, in order
to connect it with another sentence, then it is a conjunc- tion.
These are the only real differences of the parts of speech : — as to the
meaning, that does not of necessity differ because a word is a
different part of speech ; — the following words, for instance, all
express the same notion : Add Addition
Additional Additionally With*
Andt * The imperative of the Saxon verb Jpi^an to join.
-|- The imperative of the Saxon verb ananab to add. The place
and ofHce of these six words in a sentence would of course differ, and
the sentences in which they were respectively used would require a
various arrange- Our definitions reach the real differences among
these words, and they will be found adequate to all differences, when, by
the ob^ servation hereafter to be made, we are quali- fied to make
due allowance for the licences assumed by the practical grammarian *•
In ment to meet the same purpose, but as to the meaning of
the words, it would be the same in whatever sentence : e. g.
Add something to our bounty. Make an addition to our
bounty. Give an additional something to our bounty.
Give additionally to our bounty. Increase o ur bounty
with the gift of something. Consider our bounty and give
likewise. * To suit our definitions to an elementary grammar, they
must be quaUfied and circumstanced: — a verb, for instance, must be shewn
to be a word that is by itself a sentence, as esurio ; or which signifies
a sentence, as I am hungry ; or which is fitted to sig- nify a
sentence, as am, lovest. A verb in the infinitive mood, is a verb named
but not used ; a8 to be, to love ; or if used in a sentence, it is not
the verb. A noun- substantive is a name capable of standing
independently, but it cannot enter into a sentence except by being
connected directly or indirectly with a verb. The in- flexion of a
noun-substantive, as Mard, Mark'' 8^ is the mean time, in order to
throw as much light as possible on the nature of the con- nexion
between thought and language, let us look back a little on foregoing
statements, and partially anticipate those which are to be opened
more at full under the heads of Logic and Rhetoric. called a
substantive, bnt in so calling it, we must say a Bubstantive in the
genitive, or other case. A noun- adjective is a name not fitted to stand
independently, but to be joined to a noun-substantive, and so to
form with it one compound name. An adverb is a word not fitted to
stand independently, but to be joined to a verb, and to form with it one
compound verb, A preposition ig a word governing as its object a
substantive or pro- noun in the manner of a verb, but not an obvious
part of a verb, nor capable, like a verb, of signifying a sentence.
The article, pronoun, participle, conjunc- tion, and interjection, may be
defined as usual. We would suggest moreoverthat in an elementary
grammar, no definition, and no part of a definition, should be
brought forward, till absolutely required by the examples that are
immediately to follow it. In teaching a child, it is the greatest
absurdity in the world to set out with general principles, when the
business is, to reach those principles by the eiiamina- tion of particulars. It
may be that the organs of sensation are not all fully developed in a
new-born in- fant ; but if, for the sake of our argument, we allow
that they are so, this is as much as to say, that our earliest sensations
from the ob- jects of the material world, are the same that they
are afterwards. But there must be this most important difference, — that
the early sensations are -wilkoui knowledge, and the lat- ter, with
it. I know that the object which now affects my sense of vision, is a being
like my- self, — I know him to be one of a great many similar
beings ; — I know him to be older or younger than many of them, — to be
taller or shorter; — I know pretty nearly the distance he is from
me ; — 1 know that the particular circumstances under which he is now
seen, are not essential to him, but that he may be seen under other
circumstances : — I know that what now affects my sense of hearing, is
the cry or bark of a dog j — I know, although my eyes are shut,
that there are roses near me, or something obtained from roses j — I
knoie u
that sometliing hard has been put into my mouth ; — and now
I know it to be part of an apple. All the sensations by which the
various knowledge here spoken of is brought before the mind, the new-born
infant may possibly be capable of; but as to the know- ledge, there
is no reason to believe he lias the least portion of it. For the
knowledge is gained by experience, requiring and com- prising many
individual acts of observation, comparison, and judgment j all which
we suppose yet to take place in the new-born infant. Now, in
looking back to what has been said on the acquirement of language,
we find the effect of our progressing knowledge to be this, that every
sign arising out of a par- ticular occasion, will lose that particular
re- ference in proportion as we find it can be used on other
occasions j and so all words will, at last, in their individual capacity,
become ab- stract or general. This is as true of such words as yellow,
white, heat, cold, soft, hard, . bitter, sweet, and the like signs of
what Locke calls simple ideas as of any other * : for we can
evidently use these words on an infinity of different occasions j and the
power of so using them is an effect and a proof of our knowing that
the different occasions on which we use the same word, have a something
in common, or in some way resemble. But while all words thus
acquire an abstract or general meanipg, every communication which
we purpose to make by their means, must, in comparison with their
separate signification, be particular ; and our putting them
together in order to form a sign for the more particular thought,
will be to deprive them of the abstract or general meaning which they had
indi- vidually. If this is the real nature of the process, we are
completely mistaken if we suppose that every word in a sentence
sig- nifies a part of the whole thought, and that the progression
of the words is in corre- spondence with a progression of ideas
which the mind first puts togetlier within, and then * Vide Locke,
Book II. Chap. 1. Sect. 3. signifies without What deceives us into
this impression, is, that on considering each word separately, each
is found to have .1 meaning. Let us try, however, whether the joining of
words into a sentence, does not take from them the meaning they have
separately. Put to- gether the three words " My head
aches," and we have an expression, namely the whole sentence,
which signifies what, from a want of clearness in our remarks, may
possibly be the reader's present particular sensation: hut my,
separately, signifies the general knowledge I have attained of what
belongs to ine as dis- tinguished from what belongs to another j a
knowledge which is not at all necessary (that is, the ^'•CTJcra/
knowledge) to the sensation it- self, nor even to the expression ofit, if
we could find any single sign in lieu of the three which we have
put together. Accordingly, the word my, as soon as it is joined to the
other words, drops that meaning which it had separately, and
receives a particular limitation from the word head, which word head is
likewise limited by the word rrof ; and the more particular meaning which
both these receive by each other, is limited to the particular oc-
casion by the word aches. Yet, it may perhaps be thought, that in this,
and in every other sentence, each word, as the mind suggests it to
the lips, is accompanied by the knowledge of its separate meaning, and
that, in this manner, if we use the word idea in the un- restricted
sense familiar to the readers of Locke, each word may be said to
represent an idea. Without entirely denying the justice of this
view of the matter, we offer in its place the following statement :
17. In forming a sentence for its proper occasion, the knowledge of
which each sepa- rate word is fitted to be the sign, may, or may
not be in the mind of the speaker: it may be entirely there, or only in
part, or not at all there ; that is to say, the speaker may not
know the separate meaning of a word, but only the meaning it is to have
in union with the other words. And even if the speaker does know the
full separate meaning of each word, yet he is not under the neces-
sity of thinking of that separate meaning every time he uses it : nor
does he, in fact, think of the separate meaning of words while, in
putting them together, his purpose is to ex. press what has been often
expressed before, but only (and even then but partially and occa* tonally)
when he uses words to work out some conclusion not yet established in his
own mind, or when a train of argument is required to convince or
persuade other minds. This statement will of course require some
con- siderations in proof. 18. And first, as to the knowledge
of which each separate word is fitted to the sign, it is to be
observed that our knowledge grows with the use of words, and therefore
our firet use of them is unaccompanied by that know- ledge which we
gain by subsequent use. This is true, whether we invent words, or
adopt those already invented. In the rude beginning of language, the
first use of a word for head, would be a use of it for a particular
occasion, and the word would be particular or proper. If the speaker used
it with reference to himself, it would signify what we now sig-
nify fay the two words my head ". By observ- ation and comparison,
he would find he could extend the meaning of the word, and apply it
with reference to his neighbours as well as himself, and it would then no
longer be proper but common ; that is to say, it would signify a
human head, and not mj/ head. Extending his observations still more
widely, he would ap- ply it with reference to every other living crea-
ture, and it would accordingly then signify a /(u- ing creature's head.
Looking and comparing still further, he would apply it with
referenceto every object, in which he discovered a part having the
same relation to the whole as the head of a living creature has to its remaining
parts ; and the word would then, and not till then, have its present
meaning ; that is to " Compare the characteristics of the
Huron lan- guage referred to in the note appended to Sect. 14.
say, in a separate unlimited state it would signify neither my
head, nor a human head, nor a living creature's head, but the top,
chief part, beginning, supremacy of any thing whatever. Nor is the
process essentially different in acquiring the use of words already
invented. A child does not at first put words together, but, if his head
aches, he will say perhaps "head! head!" using the single
word in place of a sentence. At length he will say mi/ head, and
brother's liead, and horse's head, and cradle's head. Still there
are other applications of the word to be learned by use ; and it surely
will not be contended that any one knows the meaning of a word
beyond the cases to which he can apply it. The knowledge which a
separate word is fitted to signify, may then be wholly or may be
partly in the mind of him who uses it in a sentence ; and it is very
possible not to be there at all. A foreigner, for in- stance, who
had beard the phrase the head of the army applied to the
general-in-chief, would know the meaning of the phrase, but might be
quite ignorant of the meaning of the separate words, or even that it was
com- posed of separable words : and probably most people can look
back to a time in early life, when they were in the habit of using many
a phrase with a just application as a whole, without being aware
that it was reducible into parts in any other way than as a poly-
syllabic word is reducible. ig. But even when the speaker, in
form- ing a sentence, has previous possession of all the knowledge
of which each word is sepa- rately fitted to be the sign, yet he does not
in general think of their separate meaning while he is putting them
together, but only of the meaning he intends to express by the
whole sentence. For through the frequent use of phrases and
sentences whose forms are hence become familiar, there is scarcely any
senti- ment, feehng, or thought, that suddenly arises in the mind,
that does not as suddenly sug- gest an appropriate form of expression.
This [chap. is manifestly the case with such
sentences as arc in constant use for common occasions : these the
speaker cannot be said to make, they occur ready-made, and he
pronounces the words that compose them with as little thought of
their separate meaning as if he had never known them separate. Even
when sentences ready-made do not occur, yet the forms of sentences
will occur, and the speaker will, in general, do nothing more than
insert new words here and there till the sentence suits his
purpose. Thus he who had said " My head aches," will recollect
the form of sentence when his shoulder aches, and in using the
sentence, will only displace head for shoulder: or if his head " is
giddy," he will only displace aches for the two words quoted,
in order to say what he feels. 20. When indeed we use language
for higher occasions than the most ordinary in- tercourse of life ;
when by its means we pro- secute our inquiries after truth, or use it
dis- cursively as an instrument of persuasion, then the operation
itself is carried on by dwell- ing on and enforcing the abstract
mean- ing of some of the words and some of the phrases whUe in
their progress towards form- ing sentences, as of the sentences while
in their progress toward forming the whole ora- tion or book. But
in such cases, language may more properly be said to help others to
come at our thoughts , than to represent our thoughts : although it
is likewise true, that we could not ourselves have come at them but
by similar means. Independently of the words, therefore, the thoughts
would have had no existence j neither should we have proposed the
inquiry after the truths we seek, nor have imagined any thing in other
minds, by addressing which they could be influenced. Still,
however, in these higher uses of lan- guage, (uses which are to be dwelt
on more at full in the chapters on Logic and Rhe- toric,) there is
the same difference between words separately, and the meaning they
re- ceive by mutual qualification and restriction ; «*
that is to say, in these higher uses of lan- guage, 83 well as in
those already remarked upon, the parts that make up the whole ex-
pression, are parts of the expression in the same manner as syllables are
parts of a word, but are 7tol parts of the one whole meaning in any
other way than as the instrumental means for reaching and for
communicating that meaning. And suppose the communication cannot be
made but by more signs than use will allow to a sentence, — suppose many
sen- tences are required — many sections, chapters, books, — we
affirm that, as the communica- tion is not made till all the words,
sentences, sections, &c. are enounced, no part is to be
considered as having its meaning separately, but each word is to its
sentence what each syllable is to its word ; each sentence to its
section, what each word is to its sentence ; each section to its chapter
what each sen- tence is to its section, &c. Thus does our
theory apply to all the larger portions of dis- course, and to the
discourse itself, Aristotle's definition of a word, namely, ** a sound
sig. niiicant. of which no part is by itself signi^ ficant ;"
* for if our theory- is true, the words of a sentence, understood in
their separate ^rapacity, do not constitute the meaning of the
whole sentence, (i. e. are not parts of its whole meaning,) and
therefore, as parts of that sentence, they are not by themselves
significant ; neither do the sentences of the discourse, understood
abstractedly, constitute the meaning of the whole discourse, and
therefore, as parts of that discourse, they are not by themselves
significant : they are sig- nificant only as the instrumental means
for getting at the meaning of the whole sentepce or the whole
discourse. Till that sentence m oration is completed, the Word t is
unsaid which represents the speaker's thought- If ♦ 4^6jvii
(ni/xAVrixiii vi'; A*sf oj oOih B<rri xalP abrh arif/iotv-i
rikiv. De Poetic c. 20. f In this wide sense of the
expression is the Bible called the Word of God. We shall distinguish
the term by capitals, as often as we have occasion to use it with
simitat comprehensiveness erf meaning. it be
asserted that the parallel does not hold good with regard to such words
as Aristotle has in view, because, of words ordinarily so called,
the parts, namely the syllables, are not significant at all, while words
and sentences which are parts of larger portions of dis-
course, are admitted to be abstractedly sig- nificant, however it may be
that their abstract meaning is distinct from the meaning they re- ceive
by mutual limitation, — we deny the fact which is thus advanced to
disprove the parallel : we affirm that syllables are signifi- cant
which are common to many words ; for instance, common prefixes, as wn,
mis, corif dis, bi, tri, &c.; and common terminations, as
nesSjJul, hood, tion, fy, &c. j and so would every syllable be
separately significant, if it occurred frequently in different
combinations, and we could abstract out of such combina- tions the
least shade of something common in their application : nor is it peculiar
to syllables to be without signification individually; the same
thing happens to words when they are always combined in one and the same
way in sentences *. Conceiving, then, that we are fully warranted
in the foregoing statement, we affirm it to be the true basis of Grammar,
Lo- gic, and Rhetoric. Leaving the latter two subjects for their
respective chapters, we pro- ceed, in this chapter, with such further
proofs as may be necessary to confirm our position as far as
Grammar is concerned. 21. We have imagined the gradual de-
velopment of all the parts of speech recog- nized by grammarians ; but no
reference has yet been made to the inflexions which some of them
undergo; nor to the diflference of meaning they receive in consequence of
such inflexion ; nor to interchanges of duty among the several
parts of speech ; nor to pecu- liarities of use, which so oflen take from
them their characteristic differences; nor to va- " What
separate meaning, for instance, is there, now, in the words which compose
such phrases as, by- and'bij, goodJi'ye, ftatc-du-you-do, 8cc.
I ON GEAMMAB. t^CHAP. I. riety of phrase in expressing
the same mean- ing j nor to the power which we frequently exercise
of making the same communication by one or by several sentences ; nor,
in short, to the multitude of refinements which grow out of an
improving use of language, many of which seem to confound and destroy
the definitions we obtain from the first and simplest forms of speech.
All these seeming irregularities will, however, find a ready key in
the general principles we have ascertained. For our general principles
are these : i. That two or more words joined together in order to
receive, by means of each other, a more particular meaning, are, with
respect to that meaning, inseparable j since, if separated, they
severally express a general meaning not included in the more particular
one. Hence it follows, that words may as easdy receive a more
particular meaning by some change of form, as by having other words added
to them : nay, it seems more natural, when the principle is
considered, to give them a more particular meaninjj by a change of form
than fay any other way. — ii. That a word is tliis or that part of
speech only from the. office it fulfils in making up a sentence. From
this principle it follows, that a word is liable to lose its
characteristic difference as often as it changes the nature of its
relation to other words in a sentence ; and it also follows, that
every now and then a word may be used ia L8ome capacity wliich
makes it difficult to be assigned to any of the received classes of
words. — iii. That since the parts of which a sentence is composed denote
general know- ledge, distinct from the more particular mean- ing of
the whole sentence, it may be possible i to work our way to a particular
conclusion, either in reasoning for ourselves or in per- j auading
others, by putting such words to- gether as form a sentence, that, as a
whole, expresses the particular conclusion; but that when, from the
length of the process, this cannot be accomplished in a single
sentence, we shall be obliged to work our way by many sentences, whicli
will bear the same relation to the conclusion implied by them as a
whole, as the parts of each sentence bear to what the sentence
expresses. From this principle it follows, that using many or fewer
sentences to arrive at the same result, will frequently be
optional. The examination of these se- veral consequences a Httle more in
detail with reference to the principles from which, i they flow,
will complete the chapter. It is well known, that the inflexions
which nouns, verba, and kindred words are liable to in many languages,
are comparatively unknown in English, the end being for the most
part attained by additions in the shape of distinct words. Thusthe
particular re- lation of the word Marcus to the other words in the
sentence, which in Latin is made known by altering the word into Marco,
is signified in English by the word io ; and to MarcuSy esteeming
the two words as one ex- pression, is the same as Marco. So
likewise the word amo, which in English signifies /
Gl l&ve, is adapted to a different meaning
by being changed into amabit, which in English is to be signified
by he mil love, the three words, taken as a whole, being the same
as the single Latin word. Shall we call to Mar- cus the dative case
of Afarcus, and he will , love, the third person singular of the
future tense of / love, as Marco and amabit are re- spectively
called with reference to Marcus and amo? or shall we parse (resolve
into grammatical parts) those English sentences, and so deny, in
our language, a dative case and ' a future tense ? It is evident that
this is a question which only the elementary grammar- writer is
concerned with : he may suit his own convenience, and contend the point
as he -I pleases. Thus much is certain, and is quite sufficient for
our purpose, — that to Marcus , cannot be considered a dative case, nor
he wiU ] love a future tense, on any other principle than the one
it is stated to flow from, namely; that marked i. in Sect. 21.
23. To the practical grammarian we may likewise frequently allow,
for the sake of con- venience, the continuing a word under its
usual denomination, when its office, and con- sequently its character,
are essentially changed. He will love, taking the three words as one
expression, are a verb both on the principles we have ascertained, and in
the practice of the elementary grammarian : but in parsing tliis
verb — this p^iio, dictum, communication, 01 sentence, — only one of the
three words can properly retain the denomination of verb, viz. that
word to which the others have a re- ference, by which they hang together,
and are signified to be a sentence, namely, ■will. As to the word
love, which the practical grammarian will tell us is a verb in the
infi- nitive mood, it does not in fact fulfil the office of a verb,
but of a substantive. But if, by calling it a verb in the infinitive
mood, its character for practical purposes is con- veniently
marked, we may fairly leave the matter as it stands. All we insist upon
is, that the doubtful character of the word is a
consequence of the principle marked ii. in Sect 21."
I • Strictly, there is no verb but when a c cation ib
actually made ; and that word is then the verb, which expreaseB the
communicatioti, or which, when several words are necessary, ie the sign
of union among the whole of them. A verb not actually in use is
acaptain out of commission, and if we still call it a verb, it is by
courtesy. Home Tooke never an- swered his own question, " What is
that peculiar dif- ferential circumstance, which added to the
definition of a noun, constitutes a verb ?" (Diversions of
Purley, Vol. II. p. 514),) because he bad previously blinded
himself to the perception of what it is, by laying down the principle
already animadverted upon in a note ap^ ponded to Sect. 3., namely, that
the business of the mind, as far as regards language, extends no
fiirther than to receive impressions: the consequence of which
priuciple would be, (if it could have any consequence at all,) that the
first invented elements of speech were nouns, or names for those
impressions ; which accord- ingly seems to be his notion, and that verba
afterwards arose from nouns, by assuming the difierential some^
thing that was found to be wanting. Our doctrine is, that the original
element of speech contained both the artificial noun and the artiiicial
verb ; that the mind exerted its active powers in order to evolve the
artir ficial parts ; that the act of joining them together It
might also perhaps admit of dis- pute, whether substantives in what are
called their oblique cases, do not, by being the ad- juncts to
other words, and taking a change of form to signify their servitude,
cease in fact to be substantives, and merit no higher name than
adjectives or adverbs. But here again we consult convenience by using
the descriptive title, a substantive in the geni- tive, dative,
accusative, or ablative case. We only need insist, as philosophical
inquirers, that the definition of a substantive in Sect. 15., is
not less correct, because it does not in- clude a substantive in these
oblique cases*. i^ain, made them a verb ; but if the title was
given to one more than to the other, it was given to that which
arose most immediately from the occasion, and took the other to fis or
determine it ; and that subsequently that word in a sentence came to be
coneidcred the verb, which joined the parts K^ether, and signified
them to be a sentence. * The only oblique case in English
substantives, is the genitive terminating in 'fi or having only the
apostrophe, the s being elided. Grammarians, in- deed, have found it
necessary to allow an accusative. The very doubt itself which so
often arises, whether a word is this or that part of speech, — the
varying classification of the parts of speech by different grammarians, —
are cir- cumstances entirely favourable to the theory advanced, and
adverse to any theory which attempts to explain the parts of speech by
a reference to the nature of our thoughts in- dependently of
language. For if the parts of speech had taken their origin from this
cause* because pronouns have it : for if in the sentence
Cas- s-iua loved him, we put the noun where the pronoun stands, and
say, Casmus loved Brutus, it seems con- venient to consider the noun to
be in the same case that the pronoun was in. On the same principle,
the substantives which, in the classical languages, have no
accusative distinct from the nominative, are neverthe- less considered to
have an accusative, because, lite other substantives, they can be used
objectively with regard to verbs active and certain prepositions.
On the score of convenienee this must be allowed. But when words
are taken separately, (and this, by the very delinttion of the word, is
the business of parsing,) it is evident that only those
substantives are, strictly speaking, in the accusative case, which,
when uaed as just staled, have a form to signify it. surely we
could never have been in doubt either as to vskat, or koio many, they
were. But our theory accounts at once for the in- certitude on
these, and many other points. We admit no original element of speech
but the VERB, or that one sign which denotes what the speaker
wishes to communicate. If no one sign can be found adequate to the
occa- sion, then we must make up a sign out of two or more. Now the
division of a verb into these parts of speech, is necessarily
attended by the consequence, that each part is insigni- ficant of a
communication by itself, and that they signify it only by being joined
together. Supposing a sentence never consisted but of two parts,
the mere act of joining them to- gether, would be sufficient to signify
that they were a sentence or verb. But the ne- cessity or usage of
speech being such, that the hearer knows a sentence may consist of
two or of many words, how is he to be warned that a sentence is formed,
unless to certain words is given the power of signifying a sentence,
while to other words this power is de- nied until associated with a word
of the for- mer class? Hence the distinction between noun and verb
; a distinction arising out of the necessities of speech, and not out of
the nature of our thoughts. The noun and the verb, then, are the original
parts of speech, the verb beingthepreviouselementof both. But as
each derives its office and character solely from an understanding
between the speaker and the hearer, a change of understanding may
make them change their offices, and so the verb shall sometimes be a
noun, and the noun a verb. These changes occur in fact so
frequently, as to require no example. Then, as we have seen, a noun will
frequently be used as the adjunct of another noun, and so become an
adjective j an adjective or other word may be joined to a verb, and so
become an adverb j and any of these, by frequent use in particular
combinations, may acquire, or seem to acquire, a new and peculiar
office, and so become articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. But who
can ascertain that de- gree of use, which, to the satisfaction of
every grammarian, shall fix them in their acquired character • ?
Nay, must not every such word, of necessity, while in transitu, be at one
period quite uncertain in its character ? In this man- ner do the
effects arising out of such a theory of the parts of speech as we have
supposed, agree with actual effects, and fully explain them. 26.
Again, on any other hypothesis than the one before us, what are we to
think of compounded nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, &c., of
which all languages are full ? With- out adverting to established
compounds, such as (to take the first that occur) husbandman.
* What, for instance, shnll we call the word fi/ce in such
phrases as like him, like me? Originally theword unto intervening between
it and the pronoun, govern- ed the latter ; but unio cannot now be aid to
govern the pronoun, since it has been so long disused, as to be no
longer mtderstood. We miglit therefore say, that like is a preposition
governing the pronoun : — the point perhaps is disputed ; — be it so :
for this fact jugt serves our argument. :
m worJcmanlike, waylay, browbeat, nevertheless ;
without bringing words from the ilUmitably compounded Greek language, —
we may refer to such as are not established, but compounded ibr the
particular purpose ; as when Locke speaksof '* Mr.
'Nev/ton'sjiever-enough-io be ad- mired book," where the words in
italic are an adjective; and when some old lady pettishly says to
her grandchild " Don't dear Grand' mother me i" v/here the
whole sentence, ex- cept the pronoun governed in the accusative, is
a verb. So in the phrases to fiAxov <rvvoia-eiv 7^ iroXei the
being-about-to-be'prqfitable-to-t/ie- Ci'/y,— and, TO Tct Tou
iroXefiov raj^ii xal Kara Kaipov Trpa.TTea$at, the
completing-spcedili/'and- seasonablif-the'lhings-for-the-war, we are
war- ranted in considering the whole of the words following the
article, to be, in each instance, a noun-substantive. For these, and for
every other species of compound, the theory before US at once
accounts. For it shows that the use of many words to form one sentence,
arises out of the necessities of language only, the na-
tiira] impulse of the mind being tomake its com- munication
by a single expression. Having complied, then, with the necessities of
lan- guage, and rendered it capable of serving as the interpreter
of much more knowledge than we could have attained without its help ;
we then return on our steps, and give a unity to our expressions in
every possible way. 27. The corruption of early phrases, by
which, in so many instances, they come under the denomination of adverb,
will be found another obvious consequence of the present theory, while
they abundantly perplex the grammarian who attempts to reconcile them
to any other system. "Omnis pars orationis" says Servius,
"quando desinit esse quod est, migrat in adverbium." " I
think" says Home Tooke, " I can translate this intelligibly —
Every word, quando desinit esse quod est, when a grammarian knows not
what to make of it, migrat in adverbium, he calls an ad-
verb."* What indeed can be made of such ' Divctsioiia
vi Puiky, Vol. I. expressions as at all, by and by, to be
sure, for ever, long ago, no, yes. They are adverbs, say the
grammarians. But (to take the phrases first) what are the words,
individually, of which the adverbs are composed? The answer will
be, they are prepositions, adjec- tives, &c., which remain from the
corruption of regular phrases once in use. This is a true , account
of the matter : — yet it leaves us still to ask, what ai'e these single
words, now that the phrases which produced them exist no longer in
their original state. Let any gram- marian, if he can, prove their right
to the name of any of the received parts of speech. Our system, if
it does not make a provision tor them by a name for a new class of
words, at least shows the cause and the nature of their difference.
For according to our principles, words have both a separate and a, joint
signifi- cation. But if words should be constantly
another place, he says " that this class of words, (ad- verb,)
is the common sink and repository of all hetero- geneous, unknown corruptions."
occurring in particular combination, this ef- fect will enaue, —
that their separate significa- tion in such hackneyed phrase, will at
last be quite unattended to, and their joint significa- tion alone
regarded ; — and such phrases will then be as liable to be clipped in the
currency of speech, as any long word which is trouble- some to be
uttered at full : — thus will the re- maining parts of the phrase be
fixed for ever in their joint, and lose for ever their separate
signification*. So much for the words com- posing adverbial phrases. But
what are we to say for no, yes, which probably had the same origin
as the phrases ? These have not, Hke the phrases, a compound form, nor
do they, like the phrases, always assist in making up a sentence,
but are frequently and proper- ly pointed oft' by the full stop. Are we,
un- der such circumstances, to call them adverbs P •• Yes."
This is the answer our grammarians make. But is there, in these words,
any • Thcwordtoas asignofthcinfiiiitivL'moodcumcs
onilcr this doicnption. thing which gives them a just claim to
be ranked with any of the received classes of words? "
No." This is an assertion it would be difficult to gainsay. For
consider them well, and we shall find, that, in their present use,
they are not j3ar/s of speech at all, except with reference to the larger
portions of dis- course of which all the sentences are parts : they
are sentences ; and they afford a striking example of what was intimated
in the prece- ding section, namely the tendency oflanguage, in a
mature state, to return on its early steps as far as can be done without
losing the ad- vantages gained : for not only do we, when- ever we
can, bring the smaller parts of speech into such union as to form larger
parts, but in some instances, (as in these last,) we come round
again to the simpHcity of natural signs. 28. This union of the smaller
into larger parts of speech, and the power we have to dis- pose the
same materials into more or fewer sentences, will furnish further proofs,
that the present theory of language can alone be the true one. A
proper examination of compound sentences will show, that the
grammatical parts into which they are first resolvable, are not the
single words, but the clauses which are formed by those words ; which
clauses are substantives, and verbs, and adjectives, and adverbs,
with respect to the whole sentence, however they may, in their turn, be
resolva- ble into subordinate parts of speech bearing the same or
other names. To take the fol- lowing as an example : " The sun which
set this evening in the west, will rise tomorrow morning in the
east." The two parts into which this sentence is resolvable, are, to
all intents and purposes, a noun-substantive and a verb, if
considered with respect to the whole sentence*. This is the first, or
broadest ana- * And HO may the two parts (technically called
the protasis and apodosis) of every periodic sentence be considered
: for every period, (TEfi'ofos, a circle,) is re- solvable into two chief
parts, the one assimilated to the semicircle tending out, the other to
the rendering- in, or completing semicircle. These answering parts
ate commonly indicated in Greek by iJth — ft; in En- ]lysis. Then taking
the former of these two chief constructive parts, we shall find it
re- solvable into these two subordinate parts, viz. the sun, a noun
substantive, and w?iick set this evening in the west, its adjunct or
adjective : — the latter chief constructive part being in the same
way resolvable into will rise, a verb, — and, tomorrow morning in the
east, its ad- junct or adverb. Returning to the adjective of the
former chief constructive part, we shall gUsh very frequently by as
— so; though — yet, &c. There may exist a doubt in most sentences so
construct- ed, whether the one part has a claim to be considered
tlie verb more than the other : each part is meant to be insignificant by
itself, and, {as was lately supposed of the parts of speech in their
early institution, before a sentence was composed of more than two
words,) they Bifrnify a communication by the very act of being
join- ed together. Yet as the protasis is a clause in sus- pense,
and so resembles a substantive in the nomina- tive case before the verb
is enounced ; — as the apodo- 618 removes the suspense, and so resembles
the verb in its effect on tlie substantive ; — it seems that in
con- Hidering the protasis as a nominative case and the apo- dosis
aa its verb, we shall not be far from taking a , right view of the
principle and procedure. 7find it, if separately viewed, to
be a sentence having its nominative which, its verb set, and the
latter having its adverb tins evening in the ivest ; which adverb is
resolvable into two clauses of which the former consists of the de-
monstrative adjective this, and evening, a sub- stantive used objectively
with relation to the preposition on understood •• The latter clause
in the west is nearly similar in its grammatical parts ; but the
preposition it depends upon, is not understood. This subordinate or
adjec- tived sentence which we have thus taken to pieces, (viz.
which set this evening in the west,') is however no sentence when
considered with " Or more properly this eeening is an adverb ;
for a word cannot justly be called understood, when its ab- sence
is not suspected till the grammarian informg us of it : — on before euch
phrases when the custom to omit it had just begun, was indeed understood;
it is now understood no longer, and what remains of any such phrase
is an adverb. As the next clauses, in the tceat, retains its preposition,
we are at liberty to parse the clause, instead of considering it, in the
whole, as an adverb attcndijig the verb set, though we are also
ab liberty to consider it in the latter way. reference
to the larger sentence of which it is a grammatical part : but it might,
if the speaker had pleased, have been kept distinct, and the same
meaning have been conveyed by two simple sentences, as by the one
com- pound one : e. g. " The sun set this evening in the west
: — It will rise tomorrow morning in the east." Here, we have two
sentences or commuuications. But this is nothing more than a
difference in the manner of conveying the thought, precisely analogous to
the using of two words that restrict each other, in place of a
single appropriate sign. In the instance before us, the thought, whether
expressed by the one sentence or the two, is the same ; and it is
one and entire, whatever the expression may be. For we must not confound
the two facts referred to in the sentences, with what the mind
thinks of the facts : — it is the con- nexion of the facts that the
speaker seeks to make known. Yet he may imagine he can best make it
known by using the two sen- tences ; for though, it is true, that while
they are in progress, they will be understood se- parately, yet no
sooner will they be com. pleted, than the hearer will understand
them limited and determined the one by the other, and no longer
abstractedly as while they were in progress. In this manner, in
correspond- ence with the principle stated Sect. 21 . iii., will
the same result be obtained by the two, as by tlie one sentence.
29. This power, which exists in all lan- guages, of expressing the
same thought in a variety of different ways, is, one would think, a
suiEcient proof, by itself; that thoughts and words have not the kind of
correspondence whicli is commonly imagined : for if such cor-
respondence had existed, the same thoughts would always have been
expressed, if not by the same words, yet by words of similar mean-
ing in the same order. Let us suppose that tlie expressing a thought by
several words,' I had been, (which it is not,) a process analo-
gous to that of expressing the combined sounds of a single word by
several letters. There is the more propriety in instituting tlie
compa- rison, because men were driven to the latter expedient by a
necessity similar to that which drove them to the former. For, no
doubt, the first idea of the inventors of writing was, to
appropriate a character for every word ; and we are told that, to this
day, a practice near to this prevails in China, But it was soon
found that the immense number of characters this would require, must make
the completion of the design next to impracticable ; and the
expedient was at length adopted of spelling words. By this expedient,
twenty four cha- racters, by their endless varieties of position
with each other, are capable of signifying the multitude of words, and
the innumerable sen- tences, which constitute speech. The parts of
speech were set on foot by a similar urgency, and in tlie same way. At
first, every sound was a sentence. But the communications which the
business of life required, far, far outnumbered every possible variety of
sound. It was fortunate, therefore, when a necessity
eo ON C arose to give to some of the
sounds a less par- ticular application ; for then the requisite
sign was formed out of two or more sounds already in use, and no
new sound was required. So far the parallel holds ; but it will go no
further. In the spelling of words by letters, the same letters must
always be used, — if not the same characters, yet characters of the same
power. And it would have been the same in spelling a thought by
words, if the process had been what it is commonly supposed to be :— that
is to say, the same thought would always have been expressed by the
same words, or if the words had been changed, the change must have
been word for word, as in a completely literal translation from one
lan- guage to another. How different this is from fact, hardly
needs further examples in proof. Mr. Harris attempts to shew *,
that • Hermes, Book I. Chap. 8. We cordially agree in
Home Tooke's opinion of thia well-known work, that it is " an
improved compilation of almost all the enors which grammarians liave been
accumulating S tlic different forms or modes
of sentences, depend on the nature of our thoughts. That the
character of a thought has an influence in determming our preference of
this or that mode of speech, needs not be questioned; but all the
modes of speech, are interchangeable at pleasure, and therefore they
cannot aub- stantiallydepend on thenature of our thoughts. An
affirmative sentence, " 1 am going out of town," ma be
made imperative, " know, that I am going out of town ;" or
interrogative, *' Is it necessary to say, that I am going out of
town ?" A negative sentence, " No man is immortal," maybe
made affirmative, "Every man is mortal." It would waste time
and patience to multiply examples. The con- clusion, then, is, that
the parts of speech and from the time of Aristotle, to our present
days." Di- versions of Furley, Vol. I. page 120. Vet
occasionally, when our etymologist runs a little bard on this Com-
piler of errors, the theory we advance, opposite as it ib in its general
tenor to all that the Hermes conttuns, will be found to lend its author a
lift. See the section ensuing in the text. the forms
of sentences, are alike attributable to the necessities and conveniences
of lan- guage, and not to the nature of our thoughts independently
of language. Perhaps by this time it may almost seem that an opinion
con- trary to this has no defined existence, and that the combat
has been against a shadow. But this is not true. If the opinion opposed
to the principles contended for, is seldom ^rwio% expressed, it is
nevertheless universally under- stood — it is at the bottom of all the
systems of grammar, of logic, and of rhetoric, which we study in
our youth, and which we after- wards make our children study ; and as it
is an opinion radically, essentially wrong, the pains employed to
overthrow it, cannot, if successful, have been supeiHuous. In no
other way was a preparation to be made for an outline of the higher
departments of Sema- tology. 30. New, however, as we believe
our theory to be, yet it is not without authorities in its favour ;
and with these we shall conclude the chapter. Harris, the author of"
Hermes," in treating of connectives, stumbles unawares on the
fact, that a word which is significant when alone, may he no significant
part of what is meant hy the expression it helps to form. He makes
nothing indeed of the fact, further than to lay himself open to the
ridicule of Home Tooke for tKe inconsistent assertions in which it
involves him. " Having" says Tooke *, "defined a word to
he a sound significant, he (viz. Harris) now defines a pre- position to
be a word devoid of signification ; and a few pages after, he says, '
prepositions commonly transfuse something of their own meaning into
the words with which they are compounded.' Now if I agree with
him," continues Tooke, " that words ai'e sounds
significant, how can I agree that there are sorts of words devoid of
signification ? And if I could suppose that prepositions are devoid
of signification, how could I afterwards allow, ' Diversions
of Purley, Vol. I. Cliap. 9. 9» that they
transfuse something of their own meaning?" Yet with all this, Harris
is right, only that he is not aware of the principle, which lies at
the bottom of his own doctriue. A preposition, as well as every other
word, is a sound significant j — it has an independent abstract
signification : but being joined into a sentence, it is devoid of that
signification it had when alone : it has then transfused its own
meaning into the word with which It is compounded, as that word has
transfused its meaning into the preposition — that is to say, they
have but one meaning between them. 31. But Dugaid Stewart, in his
Philoso- phical Essays, furnishes a direct, and a more satisfactory
authority in favour of the theory we have advanced. " In reading
" says he •, " the enunciation of a preposition, we are
apt to fancy, that for every word contained in it, there is an idea
presented to the understand- ing ; from the combination and comparison
of which ideas, results that act of the mind • Philosophical
Essays, Essay 5. Chap. I. called judgment. So different is
all this from fact, that our words, when examined sepa- rately, are
often as completely insignificant aa the letters of which they are
composed, de- riving their meaning solely from the connexion or
relation in which they stand to others." — Again : " When we
listen to a language which admits of such transpositions in the
arrange- ment of words as are familiar to us in Latin, the artificial
structure of the discourse suspends, in a great measure, our conjectures
about the sense, till, at the close of the period, the verb, in the very
instant of its utterance, unriddles the jenigma. Previous to this,
the former words and phrases resemble those detached and unmeaning
patches of different colours, which compose what op- ticians call
an anamorphosis ; while the effect of the verb, at the end, may be
compared to that of the mirror, by which the anamorphosis is
reformed, and which combines these appa- rently fortuitous materials,
into a beautiful portrait or landscape. In instances of this sort,
it will generally be found, upon an accurate examination, that the
intellectual act, as far as we are able to trace it, is altogether
simple, and incapable of analysis ; and that the elements into which we
flatter ourselves we have resolved it, are nothing more than the
grammatical elements of speech j — the logical doctrine about the
com- parison of ideas, bearing a much closer affinity to the task
of a school-boy in parsing his lesson, than to the researches of
philoso- phers able to form a just conception of the mystery to be
explained." — Had this acute philosopher brought these views of
language to the elucidation of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric, and so
have cleared them from the incrusted errors of immemorial
antiquity, the reader's patience would not have been tried by the
chapter now finished and those which are to follow. Say,
first, of God above, or man below. What can we reason, but from
what we know. POPE. 1. In commencing this branch of
Semato- logy, it may be as well to define not only this but the
other branches, that their presumed relation and difference may at once
appear : i. Grammar, then, is the right use of words with a
view to their several functions and inflexions in forming them into
sentences ; ii. Logic is the right use of words with a view
to the investigation of truth ; and iii. Rhetoric is the right use
of words with a view to inform, convince, or persuade *. *
This definition includes the poet^s use of words as well as that of every
other person, who, having one or more of the purposes mentioned in view,
speaks or fts 2, The
object of the present chapter will be, to show that there is no art of
Logic (except sucli as is an imposition on the un- derstanding but
that which arises out of the principles ascertained in the previous
chap- ter ; — that tliis, which is the Logic every man uses, agrees
with the definition in the previ- ous section; —and that we cannot carry
the definition further, without transgressing a clearly marked line
which will usefidly distin- guish between Logic and Rhetoric.
3. In affirming that there is no art of Lo- gic but that which
arises out of the use of signs, we do not mean that reason itself is
de- writes skilfully. Should it be said, that the poet's end is to
delight, — we answer that he gains this end by in- forming, convincing,
or persuading. The true dis- tinction between the poet and any other
speaker or wri- ter, lies iu the different nature of their thoughts,
In communicating his thoughts, the poet, like others who are
skilful in the use of words to inform, convince, or persuade, is a
rhetorician ; although, with reference to the creative genius displayed,
{iroix^n a jrcn'm,) and al- so with reference to the added ornament of
metre or rhyme, we chU the result, a poem.
pendent on language. Reason must exist pri- or to language, or
language could not be in- Vented or adopted. What we affirm is,
that prior to the use of words or equivalent signs, »o art exists :
the mind then perceives, as far fts its powers extend, intuitively; and
thus working without media, it can no morye ope- rate otherwise
than as at first, than the eye can see otherwise than nature enables it.
The mind can, however, invent the means to assist its operations,
as it has invented the telescope to assist the eye ; the difference
being, that the telescope is not such an instrument as all minds
would invent, but the use of signs to assist its operations, grows out of
the human mind by its very constitution, and the influ- ence of
society upon that constitution. 4. That writers on Logic do not in
gene- ' ral view the matter in this light, is evident from this,
that they devote, or at least they persuade themselves and their readers
that they devote, a great pait of their considera- tion to the
operations of the mind indepeud- 9entlyof language, which,
for any practical end, must evidently be nugatory on the supposi-
tion stated above ; since, if the mind, without the aid of signs, can but
operate as nature en- ables it, all instruction concerning what the
mind does by itself*, will but be an attempt * WattB Bays t&at
" the design of Logic, b to teaeli us the right use of our
reason." Recurring to our comparisDU in the previous section,
this is as if any one had proposed to teach the right use of the eye.
It is true indeed, a man may be taught a right use of the eye, —
that is, he may be taught to observe proper ob- jects by its means ; and
so may he be taught a right use of reason by applying it to those things
which are conducive to his improvement and happiness. But all this
belongs to Morals not to Logic ; nor was this Watts's meaning. He imagined
a man could be tattght how to use his reason independently of any
considera- tion of an instrument to work with ; as if any one had
offered to teach mankind how to sec with their eyes. Now, there is
nothing preposterous in offering to show how a telescope is to be used in
order to assist the eye ; nor any thing preposterous in trying to
show how words may be used in a better manner than com- mon custom
instructs us, in order to assist the mind. — Be it observed that the
objection here made, is to what was proposed to be done by Watts, and
not to teach us that which every one does with- out teaching, and
which no teaching can make us do better : but if, by the use of
signs, the mind can carry its natural operations to things which it
could not reach without signs, the instruction of the logician should at
once begin by pointing out the use and the abuse of signs. Now this
is in fact the point at which every teacher of logic does begin,
how- ever he may disguise the real proceeding from himself, and
whatever confusion he may throw over his subject, by not knowing in what
way he is concerned with it. In pretending to teach us the nature
of ideas j logicians do no- thing but teach us what knowledge we attain
to what he actually does, except so far as he has done it amiss
from setting out badly. What follows in the text will explain this last
observation. Our illustration must not lead the reader to
think we are ignorant of the fact that men do learn to see, that
is, to correct, by experience and judgment, the im- pression of objects
on the retina. We take the matter as commonly understood, namely, that
men see correct- ly by nature, which is near enough to the truth for
our present purpose. by means of words-, and when Home
Tooke says of Locke's great work, that it is " merely a
grammatical Essay or Treatise on words," * be comes so near the
truth, that it is wonder- ful he should have so wrongly interpreted
other parts of that philosopher's doctrine. Putting a wrong construction
on Locke's just fundamental principle, that the mind has no innate
ideas, Tooke affirms that '* the busi- ness of the mind, as far as it
regards language, extends no further than to receive impres- sions,
that is, to have sensations or feelings. What are called its operations
are merely the operations of language." t This is palpably
absurd ; ftx how can language operate of it- • Diversions of
I'utley, Vol. I. page 31, note. -j- Diversions of Purley, Vol. I.
page 51. We have already quoted this passage ; and perhaps more
than ontc : but it is hoped we need not apologise for the re-
petitions whicli may be found in this and the next chapter. Our purpose
is to trace Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric, to a common source, and in
doing so, if they really have an origin in common, we must
necesEarily traverse the same ground repeatedly to come at it
aelf? The mind must observe, compare,
and judge *, before it can invent or adopt the lan- guage of art ;
and having adopted it, every use of it is an exercise of the reasoning
facul- ty, excepting only that kind of instinctive use, in which
some short sentence takes the place of a natural ejaculation. Feelings or
sensa- tions we cannot help having ; but these do not help us to
language. This requires the ac- tive powers of the mind ; and every word,
in- dividually, will accordingly be found the sign of something we
kno-w, obtained, as every thing we know must be obtained, by
previous acts of comparison and judgment, involving, * These
powers of the mind are innate, — that is to e&y, they belong to tlie
mind by its constitution, al- though sensation is the appointed means for
first call- ing them forth. It should seem as if Tooke thought
nothing was bom with man except the power to receive senEStionB or
feelings, and that reason comes from Un- guage ; an opinion so
preposterous that we can hardly think him capable of it ; and yet, from
what he says, no other can be understood : — " Jleason,""
he says, " ia the result of the senses, and of experience."
Diver- sions of Purley, Vol. 11, p^e 16. J^
in every instance beyond that which sets the sign on foot, an
inference gained by the use of a medium. And such, as we have seen,
are the necessities of speech, that tliey lead us constantly to extend
the application of words ; which extension requires new acts of
comparison and judgment; and thus, by means of words, (or signs
equivalent to words,) we are constantly adding to our knowledge,
still carrying the signs with us, to mark and contain it, and to serve
afterwards as the media for reaching new conclusions. It is only
ne- cessary to read Locke's Essay with this ac- count of the matter
in view, to prove that it is the true account j so readily will all that
he has said on ideas, yield to this simple inter- pretation *, He
who first made use of words * " Read," saya Home
Tookc, " the Essay on the Underslnnding over with attention, and see
whether all that its immortal author has justly concluded, will not
hold equally true and clear, if we substitute the composition, &c. of
lerraa, wherever he has supposed a composition, Sec. of ideas. And if
that, upon strict examination, appear to you to be the case, you
will equivalent to yellow, white, heat, cold, soft, hard, bitter,
sweet*, used them, respectivelyy to signify the individual sensation he
was con- scious of, and in that first use, the expression must have
been a sentence, or tantamount to a sentence. By experience, he came to
know the exterior cause of that sensation, and after- wards, by the
same means, to know that other need no other argument against the
composition of ideas : it being exactly similar to that unanswerable
one which Mr. Locke himself declares to be sufficient against their
being innate. For the supposition is un- necessary : every purpose for
which the composition of ideas was imagined being more easily and
naturally answered by the composition of terms, whilst at the same
time it does likewise clear up many difficulties in which the supposed
composition of ideas necessarily in- volves us." Diversions of
Purley, Vol, I. page 38. In this, and other passages, H. Tooke is very
near the trutli ; but he nevertheless misses it. " The com-
position, Sic. of terms "' in lieu of " the composition,
&c. of ideas," does not describe the actual process. But
Tooke, who discovers that Locke has started at a wrong place, begins his
own theory from a false found-4 ation. • yide Locke, B. 2. ad
initium : we have used the examples before. Chap. I, Sect. 16.
ol^ects produced the same sensation. To these several
objects he would naturally apply the expression (originally tantamount to
a sen- tence) by which he first signified the sensa- tion ; and
suppose those objects already pro- vided with namesj the expression
would, in such pew application, be tantamount to a name or
noun-adjective. Thus in the several instances, he would use two names for
one thing, in correspondence with our present practice when we say,
yclhw flower, yellow sky, yellow earth, yellow skin. Such a proce-
dure is an effect and a proof of what the speak- er has observed in
common, and of what he observes to be different, in the several ob-
jects; and this is a knowledge evidently ob- tained from comparison and
judgment exer- cised on many particulars. The same know- ledge
enables us, when we please, to drop the words which name the objects
accojding to their differences, and to retain only that which
signifies their similarity, and the name-adjec- tiv e then becomes a
name-substantive standing for the sensation itself whenever or how4 ever
produced, and not standing for it in amy particular case, until limited
to do so by the assistance of other words. Individually and
separately, then, these words^ viz. yellow; white, heat, cold, soft,
&c. are, to him who has properly used them in particulars, tiie
eigns of the knowledge he ha^ gained by com^ paring those particulars
:«^hey denote con- clusions arising out of a rational process which
has been carried on by their means ; which conclusion, as to the
word^elloWf for instaop^ is this, — ^that there are » great mwy
Qbjepte which produce the same sensation, or a sensar tion very
nearly the same j*— ^(very nearly the same, since yeU&w^ by all who
have acquired a full use of the word, is applied to different
shades of yellow j — ) and to understand the word, is to have arrived at,
or kno^ this cof^- elusion. 5. The words so far referred to,
are those which denote what Locke calls simple ide^js. Now, we may
reasonably doubt wheth^ the mind could have obtained the knowledge,
which, as we have seen, is included even in a word of this kind, if it
had not been gifted with the power of inventing a sign to assist
itself in the operation. That sign needs not be a word, though words are
the signs com- monly used. He who remembers the sensa- tion of
colour produced by a crocus, is re- minded of the crocus the next time he
has the same sensation from a different thing ; and the crocus may
become the sign of that sensation arising from the new object, and
from every future one. And this is the way in which the mind probably
assists itself an- tecedently to the use of language, or where, (as
in the case of the totally deaf *,) the use of * Though long
for a quotation, yet we cannot re- sist transcribing, from a work by Dr.
Watson, master of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Kent Road, near London,
the following able remarks : — they will help to shew how for superior
are audible signs to every other kind, and place in its proper light the
misfor- tune of being naturally incapable of them. He is speaking
of the comparative importance of the two it, by the ordinary means of
attainment, is precluded. But for this power of the mind, senBES,
hearing and seeing. " Were the point," he says, " to be
determined by the value of the direct sensations transmitted to the
sensorium through each of them, merely as direct sensations, there could
not be any ground for a moment's hesitation in pro. , nouncing the
almost infinite superiority of the ej/e to ] the ear. For what is the sum
of that which we derive I from the car as direct sensation P It is sound
; and sound indeed admits of infinite variety ; but strip it of j
the value it derives Irom arbitrary associations, and it is but a
titillation of the organ of sense, painful or pleasurable according as it
is shrilly soft, rough, dis- cordant, or harmonious, Sec. Should one, on
tlic con- trary, attempt to set forth the sum of the information we
derive from the eye " — independently of the aid derived from
arbitrary means — " it is so immense, that volumes could not contain
a full description of it ; so precious, ' that no words short of those we
apply to the mind itself, can adequately express its value. Indeed, all
lan- guages bear witness to this, by figuratively adopting visible
imagery to signify the highest operations of in- tellect. Expunge such
imagery from any language, and what will be left ! What, in this case,
must be- come of the most admired productions of human ge- nius P
Whence then (and the question is often asked) 1 does it arise, that those
bom blind have such su- h2 which seems pecuHai* to man, and
is the cause of language, (not the effect of it, as perlority
of imelligence over those bom deaf? Take, it miglit be said, ii boy nine
or ten years of age who has never seen the light, and you will find him
con- versable, and ready to give long narratives of past oc-
currenceH, &c. Place by his side a boy of the same age who baa had
the misfortune to be bom deaf, and observe the contrast. The latter is
insensible to all you say : he smiles, perhaps, and his countenance
ie brightened by tlie beams of ' holy light;' he enjoys the face of
nature; nay, reads with attention your features ; and, by sympathy,
reflects your smile or your frown. But he remains mute : he gives no
ac- count of past experience or of future hopes. You at- tempt to
draw something of this sort from him : he tries to understand, and to
make himself understood ; but he cannot. He becomes embarrassed : you
feci for him, and turn away from a scene so trying, under an
impression that, of these two children of mi^ fortune, the com])ari8on is
greatly in favour of the blind, who appears, by his language, to enter
into all your feelings and conceptions, while the unfortunate deaf
mute can hardly be regarded as a rational being ; yet he possesses all
the advantages of vi- sual information. All this is true. But the
cause of this apparent superiority of intelligence in the blind, is
seldom properly understood. It is not that those H. Tooke seems to
tliiak,) we never should have been able to arrange olyects in
classes, who are blind possess a greater, or anything like an
equai stock of materiak for mental op^adons, but bs- cause they possess
an invaluable etigine for forward- ing those operotioiis, however scanty
the materials to operate upon — artificial language. Language is
de- fined to be the expression of thought ; so it is : but it is,
moreover, the medium of thinking. Its value U> man is nearly
equivalent to that of his reasoning fa- culties: without it, he would
hardly be rational. It is the want of language, and not the want of
hearing, (unless as being the cause of the wont of language,) that
occasions that deficiency of intelligence or ine&. pansion of the
reasoning faculty, so observable in the naturally deaf and dumb. Give
them but language, by which they may designate, compare, classiiy,
an4 consequently remember, excite, and express their sen^ sations
and ideas, — then they must surpass the origin< ally and permanently
blind in intellectual perspicuity and correctness of comprehension, (as
far as having kctual ideas afiixed to words and phrases is
concerned,) by as much as the sense of seeing, furnishes matter for
mental operations beyond the sense of hearing, con- Eidered as direct
sensation. It is one thing to have a^ fluency of words, and quite another
to have correct no- tions or precise ideas annexed to them. But
though the car furnishes us only with the sensation of
sound, and reason on them when so arranged ; nor to consider
some common quality in many ob- jects, separately from the objects
themselves. Every object might have produced the same individual
effect by the senses, which it now produces, and have been recognized as
the same object when it produced the effect again ; for all
this happens to other animals, as to man ; but to know a something in
each which is common to many, implies a remem- brance of that
something in the rest at the time of perceiving each individually j
and how can this remembrance, (a remembrance and sound,
merely as such, can stand no comparlEOD with the multiform, delightful,
and important informa- tion derived from visual imprestiioDS ; yet as
sound admits of such astonishing variety, (above all when
articulated,) and is associablc, at pleasure, in the mind with our other
sensations, and with our ideas," (notions,) " it becomes the
ready exponent or nomenclature of thought ; and in this view is important
indeed. It is on thie account, chiefly, that the want of hearing is
to be deplored as a melancholy chasm in the human frame.'"
Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, not of the objects, but of a common
some- thing in all of them,) how can it be kept up, but by a sign
fitted to this duty ; which sign, as just observed, may be either a word,
or one of the objects set up to denote the com- mon characteristic,
and retained in mind Bolely for this purpose, in this
representative capacity ? 6. In proceeding from what are
called by Locke simple ideas to those he denominates [ complex, we
shall find the account just given equally applicable. The words he refers
to . under the threefold division of Modes, Sub- stances,
Relations, are, as our last examples, signs of certain conclusions
obtained from s comparison of particulars. This is true even \ of a
proper name ; for a proper name, as was ' shewn Chap. I. Sect. 3., does
not denote an individual as we actually perceive him, or as. J we
remember him at any one time ; but it J denotes a notion, that is, a
knowledge of him I drawn out of, or separated from all our par- '
I04f oNr Lo&ic. [cHap. ii. ticular perceptions *• For such
an effect of reason^ we have however nb certainty that the superior
powers of the huknan mind ar« indispensable; nor is it eiisy to
ascertaiq any peculiar privilege it enjoys till we find it rising
from individuals to classes. As soon as it sets up a sign to represent
some property, whether pure or mixed, which has been observed iA
many individuals,— or to re- * It id aft efifect of reaisoiiing to
know that a pa]>> ticular act or situation, which enters into our
percep- tion or conception of an object, is not essential — to
know, for instance, tliat the act of walkiAg is ftot es- iBentiAl to
John. The reasoning by which «uch k^w- ledge is acquired, occurs indeed
so early, that the operation is forgotten ; but there was a time when
our perceptions were without the knowledge, because they had not
been repeated i^ isu^ti^t hUtiibet to leHkbl^ the mind to make the
BCcessary ootaipluidcms^ Th^ natives of the South Sea Islands^ when
Cttptaia Cook <8nd his companions first made their appearance
among them, took every sailor and his garments to be one creature,
and did not arrive at a different condhision, but by o{>portuiiitte6
fdr comparicon. present the whole class of individuals,
so classed because of the common property, — ^it displays a power
of assisting itself which we have no cause to think any of the
inferior animals enjoy. To ahew how this takes place in producing
what Locke calls complex ideas, and which he subdivides into Modes,
Sub- stances, Relations, would only carry us onc^ more over the
ground we have so often cur- Lsorily traversed. We should have to
shew, for instance, how some word, at first equiva- lent to a
sentence, by which a man expressed his delight at a particular visible
object, came to be a name for the object ; how this name beauly,
came to be applied as a noun-adjec- tive to the nouns-subatantive of
other objects producing the same or a similar emotion j how, by the
continued application of this noun-adjective, we kept on comparing
innu? merable particulars, till our knowledge (no- tion) included a
very wide class of things very different indeed in other respects, —
nay^ including objects of other senses than sight— but still,
agreeing with each other in a certain effect produced on the mind : and
that then, dropping the nouns-substantive of the nu- merous
individuals, we retained solely in con- templation the noun beautiful or
beauty, the sign of the knowledge we had gained from this extensive
comparison— of the induction derived from these numerous particulars
*. • Very few persons reach so wide a knowledge of the
subject as we here refer to, and books may be, and have been written, to
teach us how to apply the word beautiful with taste, and critical — nay,
moral pro- priety. Having attained so far, we are not to suppose
that beautiful or beauty is a real existence independently of the
classification of objects we have thus established. All we have learned
is, to know the objects which pro- duce a certain elfect ; to know why
they produce it ; to enjoy, it is probable, the pleasure of that effect
with higher relish ; and to be prepared, by means of the
classiUcation we have formed, to lise, in our reasonings on the objects
it contains, to higher truths, and still more important conclusions. Now,
if the reader would see how a business so plain and simple, may
appear very complex and mysterious, let him
consult Plato on the beautiful or t'o xayjtv, as he will find
it treated, for instance, in the dialogue called STMHOSION : Let
him admire as he will, (for who can help it. We should again have to shew,
(to take another instance,) how a word once expres- sive of some
sentiment or recognition of which a horse was the subject, came to be
used as a name for that particular horse i that the name came afterwards
to be given to another resembling creature, — thence to another, —
and to others, till the points of re- semblance which led to this
extension of the word, could be found no longer *. We should
especially in company with Cicero, — witness his Errare tnekercule
malo cum Plaione, quam cum istia vere sentire?) let him admire the
sublimity which the amiable and highly-gifted Athenian throws over
his doctrine ; but let him not be betrayed into an opinion, that a
speculation which is in the most exalted etriun liipoeh'y, belongs to the
sober, the undazzled, and tin- dazzling views of philosophy.
• Compare Chap. I.Sect, 10. We may be per- mitted once more to
observe, that, with regard to sab- stances at least, the sign of the
class needs not be a word : one individual set up for all, will equally
serve the purpose. Not that the boundaries of a class are plain,
till an accurate logic determines them ; but the general differences (as
of the horse, for instance) are sufficiently obvious to prevent a person
from being likewise have toshew, (totake a third instance,)
how some word,-^originally equivalent, like the others, to a sentence, —
by which a man expressed his gratitude for kind offices, might come
to be a name for every one to whom gratitude for similar offices was due;
and how this ua.me,Jriend, applied at first only to
misled, who carries one individual in his mind ae the eign of all
he has seen, and all he calculates on seeing, and reasonB on this one,
with a conviction that the reasoning includes all the others. The idea of
an in- dividual thing which is thus set up as the represent- ative
of a class, may perhaps, without impropriety, be called a general idea ;
and if Locke had never used the expression but in subservience to such an
cxplana- uon, little or no exception could have been taken to it.
There is a passage (Essay on the Understanding, Book III., Chap. 3. Sect.
Jl.) which perfectly ac- cords with the doctrine in the text, and proves
that though Locke had misled himself by setting out with an opinion
that the operations of the human under- standing could be treated of
independently of words, he had more correct thoughts on the subject as
he proceeded. Another passage, giving a correct account of
abstraction with reference to language as the instru- ment, will be found
Book IL Chap. II- Sect. 9- one who stood in this ration to
the speaker, came at last, by observing and comparing other cases,
to be applied to all who stood in the same relation to any other person.
We should, in short, have to shew the same pro- cess with regard to
all the examples of modes, substances, and relations, which Locke's
Es- say supplies; but with these brief hints to guide him, the
reader may be left, in other instances, to trace the process for
himsdf. It will now be time, — still witii reference to the
principles ascertained in the last chapter, —to examine some other points
of doctrine in- sisted upon by writers on Logic. 7. The
operations of the mind necessary in Logic are said to be three, viz.
Percep- tion or Simple Apprehension ; Judgment ; and Reasoning.
Under the first of these di- visions, writers on Logic treat of ideas,
or the notions denoted by separate words, that is, words not joined
into sentences ; — under the second, they give us separate
sentences, technically called propositions j — ^and under the
third, they shew how two propositions may of necessity produce another,
so that the three shall express one act of reasoning. Now, that
perception, judgment, and reasoning, are all essential to Logic, needs
not be called in question ; but if the theory we have before us in
this treatise be true, the common doc- trine will appear, by the manner
in which it ex- emplifies these acts of the mind, to have com-
pletely confounded what really takes place, in the preparation for, and
in the exercise of this art. What, in the first place, is perception but
a sensation or sensations from exterior objects accompanied by a
judgment ? Our earliest sensations are unaccompanied by any judg-
ment upon them ; for we must have ma- terials to compare in order to
judge ; and these materials, in the earliest period of our
existence, are yet to be collected. At length, we can compare j and
because we can com- pare, we judge, and hence we come to know : —
" I know that the object which now affects my sense of vision is a
being like myself; I know him to be one of a
great many similar beings j I know him to be older or younger,
&c. ; I know that what now affects my sense of = hearing, is the cry
or bark of a dog" •, &c.j I could not know all this, if I had
had no means of judging ; and I can have no means of judging which
the senses do not originally furnish or give rise to. Perceptiouj
then, (which in every case is more than mere sen- sation,) always
includes an act of judgment ; and to treat of Perception and
Judgment under different divisions of Logic, must pre- vent the
proper understanding of both. In- stead, however, of the term Perception,
some writers t use that of Simple Apprehension. *' Simple
apprehension," says Dr. "Wliately, *' is the notion (or
conception) of any object in the mind, analogous to the perception
of the senses." t The examples appended to • See
Chap. I. Sect. 16. of- Viz. Professor Duncan and Dr. Whately. J
Elements of Logic by Dr. Whately, Chap. II. Part I. Sect. 1.
this definition, are, *'inan;" "horse;"
•'cards ;" " a man on horseback ;" " a pack of
cards." Now, if the notion or conception of tliese, 13 analogous to
the perception of them by the senses, — then, as the perception
includes an act of judgment, so Ukewise does the conception. But, in truth,
the no- tion corresponding to any of these expressions, is very
different from the perception of a man, a horse, a man on horseback,
&c. ; and the word or phrase in a detached state does not stand
for a perception or concep- tion inclusive only of an act of
judgment, but signifies an inference obtained by the use of a
medium, — in other words, a rational conclusion. For in all cases, what
gives the name and character of rational to a proceed- ing, is the
use of means to gain the end in view. When we perceive intuitively of two
men, that one is taller than the other, al- though the judgment we form
may be an e0ect of reason, yet we do not describe it as a rational
process ; but if the investigator, not being able to make a direct
comparison between them, introduces a medium, and by its means
infers that one is taller than the other, then we say the conclusion has
been obtained by a process of reason *. So, in applying a common
name to two individuals that are intuitively perceived to resemble,
we may be said to exert the judgment, and nothing more ; but if we apply
it to a third, and a fourth, and a fifth, it is a proof that we
measure each by the common qualities ob- served in the first two, and
that we carry in the mind a sign of those common qualities (whether
the name, or one of the former in- dividuals) for the purpose of carrying
on the process. In this way, an abstract word or phrase, let it
signify what it will, provided it be but abstract, is both the sign of
some ra- • Reasnn is the capacity for using mpdia of
any kind, and it consequent capacity for language : — the term
reasoning has reference to tlie act of thinking, with the aid of media in
order to reach a couclu- tional conclusion the mind has
already come to, and the means of reaching other conclu- sions :
which statement is true even of a proper name. For the name John, for
in- stance, underetood abstractedly, does not sig- nify John as we
now perceive him, or as we have perceived him at any one time ; but
it signifies our knowledge of him separately from any of those
perceptions. But we could not know of him separately from our
percep- tions, unless we had the power of setting up some sign
(whether the name or aught else) of what was common to all those
perceptions, and comparing them all with that sign *. • It is
not meant that we could not know him every time we perceived him, but
that we could not know of him separately from our perceptiong, if we
bad not the power spoken of in the text. It might be curious to
trace this distinction in the case of a dog. A dog knowE his master every
time he perceives him : — when he does not perceive him, he is reminded
of his absence by some change in his sensations, — (smcU, for
instance, as well as sight, and perhaps some others ;) he therefore seeks
him, and irets if he cannot find him. But abstracted from all perception,
and It appears, then, from
what precedes, that words and phrases which writers on Logic give
as examples of Perception or Simple Apprehension distinct from
Judg- ment and from Reasoning, are no examples at all of the first
distinct i'rom the latter two ; and equally groundless will appear that
dis- tinction which refers a proposition to an act of judgment
separate from reasoning. Not that an act of reasoning takes place
whenever a proposition or sentence is uttered. For, as we have seen
in the previous chapter, (Sect. 19.) a speaker does not always think of
the separate meaning of the words when he utters a sentence ; and
if a sentence denotes, as a whole, some sensation or emotion not
de- pendent on reason, (for instance, " My head aches;"
•' My eyes are delighted,") the ut- tering of it as a whole, without
attending to the sqiarate words, will no moj'e express aa
from all notice by change of sensation, it will scarcely be
contended that a dog knows of his master, as a ra- tionsl being knows of
his absent friend. act of reasoning, or even of judgment,
than would a natural ejaculation arising out of the occasion, and
used in place of the sentence. But the following propositions, "
Plato was a philosopher;" "No man is innocent ;"
which are given in Watts's Logic as examples of the act of the mind
called Judgment, stand on a different footing ; and we affirm that,
being used Logically, they involve not an act of judgment merely,
but express a conclusion drawn from acts of reasoning. 9-
Previously to shewing what has just been asserted, let us distinguish a
grammati- cal, and an historical understanding of these sentences ;
for a mere grammatical under- standing of them must be, and an
historical may be, essentially different from the logical
understanding of them. A grammatical un- derstanding, for example, of the
sentence, Plato was a philosopher, is merely a recog- nition of its
correctness as a form of speech without considering whether it conveys
any meaning or not ; and it would be grammatically understood if any
words whatever were substituted for those that compose the sen-
tence, provided they had a proper syntactical agreement. An historical
understanding im- plies some concern with the meaning of the
sentence ; but this may be very different in kind and degree, as
depending on the know- ledge whicli the mind is previously
possessed of. If the hearer did not know what Plato waa previously
to the communication, but knew the meaning of the word philosopher, he
would, by the sentence, be informed what he was, If he previously
knew, from history, how Plato lived, thought, and acted, but did not
know the meaning of the term philosopher, the ad- ditional
information conveyed to him by the sentence, would be but little : he
would be in- formed. Indeed, that he was called a philoso- pher,
but why or wherefore, he could, for the present, only guess. Let us
suppose, however, that before he comes to calculate why Plato is
called a philosopher, he had heard the word plied to others : if he bad
heard Socrates m [chap. II.
called a philosopher, and Confucius a philosopher, he would, on hearing
Plato so called, compafe the individuals in order to ascertain some
common qualities in all, of which the word might be the sign, and getting
these, he would know or have a notion of the word philosopher ;
though the notion would pro- bably undergo many modifications as
otlier individuals, Solomon, Seneca, Locke, Rous- seau, Newton,
were successively subjected to the common sign : — for if the hearer
fixes his notion at once, many individuals will perhaps be excluded
from his class of philosophers, which other people include under that
term ; and perhaps he will include many, which the usage of the
term excludes. In this way, then, while our knowledge of what is
included in separate words or phrases is imperfect, we may
nevertheless have some understanding of the sentences we hear or read ;
and this his- torical understanding suggests the reasoning process
just described, by which we get a logical understanding of the separate
words. But now to make a logical use of tfaem in framing a
proposition. We suppose the preliminary steps, namely the knowledge
included in the separate words ; we suppose it to be known, from history,
how Plato lived, thought, and acted ; we suppose it to be known
what is meant by philosopfier, by having heard the word applied to many
indi- viduals i but we have not yet applied it to ' Plato ; in
other words, we have yet to ascer- tain whether Plato belongs to the
class of in- dividuals denominated philosophers. Writers on Logic
talk of a comparison of ideas for this purpose, and of an intuition or
judgment ; but this, to say the best of it, is an imperfect and
bungled account of the matter. If, in- deed, to know how Plato lived and
acted can be called an idea, it is necessary to have this idea ; it
is further necessary to have a clear notion of the term philosopher, — if
this again can be called an idea: — and it is true enough that in
comparing Plato with this sign, we judge or know their agreement
intuitively. But out of this intuitive judgment an infer- ence
arises, and the sentence expresses that inference : a comparison has been
instituted through the intervention of a medium, in order to
ascertain whether Plato is to be as- signed to a certain class of
individuals ; we intuitively perceive his agreement with the
medium, and draw or pronounce our infer- ence accordingly, — " Plato
was a philoso- pher." Nor is this the splitting of a hair, but
a real distinction, marked and determined by that difference in the words
so often pointed out, when understood detachedly, and when
understood as a sentence. The proposition, Plalu was a pJiilosopher, may
be understood as a whole, without making the comparison in the mind
between what Plato, and what philosopher, abstractedly signify j
but this, with a full understanding of the whole sentence, can be done
only after the comparison has once at least been effectually made :
— then indeed, when the comparison has been made, and the inference
drawn, the sentence which expresses that inference, be- comes, like
any single word, the sign of knowledge deposited in the mind, and,
like such single term, it is fitted to be an instru- ment of new
comparisons, and further con- clusions. 11. Let us now take
another proposition : *' A philosopher, or every philosopher,"
(for the meaning is the same,) " is deserving of
respect." This, hke the other, is an infer- ence from a comparison
which took place in the mind ; previously to which comparison, the
notion or knowledge included in the word I philosopher was obtained in
the manner lately described (Sect. 9.) : and the notion included in
the phrase to be deserving of respect was similarly obtained, but
independently of the knowledge denoted by the other expression ; —
that is to say, the phrase deserving of re- spect, was originally, we
suppose, a sentence applied to some one thing deserving of re-
spect J whence it was successively applied to other things till a class
was formed — in other words, till a notion (knowledge) was esta-
blished in the mind of what things are de- serving of respect. Now, the
present ques- tion is, whether a philosopher is deserving of
respect ? To determine this, we consider what a philosopher is, (it is
presupposed tliat we have this knowledge,) and we then niea- Bure
our notion of a philosopher with our no- tion of what is deserving of
respect, and thus £nd that a philosopher is to be admitted among
the things to which we had been ac- customed to apply the designation
deserving qf respect : that is to say, we come to the conclusion,
that a philosopher is deserving of respect. Here, therefore, as before,
there has been a reasoning process previously to the proposition,
and the proposition expresses the inference from it. And the
comparison having once been made in this instance as in the other,
the sentence becomes, like any single term, the sign of knowledge
deposited in the mind, and like such single term, is fitted to be
an instrument of new compsrisons, and further conclusions. Well then, we
know from reasoning these two things, that " Plato IB a
philosopher," and that " a philosopher is deserving of
respect." These are detached WORDS* or sentences : but the mind, in
com- paring them, at once comes to the inference that Plato is
deserving of respect: and the whole may be expressed in one sentence
; thus ; " Plato, who is a philosopher, is deserv- ing of
respect j" where Plato-who-is-a-pJiiio- sopher, is equivalent to a
noun-substantive in the construction of the whole sentence ; and,
deserving-qf-respect is equivalent to another ; and thus the two, with
the assistance of the verb which signifies them to be a sentence,
are but one proposition. Here, as in the former cases, a comparison has
been made \ij. means of the signs of deposited knowledge ^ for we
knew that Plato was a phUosopher; we knew a class of things or persons
deserv- ing of respect: — comparing our knowledge by • See
the second note (Aristotle's definition of a' vord bcuig the first) appmded
to Sect. 20. Chap. I. ir. means of the sign
deserving-of-respect, the in- ference follows, that " Plato, who is
a philo- sopher, is deserving of respect." And the comparison
having once been made in this instance as in the others, the sentence
be- comes, like any single terra , the sign of know- ledge
deposited in the mind, and either in this or any other equivalent form,
is fitted to be an instrument of new comparisons and further
conclusions. And in this manner are we able, ad infinitum, to investigate
new truths by means of those already ascertained, always making use
of former words or their equivalents, as the means of operation.
12. Now, so far as Logic is the art of in- vestigating truth, (and we
intend to show that its office ought not to be considered of
further extent,) this is the whole of its theory. We have defined
it as the right use of words with a view to the investigation of truth ;
and the way in which words are used for the purpose, is that which
has been described : — in brief, they are used by the mind in making
such comparisons as it cannot make intuitively. Of two objects, or
of a sensation or emotion twcie experienced, we can intuitively
judge what there is in common between them;, l< suppose a third
object, or a sensation, &c« thrice experienced, an intuitive judgment
can still be applied only to two at a time, and wei can but know in
this way what there is common to every two. But if we set up tf
sign of what is common to two, we can compare with the sign a third, and
a fourth, and a fifth, and judging intuitively how far it agrees
with the sign, we infer its agreement in thq same proportion with the
things signified, In Logic, the sign used is always presumed to be
a word. Now, in our theory of Ian- guage, every word was once a sentence
; and every sentence which does not express the full communication
intended, but is qualified by another sentence, or becomes a clause of
a larger sentence, is precisely of the nature of any single word
making part of a sentence *. • See Chap. I. Sect. 28.
IM I^CMAP. 11, From the first
moment, then, of converting the expression used for a particular
communi. cation, into an abstract sign of the sentiment or truth
which that communication conveyed, the mind came into possession of the
instru- mental means for furthering its knowledge : and this means
always remains the same in kind, and is always used in the same
way. The word which once signified a present par- ticular
perception, ceased, through the ne- cessities of language, to signify
that percep- tion in particular, and came to signify, in the
abstract, any perception of the same kind, or the object of any such
perception. In this state, it no longer communicated what the mind
felt, thought, or discovered at the moment, but was a sign of knowledge
gather- ed by comparisons on the past. By u«ng this Bign, the mind
was able to pursue its inves> tigations, and every new discovery was
de- noted by a sentence which the sign helped to form, its general
application being limited to the particular purpose by other signs. But
if one WORD" ' may lose its particular pnrpose, and
become an abstract sign, so may another, and be the means, in its turn,
of prosecuting further truths, and entering into the com- position
of new WORDS. Thus will the procesa which constitutes Logic, be aiways
found one and the same in kind, having for its basis the
constitution of artificial language, such as it was ascertained to be in
the previous chapter. H 13. Now of this Lc^ic, — the Logic,
uni- H versally, of ntpotres, or woKD-dividing men, — H
let the characteristics be well observed, in order H to keep it
clear from any other mode of using H signs for the purpose of
reasoning, to which H the name of Logic is attributed. The
Logic H here described, is a use of words to regista- H
our knowledge as fast as we can add to it, by H new examinations,
and new comparisons of I things } each new esamination, each
new H sen! • The reader will bear in mind the
comprehenBive sense of the term which we have in view, when it is
printed in capitate. comparison, being made with the help and the
advantage of our previous knowledge. The reasoning takes place in the
mind in such a manner that it is not a comparison of terms, but a
comparison of what we newly observe, with what we previously knew. Words
indeed are used, because without signs of one kind or of another to
keep before the mind the knowledge already gained, we could compare
only individuals j but however words may in- tervene, it is always
understood that the mind, at bottom, compares the things, A man may
be informed, that, " Plato who is a phi- losopher, is deserving of
respect;" that, " William who is recommended to his
service, is an honest man ;" that, *• A particular tree in his
garden, is a mulberry tree ;" that, " Stealing is a vice, and
temperance is a virtue ;" that, " Throughout the Universe,
all greater bodies attract the smaller ;" that, " A
triangle described within two circles in such a manner that one of its
sides is a radius of both, and the others, radii of each
circle respectively, is an equilateral triangle;" — a man may
be informed of these and similar ^'things, and may entirely believe the
inform- ation; nay, hemayjustifiably believe it J for he may know
of those who give it, that their ho- nesty is such, that they would not
wilfully de- ceive him ; that their intelligence and inform- ation
are such, that they are not likely to say what they do not know to be
true : but a man can be said to know these things of his own
knowledge, and in this way to be convinced of their truth, only by a
process of reasoning that musl take place within his own mind ; a
process which can take place only in a mind by nature competent to it,
and which requires, in every case, its proper data or facts, aided,
it is true, by language, or by signs such as Ian- guage consists of, to
register each inference *, • The necessity of language, as a means of
in- vestigation, applies not to our last example. The mincl may
investigate (though no one can demonstrate) mathematical truths, with no
other aid than visible diagrams ; or even diagrams that are seen only
by " the mind's eye." and so to get from one inference to
another, and thus, ad infinitum^ toward truth. Be- cause the
several steps, leach of which is a conclusion so far attained, cannot
take place, without the instrumentality of signs to assist the
mind, we consider the process an art ; and if the signs used are words,
the art is pro- perly called Logic. But whatever aid the reasoner
may borrow from words, the only true grounds of his knowledge are the
facts about which the reasoning is employed. Without them, no
comparison of the terms can force any conviction further than that
the terms agree or disagree. He may be told that — " Every
philosopher is deserving of respect,*' and that, — " Plato is a
philosopher :** but if he knows not what a philosopher is, or what
it is to be deserving of respect, the comparison of the terms in order to
draw a conclusion from them, will be a mockery of reason : — it
will be reasoning indeed, but reasoning without a rational end. And
suppose the knowledge to have been acquired of what a philosopher
is by the application of the word to many particulars, and by a
consequent classification of them in the mind, — supposing the
knowledge of what is deserving of respect to have been acquired in the
same way, — supposing the inquirer has learned from history what
Plato was in his opinions and manner of life, — the conclusion takes
place by a com- parison of the thingSj by means indeed of words,
but not by any comparison of the terms independently of the things ; nor
is the con- viction in the least fortified, or the process ex-
plained, bya demonstration that in reasoning with the terms alone,
independently of their meaning, we get at the conclusion ; — by
shewing, for instance, that the terms which include the facts, may be
forced into cor- respondence with the following ^nwwfa; Every B is
A : C is B : Therefore C is A. Every philosopher — is—
deserving of respect : Plato — is— a philosopher : Therefore
Plato — ^is — deserving of respect. This way of drawing a conclusion from
a comparison of terms, is. properly speaking, to reason or argue
with words ; but in the Lo- gic we have ascertained, every conclusion
is required to be drawn from a comparison of the facts which the
case furnishes ; and words being used only for the purpose of
registering our conclusions, such Logic is properly de- fined the
art of reasoning by means of words. The inquirer who seeks to know, of
his own knowledge—" Whether William who is re- commended to his
service, is an honest man", — will gather facts of William's conduct
by his own observation ; and these he will com- pare by the light
of his previous notion (i. e. knowledge) of what an honest man is :
but then he must have that previous notion, or he cannot make the
comparison ; and the notion will have been gained by a process just
like that he is pursuing : and so downwards to the original
comparison of individiial tJujigs, from which all knowledge begins. So
again, if an inquirer seeks to know that " a particular tree is a
mulberry tree", — he must first know what a mulberry tree is; and
how can he know this but by a comparison of different trees? There
must be some art employed to classify the individual trees, otherwisehe
could never know more than the difference between every two trees.
By setting up one tree, or some equivalent sign, as a word, to
denote the common qualities observed in many, he comes to know what
a mulberry tree is ; and looking at the particular tree in question,
he sees that it has the common qualities indica- ted by the sign,
and infers that it is a mul- berry tree. So likewise, if an inquirer
seeks to be convinced that " SteaUng is a vice", or that
"Temperance is a virtue", — he must have such facts before him
as will enable him to come to a clear conclusion as to what is
vice, and what is virtue : and this conclusion will either include or
ex- clude stealing with respect to his notion of vice, and
temperance with respect to his notion of virtue, and he will consequently
be convinceti or not convinced of tlie proposition in question. So,
once more, if an inquirer desires to know, of his own knowledge, *'
Whether, throughout the universe, all greater bodies attract the smaller",
— he must first observe certain facts from which the ge- neral law
may be assumed hypothetical ly : — he must then ascertain what, according
to other notions gained from experience, would be the effect
throughout the universe of the general law which he has so assumed ; and
if the effects arising out of the hypothesis cor- respond with
actual effects, and no other by- pothesis to account for them can be
framed, he will have all the proof the subject permits, and know of
his own knowledge, as far as can be known, the conclusion asserted. So,
lastly, if an inquirer seeks to be convinced that "a triangle
described within two circles in such a manner that one of its sides is a
radius of both, and the others radii of each circle re- spectively,
is an equilateral triangle", — he must first form within his mind
the notions of a triangle, and of a circle, the latter of which he
will find can be conceived perfect in no other way than in correspondence
with this definition : — "a plane figure bounded by one line
called- the circumference ; and is such that all straight lines,
(called radii,) drawn from a certain point within it to the
circumference, are equal to one another. " Having formed this
notionr^ he will find, by certain acts of comparison^ (which must
take place within the mind, al- though they may be attsisted by a*
visible sign-J^ that the previous proposition is an inevitable
consequence of the notfon so formed, and his' conviction: wiU be
comffiete. If the convic- tion, in the previous ifrstances, has not
the same force as iiti the last^ — ^if, in those instances, the
force may be diffident m. degree, while in the last there can be no
coD^victioa short of lliat which iS' absolute an4- entire, the
cause^ in not that the reasoning process^ is different in kind, but
that the facts or data about which" it is' employed are
dii&re»t. In the last in^ stance^ the reasoning is employed about
notions, which admit uf being so defined, that every mind capable of the
reasoning at once assumes them before the reasoning pro- cess
begins ; but in the other instances, the facts or the notions may be
attended by cause for doubt. A man, if he have any notion of a
philosopher at all, cannot indeed but be quite sure (consciously sure) of
his own no- tion of a philosopher j but how can he be sure that
others have the same notion, or even quite sure that Plato had the
qualities that conform to his own notion ? In the same way, he will
be quite sure (consciously sure) of his own notion of an honest man ; but
he may be deceived as to the facts which bring William within that
notion. He will be quite sure (consciously sure) of the notion he
has in naming a tree a mulberry tree ; but that notion may be
totally unlike the notion which other people entertain ; or if the
general no- tion agrees, he may mistake the characteristics in the
particular instance. He will be quite sure (consciously sure) of his own
notion of vice or of virtue, and whether it includes or excludes this
or that conduct, action, habit, or quahtjr ; and in this case the
conviction is absolute and entire while the reasoner confines
himself to his own notion ; but the moment he steps out of this, and
begins to inquire whether it agrees with that of others, he finds
cause to doubt. He must be quite sure (sen- sibly sure) that bodies
near above the earth's surface have a tendency towards it ; and by
proper experiments he may convince himself that all bodies without
exception which are so situated, have the same tendency. In sup- ,
posing the fact universal of the tendency of smaller bodies to the
greater, his conviction of the consequences involved in that hypo-
thesis, must, as soon as he has mentally traced them, be absolute and
entire ; but he has yet to find whether reality corresponds with the
hy- pothesis. The strongest proof of this will be, the
correspondence of the consequences of the hypothesis with the phenomena
of na- ture, joined to the impossibility of forming 138
ON LOGIC. [chap. II. another hypothesis which shall account
for these phenomena; and the doubt, if any, will attach to that
impossibility, and to the accuracy of bis observatioda of the
pheno* rneoa* I^ then, there is roonr for doubt, and cocise^aently
for various degrees of assent, in all the instances except m that whose
facts or data are notions which the mind is bound to tstke up
according to the definitions before it enters on the argument, we are not
to con- clude that the reasoning process is different in kind iti
any of them ; since the difl^ence in the facts or data about which the
reasoning process i& employed, fully accounts for the ab-
solute and entire conviction which takes place in one instance, and the
degrees of convictioti which are liable to happen in such cases as^
the others. 14. But what IB a process or act of rea^ soning?
Is it, abstractedly from the means' u£^d to register its conclusions, and
so pro- ceed to new acts of the same kind, — ^is it aa act which
rules can teach, or any generalbsau- tion make clearer, or more
satisfactory than it is originally ? We shall find, upon examina-
tioH, that any such pretence resolves itself in- i to a mere verbal
generalization, or the appli- cation of the same act to itself; and that
this does in no way assist the act of reasoning, or explain, or
account for, or confirm it. A man requires not to be told — *' It is
impossible for the same thing to be and not to be," in order
to know that himself exists ; he requires not the previous axiom, "
The whole is greater than its part, or contains its part, " in order
to know that, reckoning his nose a part of his head, his head is
greater than his nose, or his nose belongs to his head ; neither is the
previous axiom, " Things equal to the same, are equal to one
another", necessary to be enounced, before he can understand, that
if he is as tall as his father, and his father as his friend, he is
as tall as his friend *. Whatever neatness of arrangement a system may
derive from being • Compare Lofku's Essay, Book IV. ChajHeis
7 and 12. 1headed with such verbal generalizations, it
is manifest that they neither assist the reasoning nor explain it :
nor must a generalization of , this kind be confounded with the
enunciation of what is called a law of nature*, — (the law of
attraction and gravitation for instance, — ) since this last is a
discovery by a process of experiment and reasoning, but a verbal
gene- ralization is no discovery at all ; — it is merely a mode of
expressing what is known by every " rational mind at the very
first opportunity for exercising its powers. Or more properly
speaking, the laws of reasoning, which are gratuitously expressed by what
are called axioms, are nothing else than a mode of de- * See
Whately's Logic, Chap. I. Sect. 4, where he attempts to evade Dugald
Stewart's oh^ection to the Ariatotelian syllogism, that it is a
demonstration of b demoiigtration, by comparing the Dictum de omni
et de nullo to the enimciation of a law of nature. — It is rather
pleasant, in the first note of the Chapter referred to, to hear the
doctor running riot upon Locke's con- fuinon of thought and common place
declamation, be- cause the latter had the sense to sec the futility
and puerility of the syllogism. SECT. 14.] ON LOGIC.
141 scribing the constitution of a rational mind.;—* they are
identical with the capacity itself for reasoning: to view them in any
other light is to mistake a circumlocution for the discovery of a
principle. And this kind of mistake every one labours under who supposes
that, by any means whatever, an act of reasoning is assisted or
explained, accounted for, or con- firmed. Nothing is more certain, than
that if two terijns agree with a third, they agree with each other,
— if one agrees and the other dis- agrees, they disagree with each other:
but every other act of reasoning has a conclusion equally certain
(the facts or data about which an act of reasoning is conversant being
the sole cause of any doubt in the conclusion*,) and this or any
other attempt at explaining or accounting for the act, will therefore
only . * And note, that when people are said to draw a wrong
conclusion from facts, the correct account would be, that they do not
reason from them, but from some- thing which they mistake for them,
through their ina- ability to understand, or their carelessness to the
na- ture of, the facts given. I4!l
[chap. ir. amount to the placing of one such act by
the side of another; as if any one should set a pair of legs in
motion by the side of another pair, and call it an explanation of the act
of walking. Such would at once appear to be the character of the
Aristotelian Syllogism, were it not for the complicated apparatus
ac- companying it ; an apparatus of distinctions and rules rendered
necessary by the nature of the terms compared. For these terms
being obtained by the division of a sentence, are such that they
agree or disagree with each other only in the sense they bore before
the division took place. Our theory makes this plain; for it shows
that words which form a sentence limit and determine each other,
and thus have a different meaning from tliat which belongs to them
when understood abstracted- ly. Therefore, though it may be true
that " Plato is a man deserving of respect, ' does not follow
that " Plato " and " A maai deserving of respect "
shall agree togetiier as abstract terms : accordingly the latter
term understood abstractedly, signifies any or every man desei-ving
of respect, and does not agree with Plato. It must be obvious, then,
that terms obtained iirthis way, can be compared with other terms
similarly obtained, only un- der the safeguard of certain rules. Such
rules are accordingly provided ; and tliat they may not want the
appearance of scientific general- ization and simplicity, they are all
referred to one common principle, — the celebrated dic- tum de omni
et de nullo ; whose purport is, that what is affirmed or denied of the
whole genus, may be affirmed or denied of every species or
individual under it ; — which indeed is nothing more than a verbal
generalization of such a fact as this, that what is true of every
philosopher, is true of any one philosopher. All tliese pretences to the
discovery of a uni- versal principle, do but leave us just where we
were, a few high-sounding empty words ex- cepted; and this must ever be
the case when we seek to account for that which is, by the
constitution of things as far aa we can ascertain them, an ultimalefact. An act
of reason- ing is the natural working of a rational mind upon the
objects, whatever they may be, which are placed before it, when, having
formed one judgment intuitively, it makes use of the re- sult as
the medium for reaching another: and the pretence to assist or explain
this operation by the introduction of such an instrument as the
syllogism, is an imposition on the under- standing. 15. This
will more plainly appear when we examine the real use, (if use it can be
called,) of the Aristotelian art of reasoning. It may be described
as the art of arguing unreason- ably, or of gaining a victory in
argument without convincing the understanding. As it reasons
"with words, and not merely by means of words, it fixes on expressions
not on things, and is satisfied with proving a conse- quence, or
exposing a non-sequitur in those, without inquiring into the actual
notions of the speaker. " Do you admit " says a syllogi-
zer, " that every philosopher is deserving of respect? " "
I do;" says the non-syllogi- zing respondent. " And you admit,
(for I have heard you call him by the name,) that Voltaire is a
philosopher : you admit, there- fore, that Voltaire is deserving of
respect. " Now, if the notion of the respondent is, that
Voltaire is not deserving of respect, here is a victory gained over him
in spite of his con- viction. Arguing from the words, and allow-
ing no appeal from them when once conceded, the conclusion is decisive*.
But in looking beyond the words to the things intended, we shall
find that the respondent either did not mean every philosoplier, as a
metaphysical, but only as a moral universal, or else (and the
supposition is the more likely of the two) that in calling Voltaire a
philosopher, he called • " If," says a. doughty
Aristotelian doctor, " a imiyeraity is charged with cultivating only
the mere elements of mathematics, and in reply a list of the hooks
studied there is produced, ^should even any one of those books be not
elementary," [" / day here on my biynd,''] " the charge is
in fiiirncss refuted." Whately's Logic, Chap III. Sect. 18.
. II. him so according to the custom of others, and
not according to his own notion. In a Logic whose object is truth and not
victory, the business would not therefore end here. An attempt
would be made to change the notion of the respondent (supposing it to be
wrong) by an appeal to things. His mind might in- deed be so choked
with prejudice as to be in- capable of the truth ; but at least would
the only way have been taken to remove the one and procure
admission for the other. — To the foregoing, let another kind of example
be add- ed : " Every rational agent is accountable ; brutes
are not rational agents ; therefore, they are not accountable." *
" Non sequitur*^ cries the Aristotelian respondent. The other
man, who reasons by means of words and not merely mth words, is certain
that the internal process by which he reached the conclusion is
correct ; nor is he persuaded to the contrary, or at all enlightened as
to his fault, when he is told that he has been guilty of an illicit
pro- ♦ From Whately's Logic, Chap. I. Sect. 3. cess of
the major. He is informed, however, that his mode of reasoning finds a
parallel in the following example : " Every horse is an animal
; sheep are not horses ; therefore they are not animals.'* * But this he
denies ; be- <:ause he is sure that his mode of reasoning would
never bring him to such a conclusion as the last. All this time, while
the Aristo- telian has the triumph of having at least puzzled his
uninitiated opponent, the real cause of diflference is kept out of sight,
name- ly, that the one refers to that reasoning which is conducted
merely with words, and not by means of words only, while the other refers
to that reasoning which looks to things, inatten- tive perhaps, as
in this instance, to the expres- sions. If the latter had used no other
ex- pression than " Brutes are not rational agents ; therefore
they are not accountable ;•" — the as- sertion and the reason for
it, must have been suffered to pass; but because another sen- tence
is prefixed to these two, and the whole * Whately'*s Logic, Chap.
I. Sect. 3. l2 F 1 of
them happen to make a violated syllogism, the speaker is charged with
having been guilty of that violation, when in fact he has not at-
tempted to reason syllogistically at all ; i. e. to draw his conclusion
from a comparison of the extremes with the middle, but from a judg-
ment on the facts of the case. In a Logic which gets at its conclusions
by jneans of words, and not by the artifice we have just referred
to, an expression which does not reach the full facts reasoned from,
(every rational agent, for instance, where it should have been said
none but a rational agent,J would not be deemed an error of the
rea- soning, but a defect in the expression of the reasoning.
] 6. These examples will, it is hoped, be sufficient to show the
real worth of the Aris- totelian syllogism, ft is indeed, as its advo-
cates assert, an admirable instrument of ar- gumentation ; but of
argumentation distinct from the fair exercise of reason. It is a
pro- per appendage to the doctrine of ReaUsm, SECT.
16.]] 149 and with that exploded doctrine
it should long ago have been suffered to sink. While ge- nera and
species were deemed real independ- ent essences, to argue from words was
con- sistently supposed to be arguing from things : but now that
words are allowed to be only counters in the hands of wise men, the
Logic of Aristotle, which takes them for money, should surely be
esteemed the Logic of fools". The claim for its conclusions of
demonstrative certainty, rests solely on the condition that words
are so taken. Every conclusion from an act of reasoning, would have that
charac- ter, if the notions about which it was employ- ed were
notions universally fixed and agreed upon. In mathematics, this
circumstance is the sole ground of the peculiar certainty at-
tained. All men agree in the metaphysical notion of a point, of a line, a
superficies, a circle, and so forth t : if all men necessarily
* " Words are the counters of wise men, but the money
of fools," — Hobbes. f According tu Sugald Stewart,
mathematical agreed in the notion of who is a philosopher and who
is not, of what is vice and what is virtuBj and so forth ; our
conclusions on these and similar subjects, would, as in
mathematics, be demonstrative : but till definitions can be framed
for Ethics in which men must agree, there is little chance of erecting
this branch of learning, with any praciical benefit, into a
science, according to the notion insisted on with some earnestness in
Locke's Essay*, lu Physics we can do more ; for men agree pretty
well as to what is a mulberry tree, and what is a pear tree ; what is a
beast, and what is a bird ;— by experiment they can be shewn what
are the component parts of this sub- stance, what the qualities of the
other j and so forth : so that here, our conclusions need
definitions are mci-e hypotheses. Do they not rather describe
notions of and relating to quantity, which, by the congtitution of the
mind, it must reach, if, setting aside the sensible instances of a point,
a line, a circle, &c., it tries to conceive them perfect ?
* Book IV. Chap. III. Sect. 18,: and the same book Chap. XII. Sect.
8. not be wanting in all necessary certainty; although, as
that certainty depends on the conformity between our notions, and the
out* ward or sensible objects of them, it will be of a different
kind from the certainty obtained in meta-Phi/sicSj and therefore not
called de- monstrative. In the latter department, (Me- taphysics,)
the chain of evidence has its first hold, as well as every subsequent
link, in the mind, and the mind cannot therefore but be sure of the
whole. 17. As we propose to limit the province of Logic to
the investigation of truth, the re- marks and examples in the section
preceding the last (15.), might have been spared till we come to
consider Rhetoric, to which we in- tend to assign, among its other
ofiices, that of proving truth. How far the form of ex- pression
which corresponds to the syllogism, is calculated to be useful to a
speaker or wri- ter, may at that time draw forth another ob-
servation on the subject. Meanwhile we pro- pose to exclude it entirely
from Logic; and in truth the common practice of manlcind out
of the schools, has never admitted it as an in- strument either for the
one purpose or the other. Common sense has always been op- posed to
it ; and Logic is a word of bad reputa- tion, because it is supposed to
mean the art of arguing for the sake of victory, and not for the
sake of truth. In vain have Locke, Campbell, Reid, Stewart, and other
sound thinkers, endeavoured to clear the art from its reproach by
detaching the cause : the Aristo- telian Syllogism has been repeatedly
over- thrown ; yet some one is ever at hand to set it on its three
legs again, and argue in defence of the instrument of arguing : — some
per- tinacious schoolmaster may always be found Who e'en though
vanquished yet will ahgue still; While words oflearncd length and
thundering sound*. Amaze the gazing rustics ranged around.
* Videlicet, Terms middle and extreme ; premiss major and minor ,-
quantity and quality of propositions ; Universal affirmative ; Universal
negative ; Particular affirmative ; Particular negative ; Distribution
and non- distribution of terms; Undistributed middle; Illicit pro-
So much — (till, in the next chapter we come to a parting
word — ) so much for the Aris- totelian Syllogism. 18. As to
the Logic which we have en- deavoured to ascertain, it is, we repeat it,
the Logic which all men learn, and all men ope- rate with in
gathering knowledge ; and the only inquiries which remain are, i.
Whether, so far as we have gone, there is ground or ne- cessity for
principles and rules in the exercise of Logic, as there is for grammar in
speaking a language; and ii. Whether we ought to consider its
limits as extending beyond the cBss of the major ; Illicit
piocese of the Tninor ; Mood itnd figure— Barbsrs, Celarent, Darii,
Ferio, Cesare, CameBtres, Festino, Baroko, Darapti, Disamis,
Datisi, Felapton, Bokardo, Feriso, Bramantip, Camenes, BU maris,
Fesapo, FrcBison ; Categoricals, Modals, Hypo- theticals. Conditionals,
Constructive form. Destructive form, Oatcnsive reduction, Illatire
conversion, &c. kc &c. Well may we join with Mons. Jourdain
— " Voila dee mots qui sont trop rebarbatifs. Cette logique
]& ne me rcvient point. Apprcnons autre chose qui soit plus
joli.'* . [chap. II. bounds proposed at tlie
commencement ot* this Chapter. 19. Though few persons would
be dis- posed to answer the former question in the negative, yet an
analogous case may induce a moment's pause in our reply. At the
conclu- sion of the first note appended to Sect. 4., allusion was
made to the fact, that men do not see truly by nature, but acquire,
through judgment and experience, the power of know- ing by sight
the tangible qualities of objects and their relative distances. Now, the
in- terference of rules, supposing them possible, to assist this
early discipline of the eye, would be useless — perhaps raiscliievous : —
why are we to think differently of the discipline of the mind, as
regards the use of those signs which, if our theory is true, are forced
upon us at first by an inevitable necessity ? Because the art of
seeing truly is necessary to the preserva- tion of the individual ; and
nature takes care, therefore, that we do not teach ourselves im-
pertectly or erroneously ; but the conducting of a train of reasoning
with accuracy and pre- cision into remote consequences, is unne-
cessary in a rude state of society j and man, who is left to improve his
physical and moral condition, has the instrument of that improve-
ment confided to his own care, that he may add to its powers, and form
for himself rules for using it with much more precision and much
more effect, than any random use of it can be attended with. Accordingly,
if we look to that department of knowledge which Locke calls
ipvaiK^ * , we shall find that it owes its existence to the accurate
Logic by which inquirers registered all their observations and all
their experiments, and by which they as- cended from individuals to
classes, till each had comprehended in his scheme all he de- sired
to consider. Here then begins the pro- per business of Logic as a system
of instruc- tion : it ought to lay open all the various me- thods
of arrangement and classification by ' Vide the
lutrixluction to this Treatise. which science is
acquired and enlarged ; and if something may yet be done toward im-
proving these methods, it should open the way to such improvement. The
Aristotelian rules for definition, which are a sound part of Logic,
should be explained and illustrated ; and the nomenclatures invented by
various philosophers, particularly that which is used in modern
chemistry, should be detailed and investigated. SO. But if,
by the application of a more accurate Logic than belongs to a random
use of language, men have been able to accom- plish so much in
^uo-ik^, it does not appear that they have great cause to boast of
their success in the other department, namely ■n-paKTiK-^. Do they
act, whether as com- munities or individuals, muck better with a
view to their real interests, than they did two thousand years ago ? If
improvement here, as in the other department, is possible, how is it
to be accomplished ? We live in an at- mosphere of passions, prejudices,
opinions, which mould our thoughts, and give a cer-
tain character and hue to all the objects of them ; — these we do not
examine, but take them as they appear to us, and our reasonings too
often start from them as from first facts. As to the process itself, — a
process which every individual conducts ■within his avra mind
according to the power which nature gives him, — we affirm that it cannot
be other than it is, and that, provided it starts from true data,
it can never lead us wrong : but if that is false which at the outset we
take for true, then indeed our conclusions may be perniciously,
ruinously erroneous. It is ac- cordingly the business of the moralist to
re- move the false hue which habit, opinion, and passion, cast over
the surface of things ; and it should be the business of the politician
to examine the principles on which the general affairs of the world
are conducted, and open the eyes of mankind to their pernicious
ten- dency, if in the whole or in part they are per- nicious. But
neither the moralist nor the politician can come at the necessary
truthis intvitiveljf : they must use the mediaj and the media
consist in that use of words which con- stitutes Logic, as we have
described it. We do not intend to say that language affords the
means of reaching equal results to every person who makes the right
logical use of it ; for men's minds are very different in natural
capacity; and some are able to perceive truths intuitively, which others
attain only by a slow process; as tall men can reach at once, what
short men must mount a ladder to : but we do intend to say, that, let
the natural powers of any human mind be what they will, there is no
chance for it of any ex- tensive knowledge, but through the employ-
ment of media to assist its natural operations ; <and, we repeat it,
the media which nature suggests, and leaves for our industry to im-
prove, is language *. Well then, if our im- * The reader does not
understand us, if he deems it an objection to our reasoning, that
many highly gifted men in point of understanding, do not provement in
ntpaKrucrfj is, at this time of ^ay, less than we might expect, is it not
reason- able to think that, with regard to this depart- ment, we do
not quite understand the instru- mental means, and consequently do not
ap- ply them with complete effect ? Surely there is some ground for
such a suspicion, when we find a doctor (of some repute we presume)
in one of our two great places of learning, de- claring that '^ the
rules of Logic have nothing to do with the truth or falsity of the
premises, but merely teach us to decide (not whether the premises
are fairly laid down, but) appear to have a skilful use of
language. A man may be rhetorically unskilful in language without
being logically so ; — he may be imable to convey to others how and
what he thinks ; but he may make use of media in the most skilful manner
to assist his own thoughts. And if his capacity is such that he
seei many truths intuitively for which others require media^ it is
evident that he cannot convey those truths to them till he has searched
out the means. The nature and the principle of such an operation
be- longs to our next chapter on Rhetoric. fim
whether the conclusion fairly follows from the
premises." * We acknowledge that the Logic to which this description
applies, has never been the Logic of mankind at large, however it
may have been the baby-game of men in colleges ; but that the office of
Logic should be described so completely opposite to what it really
is, at a time when its proper office and character ought to have been
long ago thoroughly understood, is not a little surprising, and may
reasonably warrant the suspicion stated above. We have no doubt our
reader is by this time convinced, that men who reason at all, do not want
rules for drawing their conclusions fairly, if we could but get
them to draw those conclusions from right premises ; and that to get at
right pre- mises is every thing in Logic. For this end, it is our
business to set all notions aside that have not been cautiously acquired
; and to begin the formation of new ones at the point *
Whateiy'a Logic. Provinceof Reasoning, Cliap- I. Sect. 1.
sf;ct. 20.] IGI where all genuine
knowledge commences, — the intuitive comparison of particulars or
single facts ; to make use of the knowledge (notions) hence obtained as
media for new comparisons or judgments; and so on ad in- Jinitum.
Alas! it is but too certain, that though we draw our conclusions faiily
enough, our premises, in a vast proportion of cases, are laid down
most foully, because they are laid down by our ignorance, our
passions, and our prejudices ; and because language itself, when
its use is not guarded, is a means of deception*. • We arc
somewhat backward in offering examples of general remarks, such as is
this last ; because it is scarcely possible to be particular without
touching on questions in religion or politics that carry with them,
either way, a taint of parti zanshi p ; and we hold it to be very
impertinent in a writer on Logic, to turn those general precepts for the
discovery of truth which he is bound to ascertain, into a particular
chan- nel in order to serve his own sect or party. What business
had Watts to exempliiy so many of hU cautionary rules by the errors of
Papistical doctrine, at a time when its doctrine was a subordinate
and But can the assistance which lan- guage is
intended to furnish, be rendered such party queBtioit, and be
himself was a sectarian opposed to it ? We trust that no exception of the
same kind can be taken {particularly as we give them only in a.
note) to two examples we are about to submit of the remark in the text,
that language itself may lie the means of deceiving us into wrong
premiseB : — they are by no means singular, hut Guch as may he met
with every hour on almost every question. The ph rase natural state
is, as we all know, a very com- mon expression, which we are much in the
habit of applying to things that have not been abused or per-
verted from the form or condition in which nature first placed them. Now,
because the same phrase happens to be frequently applied to man in a
rude state of society, we start, in many of our reasonings, with
the notion, that in proportion as we have depart- ed from such a state,
we have perverted and abused the purposes of nature ; when, in truth, it
seems wiser to inquire, whether we have yet reached the state which
nature means for creatures such as we are, and whether she is not
constantly urging us on to such an unattained state. Our other example is
of narrower in- terest, and belongs to politics, or rather to what
is called political economy. The word price, in general loose
speaking, means that which is given (be it what it may) to obtain some
other thing ; but in a strict as to lead us to truth in spite of
ignorance, passion, and prejudice, and in spite of the delusions of
which it is itself the cause? Why not, if the guarded and careful use of
it, is fitted to diminish these obstacles, and if we do not look
for the ultimate effects -faster than, by the use of the means, the
obstruc- tions ^ive way ? Nor are mankind inattentive to improve
the means, nor are the means and mercantile Bense, it has a
uniform reference, direct or indirect, to the quantity of precious metal
given for commodity ; inasmuch as gold and silver are the sole universal
medium of barter throughout the world, and every promise to pay has
reference to a certain quan- tity of one or the other of these metals.
These things premised, it must be obvious that the phrase price of
gold, using price in a strict sense, is an abeurdity, and could arise
only from confounding the meaning which prevails in ordinary speech with
the meaning in which the merchant uses it. What, then, are we to think
of an English House of Commons, which, some twenty years ago,
deputed to a committee the task of in- quiring into the causes of the
high price of bullion ? Might not the committee, with as much reason,
have been deputed to inquire, why the foot rule was more or less
than a foot ? without effect : for when we ask, whether
their moral and political condition is much ad- vanced beyond what
it was in the most pro- mising state of the world in past days *, we
do not mean to deny what every one of common knowledge and
observation is aware of, that it has advanced : all we urge is, that a
sys- tematic attention to the means of investigating truth, might,
peradventure, in politics and morals, as it has in physics, have been
at- tended with effects more widely beneficial. Neither do we afSrm
that existing works on Logic are destitute of many admirable pre-
cepts for investigating truth, although we assert that the precepts are
referred either * Note, that it is unfair to fix on a particular
part of the world in proof of what it was in the whole. States and
cities may advance themselves for a time by a partial policy which keeps
others backward : but the policy will fail in the end. By a natural
course of things the advanced state will merge in the mass and
improve it : and thus the world will keep on advancing, although the
spectator, who contemplates only the particular state, will think it is
retrograding. to a false principle, or to no principle at all
fitted to unite them into one body of sys- tematic instruction. The work
lately referred to *, fnrnishes, for instance, many excellent
precepts for avoiding errors in the use of words, and for guarding
against the snares of sophistry; and if such precepts and such ex-
amples as it offers, distinct from the doctrine of the syllogism, were
industriously collected, and brought forward in aid of the Logic
which all men learn and all men use, they would be of inestimable value.
A useful system of Logic will guard our notions from error not only
while we think, but while we are reasoned witht: for one chief way
by which truth enters the mind, is through the * Viz,
Whately's Logic. + Our meaning will be understood ; but wc
express it by ii distinction which is grounded on no real dif-
ference. He who is reasoned with, if he understands the ai^ument, is set
a thinking ; and his agreeing or disagreeing with the argument is the
effect of his own thoughts, however these may be set in motion, and
perhaps unreasonably influenced, by what he hears. medium of language as
employed by others : and Logic should therefore arm us with all
possible means for coming at truth so offered, through the various
entanglements by which the medium may be accompanied. Hence, the
various sophisms of speech accompanied by their appropriate names, would
still occupy a place in such a Logic ; nay, for this purpose, and
for this alone, would the Aristotelian doctrine of the syllogism deserve
explanation ; namely to understand how a conclusion drawn from mere
terms, may, as a conclusion from them, be perfectly true and perfectly
useless, and thus to induce us to bottom all our reasoning on
things. — Having thus offered, on the first of the questions proposed in
Sect. 18, such observations in the affirmative as we thought it
required, we now proceed to the second question. 22. That
question was. Whether we ought to consider the limits of Logic as
extending beyond the bounds proposed at the com- mencement of this
chapter : towards answering which, we may first inquire how far
other views of it extend. By the Scotch metaphy- sicians, and
generally in the schools of North Britain, the word Logic seems to be so
used as to imply the cultivation of the powers of the mind
generally, correspondently with M'atts's definition of tlie purpose of
Logic, namely, " the right use of reason." " I have
always been convinced," says DugaJd Stewart*, " that it was a
fundamental error of Aristotle, to confine his views to reasoning
or the discursive faculty, instead of aiming at the improvement of our
nature in all its parts." And he then goes on to mention the
following as among the subjects that ought to be con- sidered in a
just and comprehensive system of Logic. " Association of ideas ;
Imagina- tion ; Imitation j the use of language as the GREAT
INSTRUMENT OP THOUGHT ; and the artificial habits of judging
imposed by the principles and manners in whicli we have
* Fhilotiuphical Essays. Chap. 16s been educated."
* Now if the threeibld di- vision of human knowledge is a just one,
which, in the Introduction of this work, was his
* io the same purpose, Philosophy of the Humat
n the second volume of Mind, (Chap. III. Sect.
S.) he speaks thu^ ' The following, (which
mention by way of specimen,) seem to be among the most
powerful of the causes of our felse judgments. The imperfections of
language both as an instru- ment of thought, and as a medium of philosophical
communication. 2. The difficulty in many of our most important inquiries
of ascertaining the facts on which our reasonings are to proceed. 3. The
partial and narrow views, which, from want of information, or some
defect in our intellectual comprehension, we are apt to take of subjects
which are peculiarly complicated in their details, or which are
connected by numerous relations with other questions equally
problematical. And lastly, (which is of all perhaps the most copious
source of speculative error) the pre- judices which authority and fashion
fortified by early impressions and associations, create to warp our
opinions. To illustrate these and other circumstances by which the
judgment is apt to be misled in the search of truth, and to point out the
most effectual means of guarding against them, would form a very
important article in a philosophical system of Logic,"
borrowed from Locke,— namely into, it., the knowledge of things tiiat
are, — ii., of things fitting to be rfonc, — and, Hi., of the means
of acquiring and improving both these branches of knowledge;— it
wUl at once appear that all the subjects referred to in this
enumeration of Stewart's, except the fourth, which we print in
capitals, come under the denomination of physica : — they are energies or
tendencies of the mind derived from nature, or habits arising out
of natural causes ; and they come accordingly under the division of
things ex- isting in nature, which things, as they all concern the
mind, it is the business of the Pliilosophy of the human mind to
explortf: but the fourth of the subjects mentioned in the quotation
from Stewart, viz •* the use of LANGUAGE AS THE GREAT INSTRUMENT
OF THOUGHT," comes under the third of the divisions laid
down by Locke, and ought cer- tainly to be distinguished from the
other subjects, because it is the means of becoming acquainted with
them : it is the instrument. m and they are among
its objects. True, we discover, as we proceed in the use of it, and
we are properly warned by those who have used it before, that its
efficacy is assisted or impeded by extraneous causes, as well as by
defects in the instrument itself: similar dis- coveries will be made, and
similar warnings must be given, in the practice of almost every
art: but these ought not to enter into the de- finition of the art,
although it will be proper to bring them forward, incidentally, as
we open its rules. " A method of invigorating and properly
directing all the powers of the mind is indeed," says Dr, Whately,
" a most magnificent object, but one which not only does not
fall under the province of Logic, but cannot be accomplished by anyone
science or system that can even be conceived to exist. The attempt
to comprehend so wide a field is no extension of science, but a mere
verbal ge- neralization, which leads only to vague and barren
declamation. In every pursuit, the more precise aud definite our object,
the more likely we ai'e to obtain some valuable result j if,
like the Platonists, who sought after the avTodyaSov, — the abstract idea
of good, — we pursue some specious but ill-defined scheme of
universal knowledge, we shall lose the substance while grasping at a
shadow, and bewilder ourselves in empty generalities." *To these
just remarks, we may add our ex- pression of regret that Dugald Stewart
never had opportunity to do more than speak pro- ^'^ectively of *'
a just and comprehensive system of Logic ;" " to prepare the
way for which, was," he says, " one of the main objects
he had in view when he first entered upon his inquiries into the human
mind."t Had he himself completed such a design in- stead of
leaving it for others, we doubt not he would have found the necessity of
circura- scribing Logic within the bounds we have proposed, in
order to give it existence as an • Whately's Logic ;
Introduction, t Pliilos. Essays. Prelim. Diss. Chap. II.: in the
paragraph immediately following the last quotation. fjtt ON
LOGIC. [chap. U. art distinct from the wide ocean of
intellectual philosophy. 23. But Dr. Whateiy, who deems,
with us, that every consideration of the mind con- ducted without
reference to its making use of language as its instrument, lies out of
the de- partment of the teacher of Logic*, com- pletely differs
from us, as to the province of the art. Of the question, " whether
it is by a process of reasoning that new truths are brought to
light," he maintains the negative t, and consequently denies that
investigation be- longs to Logic. Afler what has been ad- vanced in
the former sections of this chapter, we think it quite unnecessary to
combat this opinion here ; and as Dr. Whateiy concedes, that "
if a system could be devised to direct • Dr. Whateiy defines
Logic (Chap. II. Part I. Sect. 2.) " the art of employing language
properly for the purpose of reasoning." But with him,
reasoning B argumentation. t Whateiy "s Logic, Province
of llcasoning, Chap. II. Sect. 1. ^
the. mind in the progress of inveBtigation ", it might be
" allowed to bear the name of Lo- gic, since it would not be worth
while to con- tend about a name " *; — as, moreover, we
propose to comprehend under Rhetoric all that belongs to the proving of
truth — that is, convincing others of it after we have found it
ourselves ; — we might be satisfied with stating that this is the
distribution we choose to adopt, and there let the matter end. Be-
lieving, however, that our reasons will shew this distribution to be not
only useful, but al- most indispensable, we proceed to offer them.
24, And first, that, so far as we have gone, the art we have described
ought to be called Logic, we think will hardly now be de- nied: —
for we have proved that from be-' ginning to end, it is a process of
reason, that is to say, a process to reach an end by mediae and we
have shown that the media are • Whalely't* Logic, Province
of Jteasoiiing, Chap. II. Sect. 4. Wi
words, (Xo'yoi.) If
the term Logic is not pro- perly applied to such an art as this, we
know not where an instance can be found of pro- priety in a name.
But shall we include the of- fice of proving truth under this name, as
well as that of investigating it ? We answer, no, for these two
reasons : first that the things them- selves are difierent, and ought
therefore to be assigned to different departments ; since it is one
thing to find out a truth, and another to put a different mind in a
posture for finding it out likewise : And, second, that persuasion
by means of language, which is the recognized office of Rhetoric,
is not so distinct from con- viction by means of language, as to admit
of our saying, precisely, where one ends, and the other begins.
That common situation in life. Video meUora proboque, deteriora
sequor, proves indeed there are degrees of conviction which yield
to persuasion, as thei'e are other degrees which no persuasion can subdue
: yet perhaps we shall hereafter be able to show, that such
junctures do but exhibit one set of motives outweighing anol^ier, and
that the ap- plication of the term persuasion to the one set, and
of conviction to the other, is in many cases arbitrary, rather than
dictated by a corre- spondent difference in the things. If, then,
the finding a truth, and the proving it to others, ought to be
assigned to different departments of Sematology, why not, leaving the
former to Logic, consider the latter as appertaining to Rhetoric,
seeing that convincing is not always, and on every subject, clearly
distinguishable from persuading, which latter is the acknow- ledged
province of Rhetoric ? Thus will ana- ^5ii' uniformly belong to Logic,
and synthesis to Rhetoric. While we use language as the medium for
reaching further knowledge than the notions (knowledge) we have
already gained, we shall be using it logically : when, knowing all
we intend to make known, we employ it to put others in possession of
the same knowledge, we shall be using it rhetorically. As learners we
are, according to this distribution, to be deemed logicians }— .as
176 [chap, II. teachers,
rhetoricians. The two purposes are quite distinct, though they are often
con- founded under the same name, reasoning ; which sometimes means
investigation, and sometimes argumentation*, or a process with
• 111 spite of all we have said against taking up no- tions from
mere terms, (for " what's in a name ?") we confeES a strong
antipathy to the word argumentatmi. It no sooner meets our eyes, than,
fearing the approach of some Docteur Pancrace, we instinctively put
our hands to our ears. " Voub voulez peut-etre savoir, si la
substance et Vaceident sont termes synonymes on equivoques k I'egard de
Tetre? Sganarelle. Point du tout. Je... Pancrace. Si la lo^ que est un
art, ou une science.^ Sgan. Ce n'est pas cela. Je... Pancr. Si elle
a pour objet les trois operations de I'esprit, ou la troieieme seulement
? Sgan. Non. Je... Poner. S'il y a dix categories, ou s'il n'y en a
qu'une ? Sgan. Point. Je... Pancr. Si la conclusion est Vessence du
sylle^sme ? Sgan. Nenni. Je... Pancr. Si fessence du bien est mise dans
I'appetibilite, ou dans la convenancc? Sgan. Non. Je... Pancr. Si
le bien se rcciproque avec la fin ? Sgan. He, non! Je... Pancr. Si
la fin nous pent emouvoir par son etre reel, ou par son Stre intentionel
? Sgnn. Non, non, non, non, non, dc par tons lea diables, non.
(Moli&re's Mariage Force.) We join in our friend Sganarelle'g
a view to proof: and the confusion is promoted by the circumstance,
that the two pro- cesses are often used in subservience to each
other. Thus, when a writer sits down to a work of philosophical
investigation, it is to be expected that the general truths he designs
to prove, are already in his possession ; but he has to seek the
means of proving them. Now in searching for these, it is not unlikely,
that, with regard to the detail, he will frequently come to
conclusions different from those he was inclined to entertain, though the
final re- sult he had entertained may remain un- changed. At one
moment, therefore, he is a logician, at another, a rhetorician. His
reader, on the other hand, is a logician throughout : in following
and weighing the arguments offer- ed, he is an investigator of the truths
which deprecation, wishing to shun all argumentation, except
of that quiet kind which takes place when the talkers on both sides are
disposed to truth, ilot victory. If the word conveyed to us the notion of
so peaceable a meeting, we should have no objection to it ; but we
have confessed our prejudice. the other undertakes to prove.
In this man- ner may the same composition, accordingly as it
exercises the inquiring or the demon- strating mind, be considered at one
time with reference to Logic, at another with reference to
Rhetoric. Still must it be admitted, that to investigate and to prove are
different things ; and conceiving there is sufficient ground for
confining Logic to the former office, we shall conclude our chapter as
we began it, by defining Logic to be the right use of WORDS with a
view to the investiga- tion of truth. Non posse Oratorem
esse nisi viriim bonum. AKG, CAP. I. LIB. XII. QtriN. 1N3. In
the chapter just finished, it was shown that the use of language as a
Logical instru- ment, entirely agrees with the theory of Gram- mar
we ascertained in the first chapter, and that, on no other principles
than those which arise from that theory, can Logic be pro- fitably
studied. We have now to show that the use of language as a Rhetorical
instrument agrees with the same theory, and that the view of the
art hence obtained, lays open its true nature, and the proper basis for
its rules. 2. The language of cries or ejaculations, which in the
first chapter we started with, may be called the Rhetoric of nature.
To this succeeds the learning of artificial lan- guage ; and the
process, whether of invention or of imitation, brings into being the
Logic described in the preceding chapter. For whether we invent a
language, or learn a lan- guage already invented, (presuming it to
be the first language we learn,) we must learn, (if we do not learn
like parrots,) the things of which language is significant. All
words whatever, not excepting even proper names *, express notions
(knowledge) obtained from the observation and comparison of many
par- ticulars ; and singly and separately, each word has reference
to the particulars from which the knowledge has been gained. But it is
by degrees we reach the knowledge of which each single word is
fitted to be the sign. We begin by understanding those sentences,
or single words understood as sentences>, that signify our most
obvious affections and wants, and which, taking the place of our
natural cries, retain the tone of those cries as far as the
articulate sounds they are united with permit. In all cases, as a
sentence expresses * Vide Chap. II. Sect. 7- ad fincm.
a particular meaning in comparison with the general terms of which it is
composed^ the hearer may be competent to the meaning of the
sentence, who is not competent to the full meaning of the separate words.
A cry, a gesture, may deprecate evil, or supplicate good ; and a
sentence which takes the place of, or accompanies that cry or gesture,
will, as a whole, be quickly interpreted. But the speaker and the
hearer must have made con- siderable progress in the acquirement of
know- ledge by means of language, before the one can put together,
and the other can separate^ understand, such words as, ^^ A fellow
creature implores"; "A friend entreats *\ It is by
frequently hearing the same word in context with others, that a full
knowledge of its meaning is at length obtained * ; but this implies
that the several occasions on which it * Consult, on this subject,
Chapter 4th of Du- gald Stewart's Essay " on the Tendency of some
late Philological Speculations,^ being the fifkh of bis " Phi-
losophical Essays^. [chap.
hi. is used, are observed and comjiared; it im- plies, in
short, a constant enlargement of our knowledge by the use of language as
an in- strument to attain it. 3. But he who uses language as
a logical, will also use it, when need requires, as a rhe- torical
instrument. The Rhetoric of nature, the inarticulate cries of the mere
animal, he will lay aside ; or at least he will employ them (and he
will then do so instinctively) only on tliose occasions for which they
are still best suited, — for the expression of feelings re- quiring
immediate sympathy. On all other occasions, he will use the Rhetoric by
which a mind endowed with knowledge, may expect to influence minds
that are similarly endowed ; and our inquiry now is, how the effect is
pro- duced;— how, by means of words, (taking words to be nothing
else than our theory of language has ascertained them to be,) —
how, by such means, we inform, convince, and persuade.
4. According to our theory, wobds are to be considered as having a
double capacity ; in the first, as expressing the speaker's actual
thought ; — ^in the second, as being the signs of knowledge obtained by
antecedent acts of judgment, and deposited in the mind ; which signs
are fitted to be the means of reaching further knowledge. Now, when we
use lan- guage as a rhetorical instrument, we use it, or at least
pretend to use it, in order to make known our actual thought, — in order
that other minds should have that information, or be enlightened by
that conviction, which we have reached. Could this be done by a
single indivisible word — could we realize the wish of the poet
— Could I embody and unbosom now That which is most
within me ; could I wreak My thoughts upon expression, and thus
throw Soul, heart, mind, passions, feelings, strong or weak.
All that I would have sought, and all I seek, Bear, know,
feel, and yet breathe, into One Word* Were this instantaneous
communication with- ♦ Byron's Childe Harold, Canto III. Stanza
97- in our power. Rhetoric would be a natural faculty, not an art,
and our inquiry into its means of operation would be idle. But
getting beyond the occasions for which the Rhetoric of nature is
sufficient, and for which those sentences are sufficient that serve
the most ordinary purposes of life, an instan- taneous
communication from mind to mind, is impossible. The information, the
conviction, or the sensitive associations, which we have wrought
out by the exercise of our observing and reasoning powers, can be given
to another mind only by giving it the means to work out the same
results for itself ; and, as a rhetorical instrument, language is, in
truth, much more used to explore the minds of those who are addressed,
than to represent, by an expression of correspondent unity, the thought
of the speaker ; — rather to put other minds into a certain posture
or train of thinking, than pre- tending to convey at once what the
speaker thinks. Contrary as this doctrine will ap- pe$ir to common
opinion on the subject, a very little reflection will show that it must be
true. For a word can communicate to another mind what is in the
speaker's, only by having the same meaning in the hearer^s : but if it
have the same meaning, then it signifies no more than what the
hearer knows already, or what he has previously experienced. And this
is plainly the case with sentences (words) in familiar use, which
signify what all have at times occasion to express, which are used
over and over again for their respective pur- poses, and of which, while
uttering or hearing them, we do not attend to the meaning of the
separate words, but only to the meaning of the whole expression *. Here,
it is confessed, the communication is made at once ; but then it is
a communication which the hearer is pre- pared to receive, because he has
himself used the same expression for the same purpose. What is to
be done when the information or the conviction is altogether strange to
the mind which is to receive it ? In this case the ♦ Refer to
Chap. I. Sect 19. ON RHETOKIC. QCHAP. HI.
speaker will seek in vain, as in the first case, for an expression
previously familiar to the hearer; and he will have to form an
expres- sion. But how shall he form it? As words have the power of
representing only what is known on both sides, he must form it not
with signs of what is to be made known, but of what is already known. In
this way, he may produce an expression — whether that expression
take the name of sentence, oration, treatise, poem, &c. * — which, as
a whole, de- notes that which his mind has been labouring to
communicate — the information, the con- viction, or the sensitive
associations he is de- sirous that others should entertain in
common with himself. The necessity of so protracted, so artful a
process, must be set down to the hearer's account, not to the speaker's.
The latter is (or ought to be) in previous possession of what he
seeks to communicate — he has been through the process, and reached
the result : but that result he cannot give at once ' Compiirc
Chap. I. Sect. 20. and gratuitously to others : he can
but lead them to it, as he himself was led, by address- ing what
they already know or feel ; and his skill in rhetoric will be the skill
with which, for this purpose, he explores their minds. It will be a
process of synthesis on his part, and of analysis on theirs. He will form
an ex- pression out of WORDS which signify what they already know,
or what they have already felt : and the separate understanding of
these on their part, will enable them to understand his expression
as a whole. This being the theory of Rhetoric which grows out of
our theory of language, we now proceed to show that the actual
practice of every speaker, and of every writer, is in accordance with
it. 5. To begin with Description and Narra- tion : — Is it
not obvious, that, to procure in another mind the idea of things unknown,
we proceed by raising the conception of those that are known ? An
object of sight which the party addressed has never seen, we give
an idea of by allusions made iu various ways to objects he has seen :— or if,
being new as a whole, it is made up of parts not new, we give the
idea of the whole by naming the parts, and their manner of union. An
unknown sound, or combination of sounds, an unknown taste, smell,
or feel, is suggested to another mind by a comparison, direct or
indirect, with a known sound, taste, smell, &c. As to
conceptions purely intellectual, it is a proof how little one mind can
directly represent or open, itself to another, that, in the first
in- stance, such conceptions can be made known not by words that
directly stand for them, not by comparisons with things of their
own nature, but only by comparisons with affec- tions and effects
outwardly perceptible; as would at once be obvious in tracing to
their origin all words that relate to the faculties and operations
of the mind *'y although it is true * Thus afdrnvs^ amma^ +*'%»»,
originally signify wind or breath : ^vfiog /Mevog^ mens^ impetuosity ;
in- tellect is from inter and lego, I collect from among ;
perception and oonceptUm are from capio I take, — a that
these words at last become well under- stood names, that at once suggest
their re« spective objects, without bringing up the ideas of the
objects of comparison that once in- tervened. In narration we proceed by
similar means. We presume the hearer to be ac- quainted with facts
or events of the same kind as that which is to be made known,
though not with the particular event ; for we \x%Q generalievmSy i. e.
terms expressing kinds or sorts, in order to form every more par-
ticular expression. If the hearer should be unacquainted with facts or
events of die same kind, the communicator then has recourse to
use of the verb still common in such phrases as ^^ I take in with
my eye,'' and, " I take your meaning ;'' judgment is from jus dicere
; understanding suggests its own etymology ; refleadon implies a casting
or throwing back again; imagination is from imago^ an image or
representation; to thinks according to Home Tooke, is from thing ; —
" Res-^k thing (he says) gives us refyr I am thinged,'' i. e.
operated upon by things. These are etymologies suggested by
authori- ties universally accessible ; — the curious in this
depart- ment of learning would be able to add much more.
circuitous comparisons. If nothing is pre- viously known to
wliich the action or event can, however remotely, be compared, the
attempt to make it known must be as fruitless as that of giving an idea
of colours to one bom blind, or of sounds to one born deaf*.
* Not without reason does the angel thus speak to Adam in the
Paradise Lost : High matter thou enjoin'st me, O prime of men,
— and hard : for how shall I relate To human sense the invisible
exploits Of warring spirits ? And he proposes to overcome the
difficulty in the only way in which it can be concaved possible to be
over- — what surmounts the reach Of human sense, I shall
delineate so By likening spiritual to corporal forms, As may
express them best. Far. Lost. Book 5. 1. 5G3. Still must the
discourse of the Angel have been unin- telli^ble to Adam : for the latter
must be supposed ignorant not only of the things to be illustrated,
but of far the greater part of the illustrations. There was no
keeping clear of this defect in the philosophy of die jwem, if, in a
poem, we arc to look for philoso- phy. The discourse even of Adam and
Eve, though Thus, then, when we make use of words in order to
inform, we produce the effect by adapting them to what the hearer
already knows. In using words in order to convince and persuade, we
produce the effect in the same way. But to convince, it is ne-
cessary to inform — to acquaint the hearer either with something he did
not know before, or with something he did not attend to ; and the
information is called the argument * or proof. Thus the information that
"Plato was a philosopher," is an argument or proof that
he is deserving of respect: and the clear testimony that " a man has
killed another maliciously," proves that the perpetrator is
guilty of murder. But why do we account the information in the respective
instances an argument or proof of the conclusion ? For
Iieautifully fiimple, is tilled with alluaions to things which the
least philosophy will teach us they could not be acquainted with.
* The word argument is commonly used iii the sense we here assign
to it ; though it is likewise often used with » more coniprelicnBivc
meaning. no Other reason than this, that it is addressed to a
notion (knowledge) previously acquired of what persons are deserving of
respect, (in the first instance,) and of what constitutes the crime
of murder, (in the second instance.) Take away this previous knowledge,
and the information remains indeed, and may perhaps be clearly
understood, but in neither instance can it lead the hearer to the conclusion,
— that is to say, it will not then be an argument for the end in
view : it will communicate, perhaps, what it professes to make known,
but there the matter will end. In every process, then, by which we
propose to convince others of a truth, there are three things implied
or expressed : i. that which we intend to prove true, and which, if
stated first, is called the proposition, if last, the conclusion : ii.
the in- formation by which we try to prove it, and which is
accordingly called the argument or pro of; iii. the previous notion
(knowledge) to which the information is addressed, and which is
frequently called the datum ; being that which is presumed to be already
known, and therefore conceded or given by the person reasoned with
; on account of which, and solely on this account, the information
is offered in the capacity of an argument or proof. Now, here we
have the parts of a syllogism, (though in reversed order, viz. the
conclusion, the minor, the major,) and this may serve to show, without
having recourse to the Aristotelian doctrine of the comparison of a
middle with extremes, why the form of a syllogism, where necessary, must
always be a forcible way of stating an argument. For first we state
that which our hearer cannot but. concede j (major ;) then we state
that which he did not know or attend to, in such a way that he must
receive it on our testi- mony, or admit as evident as soon as it is
attended toj (minor;) and these two being admitted, they are found to
contain what we proposed to prove: which we then draw from them
without the possibility of a rational contradiction; (conclusion.) For
example; o our hearer knows by experience what
persons are deserving of respect: he knows, then, that
** Every philosopher is deserving of respect.^ We then remind
him of the fact which he has learned from history, that
" Plato is a philosopher :'' Hence on his own knowledge
we advance the undeniable conclusion, " Plato is
deserving of respect'' Is this conclusion at all fortified — is
the process which led to it explained — by shew- ing that a
comparison of the terms independ- ently of the things, produces the
proposition which expresses it ? Both the hearer and the speaker
must have the kno'wledgevfYiicYi the first two propositions refer to, or
the conclusion can- not be drawn for any rational end : and if they
have the knowledge, they have the conclusion in that knowledge. In
convincing the hearer, the speaker does nothing but remind him that
he (the hearer) has the necessary knowledge ; and the syllogism, we admit, puts
the matter home in a very forcible way : but that is all : another
form of speaking will oflen do equally well : for instance, " Plato
who is a philosopher is deserving of respect." Whether the
truth is stated in this way, or in the for- mer way, or in any other way,
the extract- ing of a middle and extremes out of the ex* pression,
and demonstrating that these agree or disagree, is, we repeat it, a
puerile addition to the process that has previously taken place.
Again, with regard to the other example at the beginning of the section:
— Our hearer knows, (suppose him to be a juryman,) either of his
own knowledge, or by the definition laid down by the judge, that
^^ Maliciously killing a man is murder.''^ This is the datum,
or major. He receives in charge, i. e. he is informed that A. B. killed
a man maliciously, which is tantamount to saying that
" What A. B. did, is killing a man maliciously.*" o
2 196 ON RHETORIC. [CHAP. Ill, This information
is to be the argument or minor by which the conclusion is to be
esta- blished; but the juryman must be made sure of its truth, — he
must know it, — before he can receive it in this capacity : — well, he
is made sure of its truth : — must he then go to Aristotle, and be
taught to compare the middle with the extremes, in order to pro-
nounce his verdict that " What A. B. did, is murder:''
that is, he is guilty of murder? Will he be MORE satisfied with his
own verdict, if he is able to do so ? Common sense pronounces, no.
Let us, then, for ever have done with the Aristotelian Syllogism ;
admitting, how- ever, in favour of the form of expression, that to
express (i.) the datum, — (ii.) the inform- ation which, because it is
addressed to the da- tum, is an argument,— and (iii.) the
conclusion from them — in three distinct propositions, is a very
forcible way of stating a truth which we have reason to believe our
hearer is prepared to admit the moment it is so stated. But the
syllogism thus detached from the artifice of comparing a middle with
extremes, is only one among the innumerable ways of express- ing a
truth, which the custom of language permits, and is no more the invention
of Aristotle in particular, than any of those other forms that
might be used instead of it *. 7. This brief notice of the
syllogism in addition to what was advanced in the last chapter,
occurs by the way : — ^the point we had in hand, was, to show that in
convincing others by means of words, we adapt our words to what
they already know. And this must be evident from what has preceded. For
we previously proved, that, in order to inform, * Our
observations on the syllogism are not meant to call in question the
intellectual capacity of the in- ventor. For what we conceive to be a
just estimate of his merits, we refer to Dugald Stewart'^s Second
Vol. of the Philos. of the Human Mind, Chap. III. Sect. 3., near the
middle of the section. we adapt our words to what our
hearers al- ready know ; and we have just shown that the process of
convincing them, is a process in which we address some information to a
pre- existing notion. Let us now see how this doctrine tallies with
the terras of art which are already in recognised use ; and, as
occa- sion may offer, let us inquire if there be any difference,
and what, between conviction and persuasion. 8. That every
argument used to influence others, is considered to derive its efficacy
from some pre-existing notion, opinion, or rul- ing motive, whether
permanent or transitory, in the hearer, is evident from the
following and similar expressions : argumentum ad Judi- cium, by
which we signify that our inform- ation is addressed to such general
principles of judgment as mankind at large are guided by :
argumentum ad hominem, by which we imply that we address those peculiar
principles by which the individual man is actuated. Again ;
argumentum ad vtrvcundiam, argumentum ad ignorantiam, argumentum ad Jidem,
argumcn- tum ad passiones, all imply arguments (infoim- ation)
addressed to some partial motives of judgment and action ; and in all
these, the conclusion arising out of the reasoning has the same
validity, as far as regards the mere act of reasoning : it is the
difference of the data that makes it of very different value. A
conclusion from an argument addressed to principles which all men
recognise, is obvious- ly a conclusion of universal force; but one
which arises from an argument addressed to peculiar principles, can of
course be convinc- ing only to such as admit those principles. So
likewise a conclusion which arises from the reverence entertained for the
author of the principles professed ; — or which follows in the
hearer's mind from his limited notions, and would not follow if he were
better inlorra- ed ;— or which follows because of his faith, and
would not follow, if he had not that iaith J— or because his passions are
previously disposed, and would not follow, if they were otherwise
disposed: — in these and in similar cases, the argument is valid, and
therefore ef- fective with respect to the minds for which it is
adapted, but addressed to other and more general motives or knowledge, it
may be no argument at all *. Here, then, we may perhaps see how the
difference arises between conviction and persuasion ; — mere
persuasion is conviction as far as it goes ; but it is con- viction
arising out of partial data : the person persuaded is conscious that the
reasoning process itself is right, but he suspects — perhaps more
than suspects — tliat the data which he has permitted his inclinations to
lay • Hence, what is Rhetoric at one tune and to one set of
auditors, may be none whatever at another time. Who has not admired tlie
Rhetoric of Marc Antony, (the Hpeecb over Ciesar's body,) in Shakspeare's
play of Jnhua Caesar ? But why do we admire it F Is it such
Rhetoric as would persuade all people under the circumstances supposed ?
No. But it is just such Rhetoiic as was fitted for the multitude under
those circumstances; and we admire the dramatist who so completely
suits the oration to the art of the speaker, und the minds of those whom
be has to operate upon. down, are wrong: he perceives
another con- clusion from other and less suspicious data, though he
has not resolution enough to em- brace it : so that the case we referred
to in the last chapter* as being so common in life, Video meliora
proboque^ deteriora sequor, amounts to this, — that we are divided
between two conclusions, the one drawn from data which we know to
have the sanction of uni- versal consent, the other from data
supplied by private motives. Thus, when Macbeth is bunging in doubt
between the suggestions of duty and ambition t, the conclusion from
each source is reasonably drawn : but he is not ignorant of the
different value of the respec- tive sources. He has nearly determined
in favour of the conclusion drawn from duty, when his wife enters,
who, by addressing con- siderations (information, arguments,) to
his known sentiments of greatness and courageous * Chap. II.
Sect. 2+. f Shakspcare's Macbetb, Act I. Scene 7-
daring, persuades him to murder Duncan and seize the crown.
9. So much for the terms of art by which we signify the quaUty of
the arguments we use, as depending on the known motives, or
information, or disposition, of the persons addressed : which terms suit
our theory so well, that they seem to be invented for it. Nest, for
the terms by which the arguments themselves are technically
distinguished. First, we have a distinction of them into Ex- ternal
and Internal. Now, according to our theory, every argument consists of
some in- formation which we communicate to the per- son reasoned
with : — but this information may be something that he could not
possibly have discovered by any consideration of the subject itself
J or it may be something that he might have so discovered ; in which
latter case, our information will amount to nothing more than
making him aware of what he had overlooked. The former, then, will be an
ex- temal argument or
proof; the latter, an in- temal argument. Of the former, the
evidence in a court of justice is an example ; as are al- so proofs
from history and other writings, and irom the testimony of the senses. Of
the lat- ter kind, are all arguments from what are call- ed the
topica or loci communes : — for instance, from the definition or
conditions of a thing j as when certain lines are inferred to be
equal to each other from their nature or conditions as being radii
of the same circle : — from enumeration ; as when we prove that a
whole nation hates a man, by enumerating the several ranks in it,
who all do so : — from nota~ tion or etymology ; as when we infer that
Lo- gic has reference to the use of words in reasoning, from its
connexion with the Greek Xt'yw I speak, and \6yoi a word :— from genus
f as when we prove that Plato is deserving of respect, by showing
that he is one of a getius or kind that is deserving of respect : —
from species ; as when we infer the excellence of ^ virtue in
general from that which we observe eo* [chap. lit. in some
particular act of virtue : — anil so like- wise of the same kind, namely
internal, are aiguments from the other well known topics ; (not to
prolong the instances, which are easily imagined ;) from cause, whether
efficient, JiJial, Jbrmal, or material; from adjuncts, antecedents,
consequences, contraries, opposiles, similitudeSy dissimilitudes, things
greater, less, or equal: &c. The deriving of arguments from
these internal topics*, is nothing more, on the part of the
speaker, than turning a subject into every point of view that may suggest
a some- thing relating to it, overlooked perhaps by the hearer, and
which, by being brought to his notice, and addressed to his
pre-existing notions, may prove, or render probable, the
proposition in hand ; and according to the de- gree of force which the
argument carries, it is • The reader needs not be reminded how
largely this subject of topics, (or places for finding the internal
or artiiicial proofs in contradiGtinction to the external or artificial,)
ia treated by the ancients : for instance, by Aristotle, by Cicero, (vide
the book called Topu-a,) and by Quinctilian. deemed an
instrument of conviction or of persuasion. An argument from defimlion ; —
- (for instance from the conditions of a problem or theorem j as
where lines are required to he drawn which are to be radii of the same
cir- cle J ) which argument is addressed to a notion assumed among
the general conditions of the I reasoning ; (for instance, that " a
circle is suct]^ ] a figure that all lines, (called radii,) drawn,
j from a certain point within it to the circum- ference are equal
" ;) — an argument so derived and so addressed, is demonstrative of
the pro- position which it is brought to prove : (e. g^ that the
lines are equal.) An argument froni[1 enumeration, — (for instance, from
a statement 1 of the several ranks that are found in a n&- ]
tion,) addressed to a notion that the parta J enumerated are all the
parts, (for instance^ j that the several ranks of people that hate A. j
B. comprise the whole nation,) is also de- monstrative with respect to
that notion ; but if the enumeration should not comprehend all the
parts in the hearer's notion of the whole, or if the hearer should doubt
whether his own notion is sufficiently comprehensive, no ab- solute
conviction takes place. Still, the enu- meration may induce belief, and
will in such case be said to persuade, though not to con- vince.
The same might be shown of the ar- guments derived from all the other
topics. Entire conviction would follow from any of them, if the
hearer were fully satisfied both of the truth of what is offered in the
way of ar- gument, and of the correctness of his own no- tion to
which the argument is addressed : but greater or less degrees of doubt
may accom- pany each of these, and greater or less de- grees of
doubt will therefore attach to the conclusions which flow from them. We
may moreover observe, that the truths a speaker has in view, do not
always stand in need of demonstration : they are perhaps admitted
al- ready, but it may be that they do not suffici- ently influence
the hearer's sensibilities. The object of an argument will then be, to
awaken those sensibilities, and with this effect its purpose wiU stop :
as, for instance, when in or- der to awaken sensibility to the frail
nature of man's existence, (not to demonstrate it,) the speaker
draws his argument from simili- tude : Ah ! few and full of
sorrows are the days Of mieerable man ! his life decays Like that
fair flower that with the sun's uprise Its bud unfolds, and with the
evening dies. Here, the argument is obviously meant for
persuasion. There may, at the same time, be an ultimate truth in view,
which the speaker designs to enforce when he has prepared the mind
for receiving it; and he will then employ arguments of a different kind,
and address them to notions of universal dominion. — But with
regard to any of the arguments which, in this brief review we have
glanced at — whether external or internal, whether demon- strative,
or only inducing belief, whether de- signed to convince, or fitted but to
per- suade, — the process accords with the theory assumed: — the
speaker adapts words to knowledge the hearers have already attained, or
to feeliugs they have already experienced, in order to conduct them to
some discovery he wishes them to make, or to some unexperienc- ed
train of thought conducive to such dis- covery. 10. The
assumption of this as the great principle of the art, will, in the next
place, enable us to clear it from certain misdirected charges to
which it has always been liable. The expedients which the orator
employs, the various tropes and figures of which his discourse is
made up, are apt to be looked upon as means to dissemble and put a
gloss upon, rather than to discover his real sentiments*. That, like all
other useful * We refer more especially to the following pas-
sage with which Locke concludes his Chapter ^^ on the Abuse of Words ;^
being the 10th of his 3d book. ^^ Since wit and &ncy find easier
entertainment in the world than dry truth and real knowledge,
figurative speeches and allusion in language will hardly be ad-
mitted as an imperfection or abuse of it. I confess in discourses where
we seek rather pleasure and de- SECT. 10.] ON RHETORIC.
209 things, they ^re sometimes abused*, nobody • E/ 3f,
ort /jieyaKa jSxa\J/£(£v av b xi^f^^^°^ d^Uag Tn roKzuTn ^uvifAEi tcHv
Aoywv, touto re Jtoivov eo'ti Kara ^ivruv Tuv ayaOav* Arist. Rhet. I. 1.
light than information and improvement, such orna- ments as
are borrowed from them can scarce pass for faults. But yet if we would
speak of things as they are, we must allow that all the art of rhetoric,
besides order and clearness, all the artificial and figurative ap-
plication of words eloquence hath invented, are for nothing else but to
insinuate wrong ideas, move the passions, and thereby mislead the
judgment, and so indeed are perfect cheats : and therefore however
laudable or allowable oratory may rehder them in ha- rangues and popular
addresses, they are certainly, in all discourses that pretend to inform
or instruct, wholly to be avoided ; and where truth and knowledge are
con- cerned, cannot but be thought a great fault either of the
language or the person that makes use of them. What, and how various they
are, will be superfluous here to notice ; the books of rhetoric which
abound in the world, will instruct those who want to be informed :
only I cannot but observe how little the preservation and improvement of
truth and knowledge is the care and concern of mankind ; since the arts
of fallacy are endowed and preferred. It is evident how much
men will deny : but to consider them by their very nature as
instruments of deception, only proves that the objector utterly
misconceives the relation between thought and language. These
expedients are, in fact, essential parts of the original structure of
language ; and however they may sometimes serve the pur- poses of
falsehood, they are, on most occa- sions, indispensable to the effective
communi- cation of truth. It is only by expedients that mind can
unfold itself to mind;— lan- guage is made up of them ; there is no
such thing as an express and direct image of thought. Let a man's
mind be penetrated love to deceive and be deceived, since rhetoric,
that powerftil instrument of error and deceit, has its esta-
blished professors, is publicly taught, and has always been had in great
reputation : and I doubt not but it will be thought great boldness, if
not brutality in me, to have said thus much against it. Eloquence,
like the fair sex, has too prevailing beauties in it, to suf- fer
itself ever to be spoken against. And it is in vain to find fault with
those arts of deceiving, wherein men find pleasure to be
deceived.'*' with the clearest truth — let him burn to com-
luunicate the blessing to others ; — ^yet can he, in no way, at once lay
bare, nor can their minds at once receive, the truth as he is con-
scious of it. He therefore makes use of ex- pedients : — he conceals, perhaps,
his final pur- pose ; for the mind which is to be informed, may not
yet be ripe for it :— ^he has recourse to every form of comparison,
(allegory, simile, metaphor*,) by which he may awaken pre-
disposing associations : — he changes one name for another, (metonymy,)
connected with more agreeable, or more favourable associa- tions :
— he pretends to conceal what in fact he declares ; — (apophasis ; — ) to
pass by what * In referring to these and other figures of
speech, it is impossible not to be reminded of Butler'^s distich,
that All a rhetorician'^s rules Teach nothing but to
name his tools. The fact is as the satirist states it. But then it
is something to a workman to have a name for his tools ; for this
implies that he can find them handily. — May we add to our remark, that
the world is scarcely yet in truth he reveals ; — (paraleipsis) he
interrogates when he wants no answer ;— (ero- tesis ; — ) exclaims, when
to himself there can be no sudden surprise;— (ecphonesis) he corrects
an expression he designedly uttered ; — (epanorthosis) he exaggerates ;—
(hyperbole) he gathers a number of particu- lars into one heap; —
(synathroesmus) he ascends step by step to his strongest position ;
— (climax ) he uses terms of praise in a sense quite opposite to their
meaning ; — (ironia) he personifies that which has no life, perhaps no
sensible existence ; — (prosopopoeia) he imagines he sees what is not actually
present ;— (hypotyposis) he calls upon aware how much it owes to such men
as Butler, Moliere, Shakspeare, Pppe ;r-^men who joined to other rich
gifts of intellect, that of plain sound sense, which enabled them
at once to see, in their true light, the vanities and absurdities of
(misqalled) learningp But for the histo- rian of Martinus Scriblerus, his
predecessors and suc- cessors, the world might still be under the
dominion of a set of solemn coxcombs, whose whole merit consisted
in making small matters seem big ones, and themselves to appear wiser
than their neighbours. the living and the dead ; — (apostrophe)
all these, and many more than these, are the ar- tifices which the
orator* employs ; but they are artifices which belong essentially to
lan- guage ; nor are there other means, taking them in their kind
and not individually, by which men can be effectually informedy or
perstuidedj or convinced. Could the prophet at once have made the royal
seducer of Uriah's wife fully conscious of the sin he had
committed, he would not have approached him with a parable t : that
parable was the means of opening his heart and understanding to the
true nature of his crime ; and it is a proper instance of the principle
on which all eloquence proceeds. It is true, we do not * We
trust the reader scarcely needs to be remind- ed, that the word Orator
isused throughout this treatise, in the comprehensive sense which
includes all who wield the implements of Eloquence. In modem times,
the influential orator is read not heard ; or if heard, his hearers are
few in number compared with his readers. t 2 Sam. 12.
now make use of parables fully drawn out ; but all
metaphorical expressions, all compa- risons direct or indirect, are to
the same pur- pose ; namely, that of bringing the mind of the
hearer into a state or temper fitted for the apprehension of truth. Nor,
(we repeat,) must it be thought that the means referred to,
(excepting some instances in bad taste,) are ornaments superinduced on
the plain mat- ter of language, and capable of being detached from
it : they are the original texture of Ian- guage, and that from which
whatever is now plain at first arose. All words are originally
tropes ; that is, expressions turned (for such is the meaning of trope)
from their first pur- pose, and extended to others. Thus, when a
particular name is enlarged to a general one, as our theory shows to have
happened with all words now general, the change in the first
instance was a trope. A trope ceases how- ever to be one, when a word is
fixed and re- membered only in its acquired meaning ; and in this
way it is that all plain expressions have originated. In a mature
language, a speaker or writer may, therefore, if he pleases, avoid
figurative expressions. But the same neces- sity, the same strong
feelings, which originally gave birth to language, will still produce
new figures, or lead the speaker to prefer those already in use to
plain expressions, if, by the former, he can touch the chords, or awaken
the associations, that are linked with the truths iie seeks to
establish. Our theory of language, and consequent theory of Rhetoric,
will, in the next place, no longer leave us to wonder at an ef-
fect, which Dr. Campbell has laboured to account for with much ingenuity;
namely, that nonsense so often escapes being detect- ed both by the
writer and the reader*. For according to our theory, words have a
sepa- rate and a connected meaning, each of which is distinct from
the other. Now, suppose a succession of words to have no connected
Chap. VII. See Philosophy of Rhetoric, Vol.
II. Book II. meaning, which is as much as to say,
suppose them to be nonsense ; yet, in their separate capacity, they
will nevertheless stand for things that have been known and felt ;
and if both the speaker and the hearer shbuld be satisfied with the
vague revival of this know- ledge and of these feelings, they will
neither of them seek for, and consequently will not detect the
absence of an ulterior purpose. The effect which is produced by words thus
used, (or rather misused,) extends no further than that produced by
instrumental music, and is of the same kind. For no one will
pretend that a piece of niusic expresses, or can express, independently
of words, a series of ra- tional propositions ; yet it awakens some
sen- timents or feelings of a suflSciently definite cha- racter to
occupy the mind agreeably. Now perhaps it is not an unwarrantable libel
on one half of the reading world, if we affirm, that they read
poetry and other amusing composition for no further end, and with
no further effect, than the pleasure of such vague
Sentiments or feelings as spring from music : and to such readers it is
of little moment whether the words make sense or not. Ac-
cordingly, when composition like the follow- ing is put before them^
which presents striking though incongruous notions, in words gram-
matically united, agreeably jingled, and having a connexion, probably,
with certain sensitive associations, they are liable to read on,
not only without feeling their taste shocked, but perhaps with some
pleasure. Hark ! I hear the strain erratic Dimly glance from
pole to pole ; Raptures sweet and dreams ecstatic, Fire my
everlasting soul. Where is Cupid's crimson motion,
Billowy ecstasy of wo ? Bear me straight, meandering ocean,
Where the stagnant torrents flow. Blood in every vein is
gushing, Vixen vengeance lulls my heart ; See, the Gorgon
gang is rushing ! Never, never let us part *. * "
Rejected Addresses ;^ the particular example Nor is it in
(pretended) poetry alone, that the eflFect here alluded to tahes place.
Bring to- gether the rabble of a political party, and place before
them a favourite haranguer: — it 13 not by any means necessary that he
should make a speech which they understand, or even himself: he has
only to string, in plausible order, the accustomed slang words of
the party, and to utter them with the usual fer- vour ; the wonted
huzzas will follow as a matter of course, and fill each pause that
the speaker's art or necessity prescribes. And BO likewise in an
assembly of a different de- scription, — the piously disposed
congregation above being in ridicule of Rosa Matilda's
style. See also Pope's " Song by a Person of Quality."
The reader whose taste is gratified by such composition as is here
caricatured, stands at the other extreme from that mathematical reader,
who returned Thomson's Seasons to the lender with an expression of
disgust, that he had not been able to find a single thing proved
from the beginning to the end of the book. The reader for whom the
genuine poet writes, is equally removed from each extreme. of
a conventicle : the good man whom they are accustomed to hear has but to put
to- gether the words of familiar sound and evan- gelical
association — grace, and spirit, and new light, regeneration and
sanctification, edification and glorification ; an inward call, a
wrestling with Satan, experience, new birth, and the glory of the elect ;
interweaving the whole with unceasing repetitions of the sa- cred
name, accompanied by varied epithets of, blessed, holy, and divine : and
with no further assistance than the appropriated tone and frequent
upturned eye, he will throw them into a holy transport, and dismiss them,
as they will declare, comforted and edified. This effect, which is
apt to be attributed to hypocrisy because the ordinary notions of
language suggest no cause for it, our theory explains with no heavy
scandal to the parties. 12. Concerning the elements of
Rhetoric ranged under the divisions of Invention and Elocution, we
have now made what remarks our object required. There yet remains
one division, namely, Pronunciation *; which will, however,
scarcely furnish occasion for extend- ing our observations ; since our
theory is not in any peculiar manner concerned with it. As we
started with the Rhetoric of nature, namely, tone, looks, and gesture, so
we are at * Disposition and Memory are in general adde4 to
these three. " Omnis oratoris vis ac facnltas,'*^ says Cicero, ^^ in
quinque partes est distributa ; ut deberet reperire primum, quid diceret;
deinde in- venta non solum ordire, sed etiam momento quodam atque
judicio dispensare atque componere ; tiun ea de- nique vestire, atque
omare oratione ; post, memoria sepire; ad extremum, agere cum dignitate
et venustate.^ De Orat. 1. 31. As to two of these divisions, we
have no occasion to notice them, because there is nothing in our
theory of language which requires them to be viewed in a new or peculiar
light : — We may take oc- casion to observe, before' concluding the note,
that the modem use of the term Elocution, assigns it to sig- nify
what the ancients denoted by Pronunciation or Action : and Dr. Whately
sanctions this modem sense by adopting it in his Rhetoric. We have used
it in the foregoing page in the ancient sense : ^^ quam Graeci
f^aa-iv vocant,^ says Quinctilian, ^^ Latine dicimus Elocutionem.'*'*
Ins. viii. 1. once ready to admit that these may, and ought
to accompany the language of art ; — that they ought not to be absent
even from the recollection of him who writes, lest his style be
deficient in vivacity. In union with these parts of Pronunciation, is
that ele- ment of artificial oral speech called Empha- sis ; and it
will be to our purpose to observe, how very inadequate are the common
notions of language to account for the actual practice of emphasis,
as it may be observed in English speech. The common view of words
that make up a sentence, is, that they respectively correspond to
ideas that make up the thought : and therefore, in a written sentence, if
we would know the emphatic word, we are de- sired to consider which
word expresses the most important idea*. Thus, when Dr. * To
this end some teacher of elocution (elocution in the modem sense)
somewhere says : ^^ If, in every assemblage of objects, some appear more
worthy of no- tice than others ; if, in every assemblage of ideas,
which arc pictures of those objects, the same difference Johnson was
asked how we ought to pro- nounce the commandment, ** Thou shalt
not bear false witness against thy neighbour/* he gave as his
opinion that not should have the emphasis, because it seemed the most
im- portant word to the whole sense. But Garrick influenced by no
assumed theory, pronounced according to the practice of English
speech, ** Thou shalt-not bear," * &c. There is in fact no
other rule than custom in English speech for the accenting of words in a
sentence, any more than there is for accenting syllables in a word.
A peculiar or referential meaning may indeed disturb the usual accent of
a prevail, — it consequently must follow, that in every
assemblage of words, which are pictures of these ideas, there must be
some that claim the distinction called emphasis.^ All this ingenious
parallel, with Aristotle^s authority to back it, we affirm to be purely
visionary, and we hope the reader by this time thinks as^ we do.
Yet is the passage in entire accordance with the no- tions of language
that commonly — nay, it should seem, universally prevail. *
The story is somewhere related by BoswelL word : for instance, the common
accent of the word for^ve, will be displaced if the word is
pronounced referentially to a word that has a syllable in common ; as in
saying to give and loj'drgive. And just so will it be in a sentence
which is pronounced refer- entially to an antecedent or a
subsequent sentence, either expressed or understood : which would
be the case, if we pronounced tie ninth commandment in contradiction to
one who had said "Thou shaltbear false witness," &C.,
for then we should accent it in Johnson's way, and say " Thou shalt
n6t bear," &c. Now this is what is properly called
emphasis, namely, some peculiar way of accenting a sentence in
order to give it a referential mean- ing. A sentence pronounced to have a
plain meaning has its customary accents, but no emphasis. The
commonest example will be the best ; and therefore we will quote
one that may be found in every book in which emphasis is treated
of: "Do you ride to town to-day?" If this is pronounced without
allusive meaning, ride, town, and day, are equally accented by the custom
of the language, and there Is no emphasis properly so called :
which, by the way, is a pronunciation of the sentence that teachers of
read- ing, in their search after its possible oblique meanings,
forget to tell us of. Suppose we give an emphasis to ride, then
lide-to-toivn-to day will be allusive to ■wdlk-to-town-to-day, as
we might accent the word intrinsical in the mauner marked with a
reference to the word Extrinsical, although the plain accentuation
is intrinsical. So again to-loTvn-lo-day is allusive to
the-country-to-day, and to-town-to-ddy is al- lusive to to-town-to-m6rrow
; as the word powerless might be accented on the last syl- lable
with a view to poweiiful. That the ac- tual practice of emphasis
corresponds with this account, the reader may satisfy himself by
observing the conversation of the well- bred, — not their reading, for
that is oflen conducted on mistaken principles : — and we scarcely
need point out how completely this practice accords with our theory of
language. For with us, a sentence is a word, not more resolvabie
into parts that constitute its whole meaning, than a word made up of
syllables ; and as with regard to a word of the latter de-
scription, the accent is determined to one syl- lable by custom, but is
disturbed and placed on another syllable in making allusion to
another word having syllables in common ; so with regard to a sentence
(word) made up of words, the accents are likewise determined to
certain words that usually bear Ihem, but these accents are disturbed and
placed on other words in making allusion to a meaning which has,
orwhich, if expressed, would have, words in common. And here, with this
new kind of proof in favour of our theory, and with the last
subject usually treated of in Rhetoric, we might stop the hand that
has traced this OutHne. But there remain a few remarks that could
not be introduced earlier, for which the patience of the reader is
en- treated a little longer. We may take the liberty in the
first place to observe, that, with regard to the materials of
Sematology which have been con- sidered, our theory leaves them what
they were : it pretends only to show the true basis on which they
stand, and that the learned distribution of them, is not that which accords
with the actual practice of mankind. Suppose then, (if we may suppose so
much,) that our Grammars, our Books of Logic, and our In- stitutes
of Rhetoric, are to be altered in con- formity with the views which have
been opened, the changes will not affect the detail, but the
general preliminary doctrine, and the subsequent arrangement. As to
doctrine, the changes will mostly consist of omissions. In Grammar,
if we omit the common de- finitions of the parts of speech *, and
allow * God help the poor children that are set to learn
these, and other of the definitions in elementary grammars, particularly
English grammars; for the Latin ones are a little more sensible. That
jumble of a grammar that has the name of a Lindley Mturay in the
title page, after defining a verb to be ^^ a wend the tyro
to learn what they are by the parsing of sentences — that is, to ascend
from par- ihat Bignifiea to be, to do, or to suffer," {as if
no other part of speech signified to be, to do, or to suffer,) —
after saying what is true enough, but cannot be under- stood by a child
till he has practically discovered it, that " common names stand for
kinds containing many sorts, or for sorts containing many individuals
under them;" — with many like things, picked up from Lowth and
others, equally fitted for the instruction of young minds; condescends to
give a few plain di- rections for knowing the parts of speech, such as
the tyro is likely to understand: but the author, as if ashamed of
having been intelligible, remarks that " the observations wliich have
been made to aid learners in distinguishing the parts of speech from
one another, may afford them some small assistance ; but it will
certainly be mucli more instructive to distinguish them by the
definitions, and an accurate knowledge of their nature" Now the
observations referred to, are, in fact, the only passages calculated to
give a just un- derstanding of the parts of speech ; the
definitions wliich the writer enhances, being founded in an es-
sentially wrong notion of the nature of grammar. It is speaking to the
purpose to tell the tyro that " a substantive may be distinguished
by its taking an article before it, or by its making sense of
itself;"^ that, " an adjective may be known by its making sense
with ticulars to generals instead of descending from generals to
particulars, — there la nothing the wortl thing, or any particular
Gubstantive ;" that, " a verb may be diBtinguishcd by its
making sense with any of the personal pronoiuiB ;" that, " a
preposi- tion may be known by its admitting after it a personal
pronoun in the objective case ;" and so forth. These are not only
plain directions for the purpose professed, but they suggest the real
differences among the parts of speech; and if the compiler had
condescended throughout his book (or books, for there are appen-
dages) to adapt his explanations, in the same manner, to the minds of
those who were to be taught, he would have avoided the errors of doctrine
which he always runs into when be attempts to give, what as the
author of an elementary grammar he has never any buaiiiesa to give,
namely a philosophical or general principle. Moreover, in the arrangement
of his materials, he seems incapable of, ot at least is inattentive to,
the clearest and most necessary distinctions. Thus, (to take at
random two examples from liis book of ex- ercises,) he gives the
following as instances of bad grammar : " Ambition is so insatiable,
that it will make any sacrifices to attain its objects." (12mo.
edit, p. 128.) " When so good a man as Socrates fell a victim
to the madness of the people, truth, virtue, re- ligion, fell with
him." (Ibid 116.) The former of these sentences exemplifies the
Logical fault, non- in what remains that can be objected to :
the declining of nouns, the conjugatiiig of verbs, scquitur,
and the latter will advantageouBly receive the Rheimcal ornament
polysyndeton : but to give them as instanccB of defective Grammar, b to
blind the learner to the nature of the art he is studying. — The
grammatical works wc are referring to, seem, from the number of editions
they have gone through, to be in very general iise, or we should not
have deemed them worth so long a note. \Ve pass to a remark on
another grammatical work of very different character and value, the Greek
grammar of Matthise. This work has justly won the approbation of
the learned throughout the world; but we conceive the praise
belongs to its elaborate detail, and not to such principles as the
following. " Every proposition, even the simplest, must contain two
principal ideas, namely that of the Subject a thing or person, of which
any thing is asserted in the proposition, and that of the
I'redicate, that which is asserted of that person or thing." (Matth.
Gr. § 293.) To state our objections to tliis passage is difficult,
because we do not know how the author or translator may define a
propositic»i, or what they may mean by the principal ideas in it.
Perhaps they may consider no expression a proposition which does not consist
of a subject and predicate. Wc deny that, from the nature of the thought,
any commu* nication requires these grammatical parts, {they are
A and the other business of the
grammar-scliool, we deem, as it has always been deemed, in-
dispensable. In Logic, if we omit ail that is taught concerning ideas
independently of words ; if we omit what ia taught concerning the
two operations of the mind, Perception and Judgment distinct from
Reasoning, not because those operations do not take place, but
because every single abstract word fully understood, (and Logic begins
with words,) expresses a conclusion from a rational process as
efTectually as a syllogism ; and if we further omit (and the omission is
important) whatever is peculiar to Aristotelian Logic ; — all that
remains will, on the principles we have had before us, be essentially
useful to the learner ; namely, the precepts for accurate definition
; the precepts against the assumption of un- warranted premises j
the precepts for guarding against the false conclusions to which we
are merely g^rammalical,) though the necessities of
lan- guage in general prescribe them. See Chap. I. SecL 25. ; about
the middle of the Section. liable when we reason tvith words, and
not merely by means of words; the precepts for guarding against
being led away by true con- clusions, when there may be conclusions
like- wise true and more important from other data ; which data,
with their conclusions, are, kept out of sight by the art of the speaker,
or . the blindness of the inquirer*. In Rhetoric, there is less to
be omitted than in the other branches ; but in this department, the
general views we have opened are important, because they exhibit
the art in connexion with a great and worthy end; an end which, it should
seem> has not always been thought essential to it.
* We mean to say, that the7na(e)'taZsof acomplete budy of
ioEtructioD ia Logic already exist in Literature ; but tliey esisE not in
any one system. They are more- over BO mingled with what is erroneous hi
doctrine, that the good is difficult to reach, without imbibing a
great many wrong notions that frustrate the practical benefit How
can it be otherwise, if what we have endeavoured to prove, is true, that
the principle of the Logic which all men use and all men operate witli,
has never yet been cxpIaiRvd ? For as Rhetoric is an
instrumental art, we are told that it ought to be considered ab-
stractedly from the ends which the speaker or writer may propose in using
it j and Quinctilian who insists that the Orator, (that is, of
course, the consummate orator,) must be a virtuous man, lias been classed
with those whom atraihevffla, and aXai^ovela have betrayed ioto a
wrong estimate of the art*. As we think the good old Roman schoolmaster
is not quite beside the mark in his notion on this point, we
propose to inquire wliether the placing of Rhetoric on the basis we
have ascertained, does not lead to the position he so stoutly
maintains. Now, the immediate basis of Rhetoric is Logic ; and our
remarks will therefore begin with the latter. 14. Logic as
well as Rhetoric is an in- strumental art ; but if our definition is
correct, it is an instrument for the discovery of truth, and it is
then only perfect as an instrument when it is completely adapted to that
end. • See Whately's Rhetoric. A great and worthy end is therefore
essential to Logic ; and a correspondent effect will appear in
those who have made a skilful use of it. But the Logic we speak of, is
that which is applied to things, namely to Physicot and Practica *;
that is to say, which is em- ployed to ascertain the constitution of
the world in which we Uve, and of ourselves who live in it, and
thence to deduce what we ought to do: — but the examination of the
world, and of ourselves, and of our duties, is the examination of
particulars ; and our Logic has recourse to universals for no other
purpose than to understand particulars the better. If there is a
Logic, which, resting in universals, confers the power of talking
learnedly and wisely, yet leaves a man to act the part of an
Ignoramus and a fool in the commonest concerns of life, this is not the
Logic we have had in view. There is indeed a learned ig- norance,
aa there is an ignorance from want of learning ; there is also an
ignorance from natural incapacity, and an ignorance from
superinduced insanity ; by any one of wliich tbe mind may be prevented
from reaching truth. Not that in any case whatever the reasoning
process is wrong ; but if the reasoning proceeds on wrong or
insufficient premises, which it will in any of these cases, the
conclusion will of course be wrong. Some one has said that " the
difference between a madman and a fool is, that the former reasons
justly from false data, and the latter erro- neously from just
data." This is incorrectly said : — the idiot who walks into the
water because he knows no better, is incapable of the just datum,
and therefore cannot be said to reason from it : if he knew the
datum, namely that the water would drown him, he would not walk
into it ; but he does not know this, and therefore he walks into it :
in doing which, he reasons, so far as his know- ledge goes, as
justly as the madman, who walks into it because his disturbed fancy
makes him take it for a garden. Wlien the SECT. 14.] ON
RHETORIC. 235 road to truth is blocked up by either of these
two causes, namely irabeciUty or insanity. Logic can do nothing ; but
ignorance whether from wrong learning or from want of learning, is
to be removed by the appUcation of ge- nuine Logic to P/it/ska and
Praclica. Still, independently of tlie toil to be encountered,
there are obstructions and delusions which are liable to turn the most
ardent inquirer out of the path. There may not be natural im-
becility, nor permanent insanity ; yet there may be an habitual
incapacity of judgment from the influence of prejudice, and aa
occasional insanity of judgment from the in- fluence of passion. But among
other things we learn in Pki/sica, these facts are to be reckoned ;
and the precepts which warn us of them, are among the most important of
those which belong to Praclica. In the mean time, that we may be
induced to persevere in the search after truth, till our real
interests become so plain that we cannot but embrace them, we are
not permitted to feel at ease under the mists which passion and
prejudice create. The fool and the madman to whom mists are
reaUties, are satisfied in their judg- ments; but it is not so with those
who see dimly through the fog, and suspect there may be better
paths than those they are pursuing. This suspicion, as light breaks in,
may at last become conviction, strong enough to subdue even the
habit or inclination by which a wrong path is made easy, and a
departure from it difficult. True, indeed, such over- powering
conviction may not reacii the ma- jority of mankind at present: they may
be compelled, as heretofore, to wear out life in struggles between
right and wrong, between inclination and duty, between future good
and present solicitation : but are we forbidden to hope, for future
generations, a gradual alleviation of so painful a conflict, in
propor- tion as what is good and what is evil shall be made plainer
to the eye of reason • P At least > * All vice is ignorance or
habit. Who would not take the best way of being happy, if he knew it —
that may we affirm, that all learniag has, or ought to have, this
consummation in view. is, knev it to conviction — and his habits
did not prevent him ? But he may discover the best way when hia
bahitE are fixed; as a miEerable dnmkard, who drinks on to escape from
utter dcepair, sees with bitter regrel the happiness of a sober life.
With a common notion of learning and ignorance, an objector will demur
to our statement ; but such an objectot should be told, that a man
may have run the circle of the sciences aa they are commonly taught, and
yet remain in ignorance of what is most important to be known. This is
s truth which not only Christian teachers, but the wise among the
heathen inculcate. In that admirable relic of Socratic philosophy,
£;EBHT02 niNAH, there are, among the personifications, two that bear
the names of naiitia and "Htuimaihla, (Learning and
Counterfeit-learning,) by the latter of which is ligured all that,
independently of the knowledge which makes I men permanently happy,
passes under the name of I learning. Now, in that knowledge which alone
ia | valuable, a man cannot be called learned, whose coik viction
is not strong enough to determine his practice. The thirsty wight Tiho,
in a state of profuse perspira* tion, calls for a glass of iced-water,
may know there is danger in the draught : but if his knowledge is
not strong enough to prevent the act, what is its value ?— at the
moment, it is even worse than useless ; since Such then is the aim
and scope of Lo- gic in relation to Physica and Pracika : it is may
be sufficient to disquiet the luxury of the draught, though not
sufficient to subdue the desire for it. When Macbeth, (for the case is
not dissimilar,) resolves to gratify his ambition, he is not ignorant
of the danger he runs, and the secure happiness he leaves behind
him ; but he is so far ignorant as to prefer the phantom of happiness to
the reality. Yet he is not so ignorant as his wife, and he reaps, in
consequence, less immediate gratification. Having once held the
balance, with some impartiality, between right and wrong, he is
incapable, even for a moment, of being a triumphant villain. The
crooked-baek Richard, (for having begun our examples with Shakspeare, we
will continue with him,) is not so distracted by divided data. "
Securely privileged," says Mr. Foster, " from all interference
of doubt that can linger, or hiunanity that can soften, or timidity
that can shrink, he advances with a grim con- centrated constancy through
scene after scene of atrocity, still fiilfilling his vow to ' cut his way
through with a bloody ase.' He does not waver while he pursues his
object, nor relent when he seizes it." (Essays on Decision of
Character, &c.) Yet both he and Macbeth's wife at length get nervous
in their sleep : for so it is, that if one scruple of conscience
lurk in the soul, it will produce its effect sooner or later; and
tliat effect will begin when the bodily powers are the means of
discovering truth in botli these departments. Now we assume, that the
pro- weakest; and as body and mind have a mutual in- fluence, the
former -will sicken and perpetuate the horrors of the latter, unless, as
with Richard, a violent death intervene. The three wretches vc have
thus far referred to, have this in common, that they do not embrace
vice for its own sake, but as a means of reaching the phantom of
happiness that dances before them. But there is a state of vice brought
on by habit, in which a man finds a pleasure in doing evil, and is
in- capable of any other pleasure. lago is our example — a
character which, it is to be feared, is by no means out of life. Imagine
a shrewd and selfish child per- mitted from infancy to create for himself
a satis- faction in the disquietude of others — a little worrier of
defenceless creatures— a petty tyrant indulged in his worst caprices ; —
imagine such a one, as he grows up, placed where his habits cannot be
indulged but in secret, and where those around him are such, that
he must, in his own mind, either hate them, or hate himself:
imagine all this, and lago will appear too possible a character. Some
critics have objected, that there is no sufficient motive for the
mischief he brings on Othello, Desdemona, and Cassio. Can there be,
to Aim, a stronger motive, than that they arc noble- minded,
benevolent, and happy, and tacitly remind him, at every instant, that he
is in all respects a per business of Rhetoric is to make truth
known when found j which assumption, if ad- mitted, would at once
establish our position ; for to suppose a consummate orator would,
in such case, be to suppose one who is too fully possessed of truth
not to be led by it himself, while acting as a guide to others. After
ad- mitting the assumption, it would signify little wretch? He knows
and bitterly feels, tliat each " hath a daily beauty in his life
that makes him ugly-" The only pleasure which habit has given him,
in lieu of those of which it has made him incapable, is, to torture
the beings that wound his self-love to the quick, and to destroy the
happiness he cannot partake in. Such is the power of habit. Though the
means, when properly applied, of putting a human being in train to
become an angel, yet added to, and encouraging the tendencies of his
uninstructed nature, it will render him, prematurely, a fiend. lago is utterly
depraved — a be- ing incapable of Paradise if placed in it — more
odious tlian Milton has been able to depict even Satan him- self;
for that majestic bdng, (the hero of the poem as Drydeu truly says he
is,) never appears " less than arcliangel ruined. " The "
demi-devil " of the dra- matist, excels, in mental deformity, what
the epic muse has been able to conceive of " the author of all evil.
" to object the actual characters of those who speak
and write ; for they may be pretenders in Rhetoric j or their advance in
it, though real, may be very inconsiderable toward the perfection
we are supposing. But it may be said that the assumption begs the
question, and leaves us still to show that the office of leading men to
truth is essential to Rhetoric, in contradiction to those who view it as
a mere instrument equally fitted for the purposes of truth and
falsehood. Now, it must be con- fessed, with regard to the means employed
in Rhetoric, that they frequently seem adapted to the prejudices of
men, — to meet rather than to oppose their ignorance and their
passions. And if there were any way of conveying truth at once into
minds unfitted to receive it *, the * It is a comiuoii thing
to say of a person, that he vtiU not be convinced. The fact generally stands
thus : we use arguments that convince ourselves, and presume they are
fitted to convince him, not knowing or not observing, that all argument
derives its force &om the previous knowledge in the mind to which
it is addressed ; and that our hearer may have been so use of such
means would be conclusive against an honest purpose in the speaker. But
the instantaneous communication of truth, is, un- der most
circumstances, impossible ; and there- fore we may next ask, what
interest a writer or speaker can have in an ultimate purpose to
deceive. The answer will be, — to serve one or other of those partial
purposes, of which the common business of life, whether we look
into its private circles, or into the forum or senate house, furnishes
hourly examples. But may we not describe all this as a conflict, in
educated as to render convicUon impoBsible by iuch arguments as we
offer him. Suppose, however, it be true, that our hearer mill not be
convinced, — thai is to say, does not wish to be convinced, because his
par- ty perhaps, or his profession, or the career (be it what it
may) into which he has entered, does not agree witli what is sought to be
established : let us in candour consider in such a case what a vantage
ground we oc- cupy, inasmuch as we see our own interest, temporal
or eterual, coupled with the proposition in view ; and let us condescend,
by the argumeittum ad homhiem, to give him a similar advant^e, before we
expect his conviction from the argumentum ad judicium.
which each is eager to show just so much truth as suits the present
purpose, and to veil the rest? And will not the whole of truth be
shown in this manner, as far at least as men have discovered it, although
not shown at once ? Of these skirmishers that use the arms
ufiensive and defensive of the art, each takes credit for a certain
degree of skill j but among them all, which is thg Orator? Is it not
he who soars above partial views and partial pur- poses, who unites
into one comprehensive whole what others advocate in parts, who
teaches men to postpone petty for greater ad- vantages, and to seek the
welfare of the indi- vidual in the happiness of the kind ? If,
then, the palm of eloquence is permanently his alone, who contends
for it in this manner, our chain of argument will not want many links
before we reach the conclusion, that to undertake the art on a
valid principle, we must con- sider its purpose to be that of leading
men to truth. 16. A Rhetoric growing out of the Logic of
Aristotle *, which, as we have seen, is the art of reasoning mlh words,
and not merely by means of words, may indeed well be sus- pected as
a specious and delusive art. Aim- ing at plausibility alone, it gives the
power of talking largely without requiring the know- ledge which
grows up Irom experience in particulars ; and thus we have
statesmen, who, if we listen to them, are capable of setting the
world in order, but know not how to re- gulate their households ; we have
financiers ready to accept the control of a nation's •
Aristotle's own treatise on Rhetoric is a work completely to its purpose
; that is to say, fitted to make men prevailing speakers at the time in
wliich he wrote, by exhibiting comprehensively the bearings of the
ques- tions they would have to discuss, and the various kinds of
persons they would have to influence. It is indeed remarkable how little
Aristotle's other works are of a piece with his Logic ; nor is it without
some show of reason that Dugald Stewart supposes he was aware of
its empty pretensions, and was too wise to be deceived by it himself,
though lie chose to impose it on others. Sec Vol. II. of the Philosophy
of the Human Mind, Chap, III. Sect. 3. wealth, that have never
learaed to manage their own estates; we have lawyers, whom the
simplest questions of right and wrong would be sufficient to pei-ples * ;
and priests who, once a week, discourse " in good set terms
" to well dressed congregations, of vir- tue and of vice, of this
world and the next j but who would be incapable of oifering, from
their own stores, a single argument fitted to deter a plain
thinking, ignorant man from vice, or to stop the commission of a specific
offence by remonstrance adapted to the case. This specious
eloquence, however, like the Logic from which it springs, has almost lost
its re- putation and influence: we now require from speakers and
writers more substantial recom- mendations than the power of dwelling
on vague generalities ; and in proportion as • But perhaps,
with regard to lawyers, we are requiring knowledge, which, as matters
stand, would be an incumbrance to them. A special pleader may Bay,
" what have I to do with simple right and wrong ? My business is to
see how the letter of the law can be applied or evaded."
Mfi genuine Logic enlarges the empire of
truth, will the necessity appear of seeking in an en- lightened
mind, and a heart kindled by active philanthropy, for the true springs of
eloquence. Thus will ambition be brought to side with virtue} because
there will be no way of winning distinction, but by cultivating the
powers of language in subservience to that knowledge, which gives a man
the de- sire and the faculty of beiug useful to others, and
governing himself. To conclude ; — the theory which, in this
treatise, we have endeavoured to establiah is this, — that we come at all
our knowledge by the use of media, which media are, chiefly, words;
and that, as the words procure the notions, the notions exist not antecedently
to language : —that when, by these means, we have gained knowledge,
and try, by similar means, to communicate it to others, we do not,
while the process is going on, represent our own thoughts, but we set
their minds a thinking iu a particular train ; that our own thought
13 represented by nothing short of the completely formed word, whose
parts, if any or all of them are separately dwelt upon, are not
parts of our thought, but signs of knowledge which we and our hearers
possess in common, and which, by bringing their minds into a
particular attitude, enables them to conceive our thought, when the
whde WORD that expresses it, is formed : — that i§ before this word
is formed, there are parts by which something is Communicated not
known before, yet, being communicated, it is still but a part of
the means toward knowing something not yet communicated, and stiU,
therefore, the principle holds good, that we are adding part to part of
the whole word which is to express something not yet communicated ; which
word, even though it ex- tend to an oration, a treatise, a poem, &c.,
is as completely indivisible with respect to the meaning conveyed
by it as a whole, as is a word which consists only of a single syllable,
or a single sound. If this doctrine truly de- scribes the nature of the
connexion between thought and language, we claim for it the merit of
a discovery, because the common theory, that is, the theory which men are
presumed to act upon, and to which all pre- ceptive works are adapted, —
not the theory which, unawares, they really act upon, — ex- hibits
that connexion in a very different light. And, as a discovery, we are the
more dis- posed to urge attention to it, because our soundest metaphysicians
have expressed them- selves as if there 'ooas something to be dis-
covered as regards the connexion we speak of, before a system of Logic
could be establisiied on a just foundation. Locke says that when he
first began his discourse on the Under- standing, and a good while after,
he thought that no consideration of language was at all necessary
to it. At the end of his second book, he discovers, however, so close a
con- nexion between words and knowledge, that he is obliged to
alter his first plan ; and having reached his concluding chapter, he
speaks as if he still felt that he had not yet ascertained the full
extent to which language is an instrument of reason. Dugald Stewart, too,
from whom, in the conclusion of our first chapter, we quoted a
passage which entirely agrees, so far as it goes, with the views we have
opened, ' has the following remark in his last work, the
third volume of the Philosophy of the Human ' Mind : " If a
system of rational Logic should ever be executed by a competent hand,
this ** (viz. language as an instrument of thought) '* will form
the most important chapter." Our doctrine is, that this will not
merely form the most important chapter, but that it wtU be the only
chapter strictly belonging to Jjo^ I ^c ; and yet the theory we offer
keeps deaf of the extreme which betrayed Home Tooke, who appears to
consider reason as the result of language. We pretend, then, to have
inade the discovery which Locke felt to be necessary, and the nature
of which Stewart more than i conjectured j but oura is only " «?i
Outline ; '* and the system of rational Logic which the Scotch
metaphysician speaks of, yet remains to be "executed by a competent
hand:" — we pretend but to have ascertained for it the true
foundation. — Something might be add- ed on the importance which the
subject de- rives from the aspect of the times : for the most
careless observer cannot but remark, how the rapid communication of
knowledge from mind to mind moulds and forms public opinion ; and
how the opinion of the many, ac- quiring, day by day, a character and a
weight that never distinguished it before, threatens to become the
law to which not only individuals, but governments, and eventually the
common- wealth of nations, must conform ; and hence we might be led
to urge that Philosophy cannot be employed more opportunely, than in a
new examination of the instrument by which so much has been, and so
much more is likely to he effected. The consideration is, how-
ever, too obvious not to have occurred to the reader, and we therefore
close our remarks. At page 55, the assertione, that the words of a
sentence, " as parts of that sentence'''', and the sentences of a
discourse, " na parts of that discourse"", are not by
themselves significant, would perhaps sound a little less paradoxical,
if, instead of each of the phrases quo- ted, the reader were to
substitute " as parts of that completed expression ".
At page 88, supply the other parenthetical mark after "
imderstanding" in line 4. At page 196, line 6, the question is
asked, whether the juryman must go to Aristotle, and be taught to
compare the middle with the extremes ? The reader will observe that the
example is already farced into a form, namely that of a syllogism in barbara,
which a juryman untaught by Aristotle would probably never think of
giving it, the other way of speaking being by far the more obvious, viz.
To kill a man maliciously is murder ; A. B. killed a man maliciously ;
therefore A. B. is guilty of murder. Here, instead of the Aria-
totclian names major and minor, we prefer calling the first proposition
the datum, and the second, with re- ference to the datum it is addressed
to, the argument ; and the truth of the argument having been proved
by testimony, we atfirm that the conclusion is as evident as a
conclusion can be, and that the Aristotelian formula is a needless and
puerile addition to a process already complete — a proof of what is
proved : — it is a use of language for the purpose of reasoning
which does not identify with, but goes beyond, and
childishly refines upon that use of language in which the logic of
mankind at large consiets. The doctrine of the whole work may
receive some light from the following way of stating it : — Man, in
common with other animals, derives immediately from nature the power to
express hie immediate, or, as they are commonly called, his natural wants
and feelings. But he also possesses the power of inventing or
learn- ing a language which nature does not teach ; and it is
solely by the exertion of this power, which we call reason, that he
raises himself above the level of other animals. By media such as
artificial language consists of, and only by such media, he acquires the
knowledge which distinguishes him from other creatures ; and each
advance being but the step to another, he is a being indefinitely
improveable. But if words are the means of knowledge, it is an error to
describe or con- sider them in any other light ; and we accordingly
deem them not as, strictly speaking, the signs of thought, but as the
means by which we think, and set others a thinking. This principle being
admitted, renders unnecessary Locke's doctrine of ideas ; and Sematology stands
opposed to, and takes the place of, what the French call Idealogy,
With respect to these addenda, should the reader ask, whether they
are to be esteemed a part of our WORD, we answer in the affirmative. We
imagined our woED complete. If, on further consideration, we had
supposed so, we should not have added another SYLLABLE. {^uT^Qh a
ffvMMiiSavuv.) G. WoedbUi Frlnlei, Angd Courl, SkJnnsi Street,
Londoo. Giuseppe Capocasale. Keywords: sematologia, la sematologia
di Vico, dialettica, assoc: ‘a tear’ may be a sign of sadness – or love – (‘una
furtiva lagrima – ‘m’ama’) but the kind of sign that an idea or conception of
the soul, or ‘rivelazione’ of the animus -- are related with are arbitrario –
ad placitum -- arbitrary, not necessarily a natural causal sign or nature. The
correlation between the segnans and the segnato may be ‘imitativa’ or iconic,
arbitrary, arbitraria, associative, associative, etc. A sign is not essentially
connected with the purpose of communication (smoke means fire, spots mean
measles, a tear means love). Grice is into ‘communication,’ not sign as such –
a theory of communication, not a semeiotic. Capocasale does not expand on the
intricacies of the cocodrile’s tears (fake tears – or Grice’s frown), because
he is not interested, but it woud just take a footnote to his comment on
‘lacrima’ being a ‘signum’ traestitiae. Refs.: Luigi Speranza, “Grice e
Capocasale” – The Swimming-Pool Library
Grice e Capocci: l’implicatura
conversazionale del significare e santificare – il sacramento evangelico
significa grazia e sanctifica grazia -- filosofia italiana – Luigi Speranza (Viterbo). Filosofo italiano. Grice:
“I like Capocci; he was a Griceian; he opposed Aquinas on the dependence of
will and intellectus – surely they are independent, and possibly the will is
more basic! La ‘volonta,’ as the Italians call it! -- “That’s how I shall call
himothers favour “Giacomo da Viterbo.”” Essential Italian philosopher – Di famiglia
nobile, studia a Viterbo. His monicker was ‘il dottore speculativo”. Insegna a
Napoli. Il suo saggio più conosciuto, “De regimine christiano” Approfondisce
i temi della teocrazia, e del potere temporale del cesare e il suo stato. Altre
opere: “Quaestiones disputatae de praedicamentis in divinis”. “Summa de
peccatorum distinctione” – “there are surely more than seven sins – Multiply
sins beyond necessity --. Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani.Vi sono in cui
Giacomo viene raffigurato con un'aureola – segno naturale accordo di Peirce del
santo.Mariani identified two manuscripts containing a Summa de peccatorum
distinctione: Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli, cod. vii G. 101 and Biblioteca di
Montecassino, both of which ascribe the work to James. Ypma does not mention.
Summa de peccatorum distinctione Fratris Jacobi de Viterbio Sacrae Theologiae
Professoris, Fratrum Eremitarum Sancti Augustini, Archiepiscopi Neapolitani.
AMBRASI, La Summa de peccatorum distinctione del b. Giacomo da Viterbo
dal ms. VII G 101... GUTIERREZ, De vita et scriptis Beati Iacobi de Viterbo, “
Analecta Augstiniana ”, XVI,Lectura super IV libros Sententiarum Quaestiones
Parisius disputatae De praedicamentis in divinis Quaestione de animatione caeli
Quaestiones disputatae de Verbo Quodlibeta quattuor Abbreviatio In Sententiarum
Aegidii Romani De perfectione specierum De regimine christiano Summa de
peccatorum distinctione Sermones diversarum rerum Concordantia psalmorum David
De confessione De episcopali officio Like many of his contemporaries, James
devotes serious attention to determining the status of theology as a science
and to specifying its object, or rather, as the scholastics say, its subject.
In Quodlibet III, q. 1, he asks whether theology is
principally a practical or a speculative science. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, for
an Augustinian, James responds that the end of theology resides principally not
in knowledge but in the love of God. The love of God, informed by grace, is
what distinguishes the way in which Christians worship God from the way in
which pagans worship their deities. For philosophers—James has Cicero in
mind—religion is a species of justice; worship is owed to God as a sign of
submission. For the Christian, by contrast, there can be no worship without an
internal affection of the soul, i.e., without love. James allows that there is
some recognition of this fact in Book X of the Nicomachean Ethics,
for the happy man would not be “most beloved of God,” as Aristotle claims he
is, if he did not love God by making him the object of his theorizing. In this
sense, it can be said that philosophy as well sees its end as the love of God
as its principal subject. But there is a difference, James contends, in the way
in which a science based on natural reason aims for the love of God and the way
in which sacred science does so: sacred science tends to the love of God in a
more perfect way. One way in which James illustrates the difference between both
approaches is by contrasting the ways in which God is the “highest” object for
metaphysics and for theology. The proper subject of metaphysics is being, not
God, although God is the highest being. Theology, on the other hand, views God
as its subject and considers being in relation to God. Thus, James concludes,
“theology is called divine or of God in a much more excellent and principal way
than metaphysics, for metaphysics considers God only in relation to common
being, whereas theology considers common being in relation to God” (Quodl.).
Another way in which James illustrates the difference between natural theology
and sacred science is by using St. Anselm's distinction between the love of
desire (amor concupiscientiae) and the love of friendship (amor
amicitiae). The love of desire is the love by which we desire an end; the
love of friendship is the love by which we wish someone well. The love of God
philosophers have in mind, James contends, is the love of desire; it cannot, by
the philosophers' own admission, be the love of friendship, for according to
Aristotle, at least in the Magna Moralia, friendship involves a
form of community or sharing between the friends that cannot possibly obtain
between mere mortals and the gods. Now although James concedes that a
“community of life” between God and man cannot be achieved by natural means, it
is possible through the gift of grace. The particular friendship grace affords
is called charity and it is to the conferring of charity that sacred scripture is
principally ordered.Like all scholastics since the early thirteenth century,
James subscribes to the distinction between God's ordained power, according to
which “he can only do what he preordained he would do according to wisdom and
will” (Quodl.) and his absolute power, according to which he can do
whatever is “doable,” i.e., whatever does not imply a contradiction. Problems
concerning what God can or cannot do arise only in the latter case. James
considers several questions: can God add an infinite number of created species
to the species already in existence (Quodl. I, q. 2)? Can he make
matter exist without form (Quodl.)? Can he make an accident subsist
without a substrate (Quodl.)? Can he create the seminal reason of a
rational soul in matter (Quodl.)? In response to the first question,
James explains, following Giles of Rome but against the opinion of Godfrey of
Fontaines and Henry of Ghent, that God can by his absolute power add an
infinite number of created species ad superius, in the ascending
order of perfection, if not in actuality, then at least in potency. God cannot,
however, add even one additional species of reality ad inferius,
between prime matter and pure nothingness, not because this exceeds his power
but because prime matter is contiguous to nothingness and leaves, so to speak,
no room for God to exercise his power (Côté). James is more hesitant about the
second question. He is sympathetic both to the arguments of those who deny that
God can make matter subsist independently of form and to the arguments of those
who claim he can. Both positions can reasonably be held, because each argues
from a different (and valid) perspective. Proponents of the first position
argue from the point of view of reason: because they rightly believe that God cannot
make what implies a contradiction, and because they believe (rightly or
wrongly) that making matter exist without form does involve a contradiction,
they conclude that God cannot make matter exist without form. Proponents of the
second group argue from the perspective of God's omnipotence which transcends
human reason: because they rightly assume that God's power exceeds human
comprehension, they conclude (rightly or wrongly) that making matter exist
without form is among those things exceeding human comprehension that God can
make come to pass.Another question James considers is whether God can make an
accident subsist without a subject or substrate. The question arises only with
respect to what he calls “absolute accidents,” namely quantity and quality, as
opposed to relational accidents—the remaining categories of accident. God
clearly cannot make relational accidents exist without a subject in which they
inhere, for this would entail a contradiction. This is so because relations for
James, as we will see below, are modes, not things. What about absolute
accidents? As a Catholic theologian, James is committed to the view that some
quantities and qualities can subsist without a subject, for instance extension
and color, a view for which he attempts to provide a philosophical
justification. His position, in a nutshell, is that accidents are capable of
existing independently if they are thing-like (dicunt rem). Numbers,
place (locus), and time are not thing-like and are thus not capable of
independent existence; extension, however, is and so can be made to exist
without a subject. The same reasoning applies to quality. This is somewhat
surprising, for according to the traditional account of the Eucharist, whereas
extension may exist without a subject, the qualities, color, odor, texture,
necessarily cannot; they inhere in the extension. James, however, holds that
just as God can make thing-like quantities to exist without a subject, so too
must he be able to make a thing-like quality exist without the subject in which
it inheres. Just which qualities are capable of existing without a subject is
determined by whether or not they are “modes of being,” i.e., by whether or not
they are relational. This seems to be the case with health and shape: health is
a proportion of the humors, and so, relational; likewise, shape is related to
parts of quantity, without which, therefore, it cannot exist. Colors and
weight, by contrast, are non-relational, according to James, and are thus in
principle capable of being made to exist without a subject.The fourth question
James considers in relation to God's omnipotence raises the interesting problem
of whether the rational soul can come from matter. James proceeds carefully,
claiming not to provide a definitive solution but merely to investigate the
issue (non determinando sed investigando). The upshot of the
investigation is that although there are many good reasons (the soul's
immortality, its spirituality and its per se existence) to
say that God cannot produce the seminal reason of the rational soul in matter,
in the end, James decides, with the help of Augustine, that such a possibility
must be open to God. Thus, it is true that in the order which God has de
facto instituted, the soul's incorruptibility is repugnant to matter,
but this is not so in absolute terms: if God can miraculously cause something
to come to existence through generation and confer immortality upon it (James
is presumably thinking of the birth of Christ), then he can make it come to
pass that souls are produced through generation without being subject to
corruption. Likewise, although it appears inconceivable that something material
could generate something endowed with per se existence, it
is not impossible absolutely speaking: if God can confer separate existence
upon an accident—despite the fact that accidents naturally inhere in their
substrates—then, in like manner, he can confer separate existence upon a soul,
although it has a seminal reason in matter. Scholastics held that because God
is the creative cause of all natural beings, he must possess the ideas
corresponding to each of his creatures. But because God is eternal and is not
subject to change, the ideas must be eternally present in him, although
creatures exist for only a finite period of time. This doctrine of course
raised many difficulties, which each author addressed with varying degrees of
success. One difficulty had to do with reconciling the multiplicity of ideas
with God's unity: since there are many species of being, there must be a corresponding
number of ideas; but God is one and, hence, cannot contain any multiplicity.
Another, directly related, difficulty had to do with the ontological status of
ideas: do ideas have any reality apart from God? If one denied them any kind of
reality, it was hard to see how they could function as exemplar causes of
things; but to attribute full-blown essential reality to them was to run the
risk of introducing multiplicity in God. One influential solution to these
difficulties was provided by Thomas Aquinas, who argued that divine ideas are
nothing else but the diverse ways in which God's essence is capable of being
imitated, so that God knows the ideas of things by knowing his essence. Ideas
are not distinct from God's essence, though they are distinct from the essences
of the things God creates (De veritate). One can discern two answers
to the problem of divine ideas in the works of James of Viterbo. At an early
stage of his career, in the Abbreviatio in Sententiarum Aegidii Romani—assuming
one accepts, as seems reasonable, the early dating suggested by Ypma
(1975)—James defends a position that is almost identical to that of Thomas
Aquinas (Giustiniani). In his Quodlibeta, however, he moves to a
position closer to that of Henry of Ghent. In the following I will sketch
James' position in the Quodlibeta as it provides the most
mature statement of his views. Although James agreed with the notion that ideas
are to be viewed as the differing ways in which God can be imitated, he did not
think that one could make sense of the claim that God knows other things by
cognizing his own essence unless one supposed that the essences of those things
preexist in some way (aliquo modo) in God. James' solution is to
distinguish two ways in which ideas are in God's intellect. They are in God's
intellect, firstly, as identical with it, and, secondly, as distinct from it.
The first mode of being is necessary as a means of acknowledging God's unity;
but the second mode of being is just as necessary, for, as James puts it (Quodl. I,
q. 5, p. 64, 65–67), “if God knows creatures before they exist, even insofar as
they are other than him and distinct (from him), that which he knows is a
cognized object, which must needs be something; for that which nowise exists
and is absolutely nothing cannot be understood.” But James also thinks
that the necessity of positing distinct ideas in God follows from a
consideration of God's essence. God enjoys the highest degree of nobility and
goodness. His mode of knowledge must be commensurate with his nature. But
according to Proclus, an author James is quite fond of quoting, the highest
form of knowledge is knowledge through a thing's cause. That means that God
knows things through his own essence. However, he does so by knowing his
essence as a cause, and that is possible only by knowing “something (aliquid)
through a cause, not merely by knowing that which is the cause (i.e., God)”.
Although James' insistence on the distinctness of ideas with respect to God's
essence is reminiscent of Henry of Ghent's teaching, it is important to note,
as has been stressed by M. Gossiaux (2007), that James does not conceive of
this distinctness as Henry does. For Henry, ideas possess esse
essentiae; James, by contrast, while referring to divine ideas as things (res),
is careful to add that they are not things “in the absolute sense but only
determinately,” viz., as cognized objects (Quodl. I, q. 5, p. 63,
60). Thus, divine ideas for James possess a lesser degree of distinction from
God's essence than do Henry of Ghent's. Nevertheless, because James did
consider ideas to be distinct in some sense from God, his position would be
viewed by some later authors—e.g., William of Alnwick—as compromising divine
unity. The concept of being, all the medievals agreed, is common. What was
debated was the nature of the commonness. According to James of Viterbo, all
commonness is founded on some agreement, and this agreement can be either
merely nominal or grounded in reality. Agreement is nominal when the same name
is predicated of wholly different things, without there being any objective
basis for the application of the common name; such is the case -of equivocal
names. Agreement is real in the following two cases: (1) if it is based on
some essential resemblance between the many things to which
a particular concept applies, in which case the concept applies to these many
things by virtue of the self same ratio and is said of them
univocally; or (2) if that concept is truly common to the many things of which
it is said, although it is not said of them relative to the same nature (ratio),
but as prior to one and posterior to the others, insofar as these are related
in a certain way to the first. A concept that is predicated of things in this
way is said to be analogous, and the agreement displayed by the things to which
it applies is said to be an agreement of attribution (convenientia
attributionis). James believes that it is according to this sense of
analogy that being is said of God and creatures, and of substance and accident
(Quaestiones de divinis praedicamentis I, q. 1, p. 25, 674–80).
For being is said in a prior sense of God and in a posterior sense of creatures
by virtue of a certain relation between the two; likewise, being is said first
of substance and secondarily of accidents, on account of the relation of
posteriority accidents have to substance. The reason why being is said in a
prior sense of God and in a secondary sense of creatures and, hence, the reason
why the ‘ratio’ or nature of being is different in the two cases is
that being, in God, is “the very thing which God is” (Quaestiones de
divinis praedicamentis, q. 1, p. 16, 412), whereas created being is only
being through something added to it. From this first difference follows a
second, namely, that created being is being by virtue of being related to an
agent, whereas uncreated being has no relation. These two differences can be
summarized by saying that divine being is being through itself (per se),
whereas created being is being through another (per aliud) (Quaestiones
de divinis praedicamentis, q. 1, p. 16, 425–6). In sum, being is said of
God and creature, but according to a different ratio: it is said
of God according to the proper and perfect nature of being, but of creatures in
a derivative or secondary way.James' most detailed discussion of the
distinction between being and essence occurs in the context of a question that
asks if creation could be saved if being (esse) and essence were not
different (Quodl. I, q. 4). His answer is that although he finds it
difficult to see how one could account for creation if being and essence were
not really different, he does not believe it is necessary to conceive of the
real distinction in the way in which “certain Doctors” do. Which Doctors does
he have in mind? In Quodl. I, q. 4, he summarizes the views
of three authors: Godfrey of Fontaines, according to whom the distinction is
only conceptual (secundum rationem); Henry of Ghent, for whom esse is
only intentionally different from essence, a distinction that is less than a
real distinction but greater than a rational distinction; and finally, Giles of
Rome, for whom esse is one thing (res), and essence
another. Thus, James agrees with Giles, and disagrees with Henry and Godfrey,
that the distinction between being and essence is real; however, he disagrees
with Giles about the proper way of understanding the real distinction.The
starting point of his analysis is Anselm's statement in the Monologion that
the substantive lux (light), the infinitive lucere (to
emit light), and the present participle lucens (emitting
light) are related to each other in the same way as essentia (essence), esse (to
be), and ens (being). The relation of lucere to lux,
he tells us, is the relation of a concrete term to an abstract one.
To-emit-light denotes light as an act, just as to-be (esse) denotes
essence from the point of view of an act. Now, a concrete term signifies more
things than the corresponding abstract term, e.g., esse signifies
more things than essence, for essence signifies only the form, whereas esse signifies
the form principally and the subject secondarily. By ‘subject’ James means the
actually existing thing, which he also calls the aggregate or supposit (Wippel
1981). Esse and essence thus signify the same thing
principally, but differ in terms of what they signify secondarily. Although
this difference is only conceptual in the case of God, it is real in the case
of creatures. It is this difference that explains why one does not predicate
to-emit-light (lucere) of light itself (lux) or being of
essence: what properly exists is that which has essence, viz., the
supposit. Esse denotes essence as existing in a supposit.The
kernel of James' solution, then, lies in the distinction between what terms
signify primarily and secondarily. To his mind, this is what makes his solution
closer in spirit to Giles of Rome than to either Godfrey or Henry, without
committing him to a conception of the distinction as rigid as that of Giles.
The distinction is real for James, but in a qualified way (Gossiaux 1999).
Because identity or difference between things is determined to a greater degree
by primary rather than by secondary signification, it follows that essence and
existence are primarily and absolutely the same (idem) and
conditionally or secondarily distinct. Yet, although the distinction is
conditional or secondary, it is nonetheless James devotes five of his Quaestiones
de divinis praedicamentis (qq. 11–15), representing some 270 pages of
edited text, to the question of relations. It is with a view to providing a
proper account of divine relations, he explains, that it is “necessary to
examine the nature of relation with such diligence” (Quaestiones de divinis
praedicamentis, q. 11, p. 12, 300–301). But before turning to Trinitarian
relations, James devotes the whole of q.11 to the status of relations in
general. The following account focuses exclusively on q. 11. James in essence
adopts Henry of Ghent's “modalist” solution, which was to exercise considerable
influence among late thirteenth-century thinkers (Henninger 1989), although he
disagrees with Henry about the proper way of understanding what a mode is.The
question boils down to whether relations exist in some manner in extra-mental
reality or solely through the operation of the intellect, like second
intentions (species and genera). Many arguments can be adduced in support of
each position, as Simplicius had already shown in his commentary on
Aristotle's Categories—a work that would have a decisive
influence on James' thought. For instance, in support of the view that
relations are not real, one may point out that the intellect is able to
apprehend relations between existents and non-existents, e.g., the relation
between a father and his deceased son; yet, there cannot be anything real in
the relation given that one of the two relata is a non-existent. But if so,
then the same must be true of all relations, as the intellectual operation
involved is the same in all cases. Another argument concerns the way in which
relations come to be and cease to be. This appears to happen without any change
taking place in the subject which the relation is said to affect. For instance,
a child who has lost his mother is said to be an orphan until the age of
eighteen, at which point it ceases to be one, although no change has occurred:
“the relation recedes or ceases by reason of the mere passage of time.”But good
reasons can also be found in support of the opposing view. For one, Aristotle
clearly considers relations to be real, as they constitute one of the ten
categories that apply to things outside the soul. Furthermore, according to a
view commonly held by the scholastics, the perfection of the universe cannot
consist solely of the perfection of the individual things of which it is made;
it is also determined by the relations those things have to each other; hence,
those relations must be real.The correct solution to the question of whether
relations are real or not, James contends, depends on assigning to a given
relation no more but no less reality than is fitting to it. Those who rely on
arguments such as the first two above to infer that relations are entirely
devoid of reality are guilty of assigning relations too little reality; those
who appeal to arguments such as the last two, showing that relations are
distinct from their subjects in the way in which things are distinct from each
other, assign too great a degree of reality to relations. The correct view must
lie somewhere in between: relations are real, but are not distinct from their
subjects in the way one thing is distinct from another.That they must be real
is sufficiently shown by the first Simplician arguments mentioned above, to
which James adds some others of his own. However, showing that they are not
things is slightly more complicated. James' position, in fact, is that
relations are not things “properly and absolutely speaking,” but only “in a
certain way according to a less proper way of speaking.” A relation is not a
thing in an absolute sense because of the “meekness” of its being, for which
reason “it is like a middle point between being and non-being” (Quaestiones
de divinis praedicamentis, q. 11, p. 30, 668–9). The reasoning behind this
last statement is as follows: the more intrinsic some principle is to a thing,
the more that thing is said to be through it; what is maximally intrinsic to a
thing is its substance; a thing is therefore maximally said to be on account of
its substance. Now a thing's being related to another is, in the constellation
of accidents that qualify that thing, what is minimally intrinsic to it and
thus farthest from its being, and so closest to non-being. But if relations are
not things, at least in the absolute sense, what are they? James answers that
they are modes of being of their foundations. “The mode of
being of a thing does not differ from the thing in such a way as to constitute
another essence or thing. The relation, therefore, is not different from its
foundation” (Quaestiones de divinis praedicamentis, q. 11, p. 33,
745–7). Speaking of relations as modes allows us to acknowledge their reality,
as attested by experience, without hypostasizing them. A certain number's being
equal to another is clearly something distinct from the number itself. The
number and its being equal are two “somethings” (aliqua), says James;
they are not, however, two things; they are two in the sense that
one is a thing (the number) and the other is a mode of being of the number.In
making relations modes of being of the foundation, James was
clearly taking his cue from Henry of Ghent, who has been called “the chief
representative of the modalist theory of relation” (Henninger 1989). For Henry
and James, relations are real in the sense that they are distinct from their
foundations and belong to extra mental reality. However, James' understanding
of the way in which a relation is a mode differs from Henry's. For Henry, a
thing's mode is the same thing as its ratio or nature; it is
the particular type of being that thing has, what “specifies” it. But according
to James' understanding of the term, a mode lies beyond the ratio of
a thing, like an accident of that thing (Quaestiones de divinis
praedicamentis, p. 34, 767–8). In conclusion, one could say that in his
discussion of relations, James was guided by the same motivation as many of his
contemporaries, namely securing the objectivity of relations without conferring
full-blooded existence upon them. Relations do exhibit some form of being,
James believed, but it is a most faint one (debilissimum), the
existence of a mode qua accident. James discusses individuation in two
places: Quodl. I, q. 21 and Quodl. II, q.
1. I will focus on the first treatment, because it is the lengthier of the two
and because the tenor of James' brief remarks on individuation in Quodl. II,
q. 1, despite certain similarities with his earlier discussion (Wippel 1994),
make it hard to see how they fit into an overall theory of individuation.The
question James faces in Quodl. I, q. 21 is a markedly
theological one, namely whether, if the soul were to take on other ashes at
resurrection, a man would be numerically the same as he was before. In order to
answer that question, James tells us, it is first necessary to determine what
the cause of numerical unity is in the case of composite beings. There have
been numerous answers to that question and James provides a short account of
each. Some philosophers have appealed to quantity as the principle of numerical
unity; others to matter; others yet to matter as subtending indeterminate
dimensions; finally, others have turned to form as the cause of individuation.
According to James, each of these answers is part of the correct explanation
though it is insufficient if taken on its own. The correct view, according to
him, is that form and matter taken together are the principal causes of
numerical identity in the composite, with quantity contributing something “in a
certain manner.” Form and matter, however, are principal causes in different
ways; more precisely, each accounts for a different kind of numerical unity.
For by ‘singularity’ we can really mean two distinct things: we can mean the
mere fact of something's being singular, or we can point to a thing qua
“something complete and perfect within a certain species” (Quodl. I,
21, 227, 134–35). It is matter that accounts for the first kind of singularity,
and form for the second. Put otherwise, the kind of unity that accrues to a
thing on account of its being a mere singular, results from the concurrence of
the “substantial” unity provided by matter and the “accidental” unity provided
by quantity. By contrast, the unity that characterizes a thing by virtue of the
perfection or completeness it displays is conferred to it by the form, which is
the principle of perfection and actuality in composites.Although James thinks
he can quite legitimately enlist the support of such prestigious authorities as
Aristotle and Averroes in favor of the view that matter and form together are
constitutive of a thing's numerical unity, his solution has struck commentators
as a somewhat contrived and ad hoc attempt to reach a compromise solution at
all costs (Pickavé 2007; Wippel 1994). James, it has been suggested, “seems to
be driven by the desire to offer a compromise position with which everyone can
to some extent agree” (Pickavé 2007: 55). Such a suggestion does accord with
what we know about James' temperament, namely, his dislike of controversy and
his tendency, on the whole, to prefer solutions that present a “middle way” (Quaestiones
de divinis praedicamentis, q. 11, p. 23, 513; Quodl. II,
q. 7, p. 108, 118; De regimine christiano, 210; see also Quodl. II,
q. 5, p. 65, 208–209). However, James' professions of moderation must sometimes
be taken with a grain of salt, as there are some positions he wants to pass off
as moderate that are quite far from being so, as we will see in Section
7 below.The
belief that matter contains the ‘seeds’ of all the forms that can possibly
accrue to it is one of the hallmarks of James of Viterbo's thought, as is the
belief that the soul pre-contains, in the shape of “propensities” (idoneitates),
all the sensitive, intellective, and volitional forms it is able to take on. We
will look at James' doctrine of propensities in the intellect in Section
5,
and his doctrine of propensities in the will in Section
6.
In this section, we present James' arguments in favor of seminal reasonsOne
important reason for subscribing to the existence of seminal reasons is that
the doctrine enjoys the support of Augustine. Although James is sometimes
quite critical of his Augustinian contemporaries, including his predecessor
Giles of Rome, he is an unreserved follower of Augustine, especially when it
comes to the greater philosophical issues, such as knowledge and natural
causation. However, what is particularly interesting about James is the way in
which he enlists such decidedly un-Augustinian sources as Aristotle, Averroes,
and especially Simplicius in the service of his Augustinian convictions (Côté
2009). James offers a thorough discussion of seminal reasons in Quodl. II,
q. 5. The question he raises there is not so much whether there are
seminal reasons, for this is “admitted by all Catholic doctors” (Quodl. II,
q. 5, p. 59, 16), but rather, how one is to properly conceive of them. A
seminal reason, according to James, has two characteristics: it is (1) an
inchoate state of the form to be, and (2) an active principle. Most of the
discussion in Quodl. II, q. 5 is devoted to establishing the
first point. James thinks that the thesis that forms are present in potency in
matter is consonant with the teaching of Aristotle, who, he claims, follows a
“middle way” on the issue of generation, eschewing both the position that forms
are created, and also Anaxagoras' “hidden-forms hypothesis,” according to which
all forms are contained in act in everything. Now to say that forms are present
in matter inchoately or in potency, according to James, entails that the
potency of matter is something distinct from matter itself.
One argument in favor of this thesis is that matter is not corrupted by the
taking on of a form: it remains in potency towards other forms. Also, potency
is relational, whereas matter is absolute. When James states that matter is
distinct from potency he does not mean to say that they are entirely distinct
or unconnected, quite the contrary: potency is the potency of matter.
However, potency adds three characteristics to the concept of matter. First, it
adds the idea of a relation to a form (matter is in potency towards a form);
second, it adds the idea that the form to which it is related is a form it
lacks; finally, it implies that the form which matter lacks is a form it has
the capacity to acquire, for as James explains, one does not say that a stone
is in potency toward the power of sight merely because it lacks sight. In order
for something to be in potency toward a particular form it must both lack that
form and also possess an aptitude to take it on. James neatly summarizes his
views in the following passage: “[the potency of matter] denotes a respect of
the matter toward the form, attendant upon its lacking that form and having the
aptitude to take it on, so that four properties are included in the concept of
potency, namely matter, lack of form, aptitude toward the form and a respect
toward the form insofar as it is educible by an agent and motor cause” (Quodl. II,
q. 5, p. 69, 359 – p. 70, 363). The originality of James' position lies in the
way in which he conceives matter's aptitudes. The term “aptitude” has a precise
technical meaning, which he fleshes out with the help of Simplicius' commentary
on the Categories. It denotes a certain incipient or inchoative
state of the form in matter. Potency and act, James tells us, are two states or
modes of the same thing, not two distinct things. What exists in the mode of actuality
must preexist in the mode of potency, but in an inchoate way. James is aware of
the several objections that may be leveled against his conception of aptitudes
or propensities. The most serious of these is perhaps the charge that their
existence makes generation, i.e., the production of new beings, impossible or
useless. James replies by suggesting that those who argue in this fashion
misconstrue Aristotle's doctrine of change. For change, according to Averroes'
understanding of Aristotle (see Quodl. III, q. 14), does not
result from an agent's implanting a form in a receiving subject, for this would
imply that forms “migrate” from subject to subject; it results rather from an
agent's making that which is in potency to be in act. For this to occur,
however, more is required than the mere passive potency of matter: the seminal
reason must also be viewed as an active principle. The activity of potency
manifests itself in the shape of a natural inclination or tendency to attain
its completion. Generation thus requires two things (besides God's
general operative causality): the “transmutative” agency of an extrinsic cause
and the intrinsic agency of the formae inchoativum which
inclines the potency to attain its completion. James' doctrine of seminal
reasons would elicit considerable criticism in the early fourteenth century and
beyond (Phelps 1980). The initial reaction came from Dominicans, e.g., Bernard
of Auvergne, the author of a series of Impugnationes (i.e.,
attacks) contra Jacobum de Viterbio, and John of Naples who
argued against James' distinction between the potency of matter and potency.
But James' theory would also encounter resistance from within the Augustinian
Order, e.g., from Alphonsus Vargas of Toledo. James' doctrine of cognition must
also be understood in the context of his thoroughgoing Augustinianism and
against the backdrop of the late thirteenth-century arguments against Thomistic
abstraction theories. According to Thomas Aquinas' theory of knowledge, the
agent intellect abstracts a thing's form or essential information from the
image or representation of that thing. The outcome of this process was what
Aquinas called the intelligible species, which was then taken to “move” the
possible intellect to conceptual understanding. However, as thinkers such as
Vital du Four and Richard of Middleton were to point out (see the articles by
Robert and Noone), the information coming in through the senses is related to a
thing's accidental properties, not to its substance. How, then, could abstraction
from the senses produce an intelligible species relating to the thing's
essence? Although James of Viterbo agreed by and large with the spirit of this
objection and believed that the replies by proponents of abstractionism were
unsuccessful, he had another reason for rejecting the theory. This was because
it implied a view of the intellect which he thought to be profoundly mistaken,
namely, the view that there is a real distinction between the agent intellect
(which abstracts the species) and the possible intellect (which receives it).
If it were truly the case, he reasoned, that one needed to posit a distinct
agent intellect because phantasms are only potentially intelligible, then, by
the same token, one would have to posit an “agent sense”, because sensibles
“are only sensed in potency” (Quodl. I, q. 12, p. 164, 234). But
given that no proponent of abstraction admits an agent sense, one should not
allow them an agent intellect. Furthermore, if there were an agent intellect
distinct from the possible intellect, it would be a natural power of the soul
and so would be required for the cognition of all intelligibles,
not just a certain class of them. Similarly, qua natural power, its use would
be required not only in the present life but also in the afterlife. But of
course that would be absurd, as the agent intellect, ex hypothesi,
is only necessary to abstract form from matter, something the mind does only
when it is joined to a corruptible body. James was well aware that by
denying the distinction between the two intellects, he was opposing the
consensus view of Aristotle commentators. Indeed, his views seem to run counter
to the De anima itself, though, as he would mischievously
point out, it was difficult to determine just what Aristotle's doctrine was, so
obscure was its formulation (Quodl. I, q. 12, p. 169, 426—170,
439). He replied that what he was denying was not the existence of a
“difference” in the soul, but merely that the existence of a difference implied
a distinction of powers (Quodl. I, q. 12, p. 170, 440–45). The
intellect, he held, was both in act and in potency, active and passive, but one
could account for its having these contrary properties without resorting to the
two intellect model. This is because intellection is not a transient action
(like hitting a ball), requiring an active subject distinct from a passive
recipient; rather, it is an immanent action (like shining). James' solution, in
other words, was to conceive of the intellect (as indeed the will) as
essentially dynamic, as an “incomplete actuality”, its own formal cause,
spontaneously tending toward its completion, much in the way seminal reasons
tend toward their completing forms—indeed both discussions drew their
inspiration from the same source: Simplicius' commentary on Aristotle's
analysis of the second species of quality. The intellect was described as a
general (innate) propensity made up of a series of more specific (equally
innate) propensities, the number of which was a function of the number of
different things the intellect is able to know: “The intellective power is a
general propensity with respect to all intelligibles, that is, with respect to
the actual conforming to all intelligibles. On this general propensity are
founded other specific ones, which follow the diversity of intelligibles” (Quodl. VII,
q. 7, p. 93, 453–55). Of course, as James readily acknowledged, although the
intellect is its own formal cause, it cannot issue forth an act of intellection
without some input from the senses. However, the type of causality the senses
were viewed as exercising was deemed to be purely “excitatory” or “inclinatory”
(Quodl. I, q. 12, p. 175, 613–16), making the senses not the
principal but rather an instrumental cause of intellection. In all, three
causes account for the operation of the intellect, according to James: 1) God
as efficient cause; 2) the soul and its propensities as formal cause, and 3)
the object presented by the senses as “excitatory” cause. Although, as we have
just seen, James rejected the distinction between the agent and possible
intellects, there was another, equally widely-held distinction in the area of
psychology that he did maintain, namely the distinction between the soul and
its powers.For the purposes of this article, it will suffice to think of the
debate regarding the relation of the soul to its powers as being motivated at
least in part by the need to provide a coherent understanding of the soul's
structure and operations in view of two inconsistent but equally authoritative
accounts of the soul's relation to its powers. One was that of Augustine, who
had asserted that memory, intelligence, and will (i.e., three powers) were one
in substance (De trinitate X, 11), and so believed that the soul
was identical with its powers; the other was Aristotle's, who clearly believed
in a certain distinction, and whose remarks about natural capacities (dunameis)
as belonging to the second species of quality, in Categories c.
8,14–27, and hence to the category of accident, making them distinct from the
soul's essence, were commonly applied by the scholastics to the soul's powers.
Each view, of course, had its supporters; and, naturally, as was so often the
case, attempts were made to find a middle way that would accommodate both
positions. During James' tenure as Master at the University of Paris, the
majority view was very much that there was a real distinction. It was the view
held by many of the scholastics whose teachings he studied most carefully,
namely Aquinas, Giles of Rome, and Godfrey of Fontaines. There was, however, a
commonly discussed minority position, one that eschewed both real distinction
and identity: that of Henry of Ghent. Henry believed that the powers of the
soul were “intentionally”, not really, distinct from its essence. James,
however, sided with Thomas, Giles, and Godfrey, against Henry (Quodl. II,
q. 14, p. 160, 70–71; Quodl. III, q. 5, p. 83, 56—84, 63).
His reasoning was as follows. Given that everyone agreed that there was a real
distinction between the soul and one of its powers in act (between the soul
and, e.g., an occurrent act of willing), then if one denied that there was a
real distinction between the soul and its powers, as Henry had, one would be
committed to the existence of a real distinction between the power in act
(e.g., an occurrent act of willing) and that same power in potency (that is,
the will, qua power, as able to produce that act), since the power in act is
really the same as the soul. But as we saw in the preceding section, something
in potency is not really distinct from that same thing in act. This followed
from James' reading of Simplicius' account of qualities in the latter's
commentary on Aristotle's Categories. For instance, seminal
reasons are not really distinct from the fully-fledged forms that proceed from
them, nor are intellective “propensities” really distinct from the fully
actualized cognized forms. Hence, James concluded, the powers must be really
distinct from the soul's essence. The question of the will's freedom was of
paramount importance to the scholastics. Unlike modern thinkers, for whom
establishing that the will is free is tantamount to showing that its act falls
outside the natural nexus of cause and effect, showing that the will is free,
for medieval thinkers, usually involved showing that its act is independent of
the apprehension and judgment of the intellect. Although the
scholastics generally granted that a voluntary act results from the interplay
between will and intellect, most of them preferred to single out one of the two
faculties as the principal determinant of free choice. Thus, for Henry of
Ghent, the will is the sole cause of its free act (Quodl. I, q. 17),
so much so that he tends to relegate the intellect's role to that of a sine qua
non cause. For Godfrey of Fontaines, by contrast, it is the intellect that
exercises the decisive motion (Quodl. III, q. 16). Although James of
Viterbo sometimes claims to want to steer a middle course between Henry and
Godfrey (Quodl. II, q. 7), his preferences clearly lie with a position
like that of Henry's, as can be gathered from his most detailed treatment of
the question in Quodl. I, q. 7. James' thesis in Quodl.
I, q. 7 is that the will is a self-mover and that the object grasped by the
intellect moves the will only metaphorically. His main challenge is to show is
that this position is compatible with the Aristotelian principle that whatever
is moved is moved by another. As we saw in the previous section, James believes
that the soul is made up of what he calls “aptitudes” or “propensities” (idoneitates),
which are the similitudes of all things knowable and desirable, “before [the
soul] actually knows or desires them” (Quodl. I, q. 7, p. 91, 407 – p.
92, 408). The pre-existence of such aptitudes implies that the soul is neither
a purely passive potency nor made up of fully actualized forms, but rather an
“incomplete actuality” or, perhaps more correctly, a set of “incomplete
actualities,” which James describes as being “naturally inserted in [the soul],
and thus, remaining in it permanently, though sometimes in an imperfect state,
sometimes in a state perfected by the act” (Quodl. I, q. 7, p. 92,
419–24). In order to show how this view of the soul is compatible with
Aristotle's postulate that every motion requires a mover distinct from the
thing moved, James introduces a distinction between two sorts of motion:
efficient and formal. Efficient motion occurs when motion is caused by a thing
that possesses the complete form of the particular motion caused; formal motion
occurs when the moving thing has the incomplete form of the thing moved.
Heating is given as an example of the first kind of motion; “gravity” or rather
heaviness, i.e., the tendency of heavy bodies to fall, is cited as an example
of the second kind of motion. Aristotle's principle applies only to the first
kind of motion, James asserts, not the second. Things which possess an
incomplete form naturally—i.e., in and of themselves without an external
mover—tend to their completion and are prevented from reaching it only by the
presence of an external obstacle. For instance, a heavy object naturally tends
to move downward and will do so unless it is hindered. Such, mutatis
mutandis, is the case of the soul and especially of the will: the will as
an incomplete actuality naturally tends to its completion; in that sense, that
is, formally but not efficiently, it is self-moved. The difference between it
and the heavy object is that whereas the object moves upon the removal of
an obstacle, the will requires the presence of an object; it
requires, in other words, the intervention of the intellect in order to direct
it to a particular object. However, once again, the intellect's action is
viewed by James as being merely metaphorical, that is, extrinsic to the will's
proper operation. Like Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, James of Viterbo
holds that the moral virtues, considered as habits, i.e., virtuous dispositions
or acts, are connected. In other words, he believes that one cannot have one of
the virtues without having the others as well. The virtues he has in mind are
what he calls the “purely” moral virtues, that is, courage, justice, and
temperance, which he distinguishes from prudence, which is a partly moral,
partly intellectual virtue. In his discussion in Quodl. II, q. 17
James begins by granting that the question is difficult and proceeds to expound
Aristotle's solution, which he will ultimately adopt. As James sees it,
Aristotle proves in Nicomachean Ethics VI the connection of
the purely moral virtues by showing their necessary relation to prudence, and
this is to show that just as moral virtue cannot be had without prudence,
prudence cannot be had without moral virtue. The connection of the purely moral
virtues follows from this: they are necessarily connected because (1) each is
connected to prudence and (2) prudence is connected to the virtues (Quodl.
II, q. 17, p. 187, 436 – p. 188, 441). Since the time of Augustine, theologians
had agreed that man needs the gift of grace in order to love God more than
himself, and that he cannot do so by natural means. However, in the early
thirteenth century, theologians raised the question of whether, at least in his
pre-lapsarian state, man did not love God more than himself. That this was in
fact the case was the belief of Philip the Chancellor as well as Thomas
Aquinas. Other authors, such as Godfrey of Fontaines and Giles of Rome, argued
further that to deny man the natural capacity to love God more than himself,
while allowing this to happen as a result of grace, was to imply that the
operations of grace went counter to the those of nature, which was contrary to
the universally accepted axiom that grace perfects nature and does not destroy
it. By contrast, James of Viterbo famously argues in Quodl. II,
q. 2, against the overwhelming consensus of theologians, that man naturally
loves himself more than God. He has two arguments to show this (see Osborne
1999 and 2005 for a detailed commentary). The first is based on the principle
that the mode of natural love is commensurate with the mode of being and,
hence, of the mode of being one. Now a thing is one with itself by virtue of
numerical identity, but it is one with something else by virtue of a certain
conformity. For instance Socrates is one with himself by virtue of his being
Socrates, but he is one with Plato by virtue of the fact that both share the
same form. But the being something has by virtue of numerical identity is
“greater” than the being it has by reason of something it shares with another.
And given that the species of natural love follows the mode of being, it
follows that it is more perfect to love oneself than to love another (Quodl.
II, q. 20, p. 206, 148 – p. 149, 165). The second argument attempts to infer
the desired thesis from the universally accepted premise that “the love of
charity elevates nature” (Quodl. II, q. 20, p. 207, 166–67). This
is true both of the love of desire and the love of friendship. In the case of
love of desire, grace elevates by acting on the character of love: by natural
love of desire we love God as the universal good. Through grace God is loved as
the beatifying good. Regarding love of friendship, James explains that God's
charity can only elevate nature with respect to its “mode,” that is, with
respect to the object loved, by making God, not the self, the object of love.
In other words, James is telling us that if we are to take seriously the claim
that grace elevates nature, there is only one way in which this can occur,
namely by making God, not the self, the object of greatest love, which implies
that in his natural state man loves himself more than God. James' opposition to
the consensus position on the issue of the love of self vs. the love of God
would not go unnoticed. In the years following his death, such authors as
Durand of Saint-Pourçain and John of Naples criticized him vigorously and
attempted to refute his position (Jeschke 2009). Although James touches briefly
on political issues in Quodl. I, q. 17 (see Côté, 2012), his most
extensive discussions occur in his celebrated De regimine christiano (On
Christian Government), written in 1302 during the bitter conflict pitting
Boniface VIII against the king of France Philip IV (the Fair). De
regimine christiano is often compared in aim and content with Giles
of Rome's De ecclesiastica potestate (On Ecclesiastical
Power), which offers one of the most extreme statements of pontifical
supremacy in the thirteenth century; indeed, in the words of De
regimine's editor, James' goal is “to formulate a theory of papal monarchy
that is every bit as imposing and ambitious as that of [Giles]” (De
regimine christiano: xxxiv). However, as scholars have also recognized,
James shows a greater sensitivity to the distinction between nature and grace
than Giles (Arquillière 1926). De regimine christiano is
divided into two parts. The first, dealing with the theory of the Church, is of
little philosophical interest, save for James' enlisting of Aristotle to show
that all human communities, including the Church, are rooted in the “natural
inclination of mankind.” The second and longest part is devoted to defining the
nature and extent of Christ's and the pope's power. One of James' most
characteristic doctrines is found in Book II, chapter 7, where he turns to the
question of whether temporal power must be “instituted” by spiritual power, in
other words, whether it derives its legitimacy from the spiritual, or possesses
a legitimacy of its own. James states outright that spiritual power does
institute temporal power, but notes that there have been two views in this
regard. Some, e. g., the proponents of the so-called “dualist” position such as
John Quidort of Paris, hold that the temporal power derives directly from God
and thus in no way needs to be instituted by the spiritual, while others, such
as Giles of Rome in De ecclesiastica potestate, contend that the
temporal derives wholly from the spiritual and is devoid of any legitimacy whatsoever
“unless it is united with spiritual power in the same person or instituted by
the spiritual power” (De regimine christiano: 211). James is
dissatisfied with both positions and, as he so often does, endeavors to find a
“middle way” between them. His solution is to say that the “being” of the
temporal power's institution comes both from God—by way of man's natural
inclination—in “a material and incomplete sense,” and from the spiritual power
by which it is “perfected and formed.” This is a very clever solution. On the
one hand, by rooting the temporal power in man's natural inclination, albeit in
the imperfect sense just mentioned, James was acknowledging the legitimacy of
temporal rule independently of its connection to the spiritual, thus “avoid[ing]
the extreme and implausible view of [Giles of Rome]” (Dyson 2009: xxix). On the
other hand, making the natural origins of temporal power merely the incomplete
matter of its being was a way of stressing its subordination and inferiority to
the spiritual order, in keeping with his papalist convictions. Still, James'
very choice of analogies to illustrate the relationship between the spiritual
and temporal realms showed that his solution lay much closer to the theocratic
position espoused by Giles of Rome than his efforts to find a “middle way”
would have us believe. Thus, comparing the spiritual power's relation to the
temporal in terms of the relation of light to color, he explains that although
“color has something of the nature of light, (…) it has such a feeble light
that, unless there is present a more excellent light by which it may be formed,
not in its own nature but in its power, it cannot move the vision” (De
regimine christiano: 211). In other words, James is telling us that
although temporal power does originate in man's natural inclinations, it is
ineffectual qua power unless it is informed by the spiritual. Bibliography
Modern Editions of James' Works Abbreviatio in I Sententiarum Aegidii Romani,
dist. 36. Edited by P. Giustiniani, Analecta Augustiniana, 42 (1979): 325–338.
De regimine christiano. A Critical Edition and Translation by R.W. Dyson, Leiden:
Brill. Replaces Arquillière's edition (see below for complete reference), as
well as Dyson's earlier translation in James of Viterbo, On Christian
Government (De regimine christiano). Edited and Translated by R.W. Dyson,
Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1995. Disputationes de quolibet. Edited by E.
Ypma, Würzburg: Augustinus Verlag, vols. I-III, and V, 1968-75. Prima quaestio
disputata de Verbo. Edited by C. Scanzillo in “Jacobus de Viterbio OSA: La
‘Prima quaestio disputata de Verbo’ del codice A. 971 delle Biblioteca
dell'Archiginnasio di Bologna. Edizione e note,” Asprenas, Quaestiones de
divinis praedicamentis, qq. I-X and XI-XVII. Edited by E. Ypma (Corpus
Scriptorum Augustianorum, Vol. V, 1–2), Rome, Augustinianum, 1983, 1986; q.
XVIII, Augustiniana, 38 (1988): 67–98; q. XIX, Augustiniana, 39 (1989):
154–185; q. XX, Augustiniana, 42 (1992): 351–378; q. XXI, Augustiniana, 44
(1994): 177–208; q. XXII, Augustiniana. Ypma's declining health and subsequent
death prevented him from completing the edition of the remaining quaestiones. Summa
de peccatorum distinctione. Edited by D. Ambrasi, Asprenas, Ambrasi, D., 1959,
“La Summa de peccatorum distinctione del B. Giacomo da Viterbo dal ms. VII G
101 della Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli,” Asprenas, 6: 47–78, 189–218,
288–308. Anderson, D., 1995, “‘Dominus Ludovicus’ in the Sermons of Jacobus of
Viterbo (Arch. S. Pietro D.213),” in Literature and Religion in the Later
Middle Ages: Philological Studies in Honor of Siegfried Wenzel, R. Newhauser
and J. A. Alford (eds.), Binghamton, N.Y.: Medieval & Renaissance Texts
& Studies, pp. 275–295. Arquillière, F.-X., 1926, Le plus ancien traité de
l'Église: Jacques de Viterbe ‘De regimine christiano’ (1301–1302). Étude des
sources et édition critique, Paris: G. Beauchesne. Bataillon, L. J.,
1989, “Quelques utilisateurs des textes rares de Moerbeke (Philopon, tria
Opuscula) et particulièrement Jacques de Viterbe,” in Guillaume de Moerbeke.
Recueil d'études à l'occasion du 700e anniversaire de sa mort (1286), J.
Brams et W. Vanhamel (eds.), Leuven: Leuven University Press, pp. 107–112.
Beneš, J., 1927, “Valor possibilium apud S. Thomam, Henricum Gandavensem et B.
Iacobum de Viterbio,” Divus Thomas (Piacenza) 30: 333–55. Côté, A., 2012,“Le
Quodlibet I, question 17 de Jacques de Viterbe: introduction, traduction et
notes,” Augustiniana, L'âme, l'intellect, et la volonté, Paris: Librairie
Philosophique J. Vrin. Latin text of James of Viterbo's Quod. I, q. 7
(partial), q. 12 (complete), and 13 (complete), with French Translation,
Introduction, and notes. Le progrès à l'infini des perfections créées selon
Godefroid de Fontaines et Jacques de Viterbe,” in Actualité de l'infinité
divine aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles, D. Arbib (ed.) Les Études Philosophiques, 4:
505–530. –––, 2009b, “Simplicius and James of Viterbo on Propensities,”
Vivarium, 47: 24–53. Fidel Casado, P., 1951–3, “El pensamiento filosófico del
Beato Santiago de Viterbo,” La Ciudad de Dios,“Quaestiones de quolibet de
Santiago de Viterbo (Quodlibeto I, q. 12),” Archivo Teológico Agustiniano, 2:
109–130. Giustiniani, P., 1979, “Il problema delle idee in Dio secondo Giacomo
da Viterbo OESA, con edizione della Distinzione 36 dell'Abbreviato in I
Sententiarum Aegidii Romani,” Analecta Augustiniana, La teologia studiata
secondo le 4 cause aristoteliche in un'opera inedita di Giacomo da Viterbo,”
Asprenas, 27: 161–188. Gossiaux, M. D., 1999, “James of Viterbo on the
Relationship between Essence and Existence,” Augustiniana, 49: 73–107. –––,
2007, “James of Viterbo and the Late Thirteenth-Century Debate Concerning the
Reality of the Possibles,” Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales,
74 (2): 483–522. Grabmann, M., 1936, “Die Lehre des Jakob von Viterbo (1308)
von der Wirklichkeit des göttlichen Seins (Beitrag zum Streit über das Sein
Gottes zur Zeit Meister Eckharts),” Mittelalterliches Geistesleben.
Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Scholastik und Mystik, vol. 2, Max Hueber
Verlag, Munich: 490–511. Gutiérrez, P. D., 1939, De B. Iacobi Viterbiensis
O.E.S.A. Vita, Operibus et Doctrina Theologica, Rome: Analecta Augustiniana.
Jeschke, T., 2009, “Über natürliche und übernatürliche Gottesliebe. Durandus
und einige Dominikaner gegen Jakob von Viterbo (mit einer Textedition von In
III Sententiarum, D. 29, Q. 2 des Petrus de Palude),” Recherches de Théologie
et Philosophie Médiévale, 76/1: 111–198. Kent, B., 2001, “Justice, Passion, and
Another's Good: Aristotle among the Theologians,” in Nach der Verurteilung von
1277. Philosophie und Theologie an der Universität von Paris im letzten Viertel
des 13. Jahrhunderts. Studien und Texte—After the Condemnation of 1277.
Philosophy and Theology at the University of Paris in the Last Quarter of the
Thirteenth Century. Studies and Texts, Miscellanea Mediaevalia, 28, J. Aertsen,
K. Emery, Jr., A. Speer (eds.), Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, pp. 704–718. Libera,
A. de, 1994, “D'Avicenne à Averroès, et retour. Sur les sources arabes de la
théorie scolastique de l'un transcendental,” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 4:
141–179. Mahoney, E. P., 1973, “Themistius and the Agent Intellect in James of
Viterbo and other Thirteenth Century Philosophers (Saint Thomas, Siger of
Brabant and Henry Bate),” Augustiniana, Metaphysical Foundations of the
Hierarchy of Being according to Some Late Medieval Philosophers,” in
Philosophies of Existence: Ancient and Medieval, P. Morewedge (ed.), New York:
Fordham University Press, pp. 165–257. –––, 1995, “Duns Scotus and Medieval
Discussions of Metaphysical Hierarchy: the Background of Scotus' ‘Essential
Order’ in Henry of Ghent, Godfrey of Fontaines and James of Viterbo,” in Via
Scoti. Methodologica ad mentem Joannis Duns Scoti. Atti del Congresso
scotistico internazionale, Roma, 9–11 marzo 1993, vol. I, L. Sileo (ed.), Rome:
PAA-Edizioni Antonianum, pp. 359-374. Noone, T., 2011, “The Problem of the
Knowability of Substance: The Discussion from Eustachius of Arras to Vital du
Four,” in Philosophy and Theology in the Long Middle Ages: A tribute to S. F.
Brown, K. Emery, R. L. Friedman, and A. Speer (eds.), Leiden: Brill. Osborne,
T. M., 1999, “James of Viterbo's Rejection of Giles of Rome's Arguments for the
Natural Love of God over Self,” Augustiniana, 49: 235–249. –––, 2005, Love of
Self and Love of God in Thirteenth-Century Ethics, Notre Dame: University of
Notre Dame Press. Phelps, M., 1980, “The Theory of Seminal Reasons in James of
Viterbo,” Augustiniana, 30: 271–283. Pickavé, M., 2007, “The Controversy over the
Principle of Individuation in Quodlibeta (1277-ca. 1320): A Forest Map,” in
Theological Quodlibeta in the Middle Ages. The Fourteenth Century, C. Schabel
(ed.) Leiden: Brill, pp. 17–79. Rigobert, M., 1947, Un traité de l'Église au
Moyen–Âge. Étude historique et doctrinale du “De regimine christiano”, Albi.
Robert, A., 2008, “Scepticisme ou renoncement au dogme? Interpréter
l'eucharistie aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles,” χώρα • REAM, 6: 251–288. Ruello, F.,
1970, “L'analogie de l'être selon Jacques de Viterbe, Quodlibet I, Quaestio I,”
Augustiniana, , “Les fondements de la liberté humaine selon Jacques de Viterbe,
Disputatio prima de Quolibet, q. VII (1293),” Augustiniana, 24: 283–347; 25:
114–142. Rüssmann, H., 1938, Zur Ideenlehre der Hochscholastik, unter besonderer
Berücksichtigung des Heinrich von Gent, Gottfried von Fontaines un Jakob von
Viterbo, Freiburg: Herder. Scanzillo, C., 1972, “Jacobus de Viterbio OSA: La
‘Prima quaestio disputata de Verbo’ del codice A. 971 delle Biblioteca
dell'Archiginnasio di Bologna. Edizione e note,” Asprenas, 19: 25–61.
Schönberger, R., 1986, Die Transformation des klassischen Seinsverständnisses.
Studien zur Vorgeschichte des neuzeitlichen Seinsbegriffs im Mittelalter,
Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Philosophie, 21, Berlin-New York, De
Gruyter. –––, 1994, Relation als Vergleich. Die Relationstheorie des Johannes
Buridan im Kontext seines Denkens und der Scholastik, Leiden: Brill, pp.
132–142. Wéber, E., 1981, “Eckhart et l'ontothéologisme: histoire et conditions
d'une rupture,” in Maître Eckhart à Paris. Une critique médiévale de
l'ontothéologie. Les Questions parisiennes n° 1 et n° 2 d'Eckhart, Z. Kaluza,
A. de Libera, P. Vignaux, E. Wéber, E. Zum Brunn (eds.), Paris: Presses
universitaires de France, pp. 21–54. Wippel, J. F., 1974, “The Dating of James
of Viterbo's Quodlibet I and Godfrey of Fontaine's Quodlibet VIII,”
Augustiniana, 24: 348–386. –––, 1981, “James of Viterbo on the
Essence-Existence Relationship (Quodlibet 1, Q. 4), and Godfrey of Fontaines on
the Relationship between Nature and Supposit (Quodlibet 7, Q. 5),” in Sprache
und Kenntnis im Mittelalter, Miscellanea Mediaevalia, 13, Berlin: De Gruyter,
pp. 777–787. –––, 1994, “James of Viterbo (b. ca. 1255; d. 1308),” in
Individuation in Scholasticism: The Later Middle Ages and the
Counter-Reformation, 1150-1650, J.J.E. Gracia (ed.), Albany: State University
of New York Press, pp. 257–269. Ypma, E., 1974, “Recherches sur la carrière
scolaire de Jacques de Viterbe,” Augustiniana, 24: 247–282. –––, 1975, “Recherches
sur la productivité littéraire de Jacques de Viterbe jusqu'à 1300,”
Augustiniana, 25: 223–282. –––, 1980, “La méthode de travail de Jacques de
Viterbe. L'analyse d'une question,” Augustiniana, 30: 254–270. –––, 1980, “A
propos d'un exposé sur Jacques de Viterbe,” Augustiniana, 30: 43–45. –––, 1985,
“Jacques de Viterbe, témoin valable?,” Recherches de théologie ancienne et
médiévale, 52: 232–234. –––, 1987, “Jacques de Viterbe, lecteur attentif de
Gilbert de la Porrée,” Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale, 54:
257–261. –––, 1991, “La relation est-elle un être réel ou seulement un être de
raison d'après Jacques de Viterbe,” in Lectionum Varietates. Hommage à Paul
Vignaux (1904–1987), J. Jolivet (ed.), Paris: J. Vrin, pp. 155–162. Zumkeller,
A., 1951, “De doctrina sociali scholae Augustininae aevi medii,” Analecta
Augustiniana, 22: 57–84. –––, 1964, “Die Augustinerschule des Mittelalters:
Vertreter und Philosophisch-Theologische Lehre,”Analecta Augustiniana, 27:
167–262. Giacomo da Viterbo. L’iconografia dell’aureola tra Oriente e
Occidente ARTE L’iconografia dell’aureola tra Oriente e Occidente di
Federico Nozza. Nell’arte cristiana occidentale, ma anche in quella orientale,
l’elemento dell’aureola costituisce sicuramente uno degli attributi iconografici
più riconoscibili. La sua immagine identifica subito la rappresentazione
di un Santo, di Cristo stesso, ma anche della Madonna. Può essere
crocesegnata(ossia dotata di croce), per esempio nelle rappresentazioni di
Cristo, oppure semplice, come nei santi. Come elemento figurativo, la sua
origine è stata codificata iconograficamente fin dagli albori della
figuratività cristiana, ovvero nel IV secolo. Gli esempi del
Mausoleo di Sant’Elena a Roma e della Chiesa di San Vitale a Ravenna (IV e VI
sec.) Testimonianza preziosa e paradigmatica sono, ad esempio, i due mosaici
delle calotte absidali del Mausoleo di Santa Costanza a Roma. Si tratta di un
cimelio architettonico costruito attorno alla metà del IV secolo per la
sepoltura della figlia di Costantino. Nei due mosaici, parzialmente restaurati
e tra i pochi ad essersi conservati delle volte, si trovano due
rappresentazioni di Cristo. La prima lo vede seduto sul Globo, mentre consegna
le chiavi del Regno dei Cieli a Pietro (traditio clavium). La seconda,
invece, lo identifica giovane e apollineo mentre si erge sul monte da cui
sgorgano i quattro fiumi dell’Eden, consegnando a Paolo la parola/legge della
Nuova Alleanza (traditio legis). In entrambe le rappresentazioni musive, che
costituiscono alcuni dei primi esempi di iconografia cristiana a Roma, il volto
di Cristo è circonfuso da un’aureola blu-azzurra. Quest’ultima conferisce e
immediatamente attribuisce alla figura un alone di divinità, disancorandolo
dalla contingenza terrena e proiettandolo nella dimensione del
trascendente. Traditio clavium (a dx) e traditio legis (a sx) in due
calotte del deambulatorio del Mausoleo di Santa Costanza a Roma (IV secolo)
L’aureola è anche regale Talvolta, poi, sono i sovrani-imperatori stessi ad
auto-rappresentarsi col capo circonfuso da aureola, come negli straordinari
mosaici che arricchiscono il presbiterio della chiesa di San Vitale a
Ravenna.Quest’ultimo, databile al secondo quarto del VI secolo, raffigura, tra
gli altri, anche i ritratti degli imperatori Giustiniano e della moglie
Teodora,entrambi corredati da aureola dorata. L’imperatrice
Teodora (a sx), moglie dell’imperatore Giustiniano (a dx), in due mosaici del
presbiterio della Chiesa di San Vitale a Ravenna (VI secolo) Entrambi gli
esempi, sebbene distanziati da ben due secoli, testimoniano alle origini del
Cristianesimo ufficiale (ossia istituzionalizzato in una ecclesiae)
un’iconografia dell’aureola già compiutamente codificata diffusa. I
primi esempi figurativi di aureole Sebbene, come detto, l’aureola costituisca
un inconfondibile attributo iconografico cristiano, non è però nel
Cristianesimo (che del resto si istituzionalizza nei primi secoli d.C.) che
affondano le radici della sua nascita. Queste infatti, come del resto molti
altri aspetti della liturgia e religione cristiana, devono essere rintracciate
ben prima della nascita del Cristianesimo stesso. Tale scelta
figurativa risale a diversi secoli, se non millenni prima di Cristo.
Consiste nel rappresentare divinità (qualora queste potessero essere
rappresentate) inscritte, totalmente o parzialmente, in aloni di luce
funzionali a proiettare le figure in dimensioni ultraterrene ed evocarne la
natura divina. Per esempio, nella pittura parietale egizia, il dio Ra è
quasi sempre rappresentato con un disco solare situato sopra il suo capo e
inglobato da un cobra. In questo caso dunque, nelle rappresentazioni di Ra, il
disco solare ha soprattutto la funzione di rappresentare l’attributo del
sole, di cui Ra, secondo la cosmologia egizia, era il dio referente.
Rappresentazione di Ra e Imentet (a sx.) sulle pareti della tomba di
Nefertari nella Valle delle Regine a Luxor (Egitto) Quando l’aureola era ancora
una corona raggiante Tuttavia, per poter conoscere i primi veri esempi di
aureole, occorre risalire alle prime rappresentazioni della divinità di Mitra.
Questa è nata in origine dallo Zoroastrismo (dal profeta Zarathustra, o
Zoroastro) e successivamente, soprattutto presso l’Impero Romano, si è
costituita come divinità indipendente e inscritta in uno specifico culto (quasi
monoteista), detto appunto Mitraismo. Nella fase imperiale soprattutto,
il Mitraismodivenne la religione dominante dell’ecumene (sebbene non la sola) e
poi concorrente al Cristianesimo delle origini. Quello che interessa rilevare
però è che, in quanto dio solare e dunque simbolo di vita, anche nelle
rappresentazioni di Mitra, la divinità venne ben presto corredata con attributi
iconografici quali, per esempio, una “corona” raggiante.
Rappresentazione di Mitra come Sol Invictus su un disco argenteo romano Un
simbolo trasversale della divinità tra Occidente e Oriente Possono forse
essere questi i primi significativi antecedenti dell’iconografia dell’aureola?
Ben presto questa divenne un vero e proprio simbolo trasversale adottato in
molte altre religioni di origine orientale. Forse la sua adozione è legata
all’efficacia visiva con cui riesce a restituire allo sguardo un immediato
riferimento alla dimensione trascendente e/o spirituale. Dapprima adottato nel
Cristianesimo, questo riferimento venne poi, attraverso scambi culturali,
trasmesso anche ad altre religioni orientali, tra le quali il Buddismo.
Sotto questo profilo appare infatti singolare che proprio negli stessi
secoli in cui l’iconografia cristiana si codifica (tra il IV e il VI secolo),
l’adozione dell’aureola come attributo iconografico si manifesta anche in
diverse rappresentazioni buddiste in area cinese. Come si spiega questo
utilizzo pressoché contemporaneo dell’aureola come attributo figurativo del divino,
in due religioni così distanti e appartenenti a mondi diversi? La chiave
di volta è costituita ancora dal Mitraismo. Reliquiario di
Bimaran, I sec. d.C. circa Il Mitraismo è la chiave di lettura Per comprendere
infatti la trasmissione di tali scelte figurative tra la cultura latina e
quella asiatica, occorre risalire al primo secolo d.C. Per precisione quando
gli Indo-sciti (popolazioni nomadi originarie dell’attuale Iran, dove lo
zoroastrismo e con lui il Dio Mitra ebbero origine) e alcune popolazioni dell’Impero
Kusana (originario dell’attuale Afghanistan), invasero e conquistarono alcuni
territori degli attuali Pakistan e India. Portarono dunque con sé e
trasferirono alle popolazioni conquistate alcuni tratti della loro cultura e
della loro religione, tra cui anche il Mitraismo con i rispettivi attributi
iconografico-rappresentativi. Nella latinità mediterranea, dunque,
l’iconografia di Mitra avrebbe influenzato parzialmente quella cristiana.
Parallelamente, attraverso un processo di osmosi culturale, la medesima
iconografia veniva trasmessa anche alle culture e alle religioni orientali
(Pakistan, India meridionale e, attraverso questa, la Cina), tra le quali anche
il Buddismo. Questo processo pare avvenne precocemente, come testimonia il
celebre reliquiario di Bimaran (città al confine con il Pakistan), databile al
primo secolo d.C. Dipinto cinese raffigurante Buddha (al centro) Ci
sono poi altre importanti manifestazioni figurative del Buddismo, quali ad
esempio alcune statue di Buddha risalenti al II sec. d.C. e oggi conservate al
Tokyo National Museum. Oppure ancora diverse pitture cinesi raffiguranti Buddha
sempre con il capo circonfuso da aureola. Insomma, dalla pur brevissima
disamina effettuata, ci si rende conto di quanto la cultura occidentale e
quella orientale, dopo tutto, non siano poi così distanti. In questo senso, le
testimonianze figurative nate dalle rispettive pratiche cultuali e religiose ne
costituiscono un memorandum preziosissimo. Capocci. Keywords: peccatum –
sin – holiness – aureola segno naturale della santita. Refs.: Luigi Speranza, “Grice e Capocci” –
The Swimming-Pool Library. Capocci.
Grice e Capodilista: l’implicatura
conversazionale -- n principio era la conversazione – filosofia fascista –
filosofia italiana – Luigi Speranza (Battaglia Terme). Filosofo italiano. Grice: “I like
Capodilista – good vintage (literally)! – Capodilista is difficult to
comprehend, but when I was struggling to find examples of implicatura due to
exploiting ‘be perspicuous,’ he was whom I was thinking! Keywords in his
philosophy are ‘il non-detto,’ ‘homos eroticus’ – filosofia dell’espressione –
metafisica – equilibrio apolineo-dionisiaco, positive-negativo –“ “Un pensiero perfetto in sé non esiste; un
pensiero è perfetto solo nella serie innumerabile dei pensieri che nascono da
esso.» (Quaderni). Appartenente ad una
famiglia veneziana di nobili origini, nacque nella villa di famiglia da Angelo
Emo e da Emilia dei baroni Barracco. Studia a Roma sotto Gentile. Le sue riflessioni
sul nihilismo sono un'anticipazione della filosofia di Heidegger. Debitore dell'attualismo gentiliano. Partendo
da questo, giunse a trasformarlo in una filosofia dove l'atto è la re-figurazione
dell'auto-negazione del nulla che comunque conserva una sua funzione positiva
così come nela religione romana la morte del corpo ha la funzione di salvezza
nella redenzione dello spirito (animo). La forma superiore dello spirito
intristisce e cerca invano di uscire da sé per trovare qualcosa che lo salvi. Un'istanza
di salvezza che trova senso nella religione romana. Dio espia la sua
universalità. Distrugge ogni valore e il proprio, sì che lo sparire, il
nascondersi di Dio nella sua espiazione non è altro che la nuova creazione dei
valori, e così il ciclo ricomincia. Dio si abolisce col suo stesso realizzarsi.
Un altro punto fondamentale di sua filosofia è la figura centrale
dell’intersoggetivita., del rapporto concreto particoare, particolarizato, inter-personale
contrapposto all’astrazioni di una collettività IMpersonale generalizato (universalita,
universabilita, generalita formale, generalita applicazionale, generalita di
contenuto --, sia quella esaltata da uno stato etico (la communita, la
popolazione, la societa). Una diada conversazionale non può essere un dato. Una
diada conversazionale può essere solo un rapposro inter-soggettivo, cioè due
resurrezioni. Il filosofo è assillato da questo fondamentale problema. Il
problema è questo: di quali fedi si nutre e sussiste il mondo? Quale è la fede
autentica che lo sostiene nella vita che gli dà la forza dell'attività e la
convinzione di partecipare con la sua vita (o la sua azione o il suo essere)
alla immortalità, cioè all'assoluto? La diada conversazionale ha bisogno
dell'assoluto (l’universabilita) e pertanto il suo problema è questa
partecipazione all'assoluto. Come raggiungerà l'assoluto le due uomini – le due
maschi -- della diada conversazionale? Quale sarà la sua fede laica? Non certo
quella collettivistica-sociale che ha fatto uso della violenza, la forza, e la
autorita illegitima, e ha fallito ma neppure quella etrusca che ha compresso la
libertà di coscienza. I etruschi sono
nati sotto il segno dello scandalo. Ma il sacro si è allontanato dalla sua scandalosa
azione originaria. Perché in ogni fede
vi è qualcosa di scandaloso e di vergognoso? Perché vi è qualcosa di vergognoso
nella verità e nella vita stessa? Forse l'elemento vergognoso è
l'intersoggetivita pura attorno a cui verte la fede e che si crea con la sua
negazione. L’intersoggetività è sempre nuda e la nudità è scandalosa. I vestiti
sono l'uniforme innecessari della società. Invano due maschi credono di
distinguersi con le vesti; e credono che le due nudità sia uniformità. Le vesti
sono il riconoscimento della società, del sociale. Ma le vesti sarebbero nulla
se non fossero animate dalla vita intersoggetiva di due nudità. Le veste sono
orgogliose delle due nudità che socializzanoa. È quindi con la libertà
degl’entrambi della diada, con le due nudità, con il rifiuto di ogni veste di
uniformità, IM-personalita, ed obbedienza all'autorità ad una dottrina o scuola
di mistica pitagorica collettivizzante, che la diada recupera la sua essenza
duale intersoggetiva interpersonale particolarizata che si fonda sull'amore -- alta
espressione del "singolare duale".
Altre opere: “Il dio negative” (Marsilio, Venezia); “La voce d’Apollo
musogete: arte e religione nella Roma antica” (Marsilio, Venezia); “Supremazia
e maledizione” (Raffaello Cortina Editore, Milano); “Il mono-teismo demo-cratico”
(Mondadori, Milano); “Metafisica” (Bompiani, Milano); Il silenzio (Gallucci,
Roma); “La meraviglia del nulla” Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Le
parole che si riferiscono a dei valori, si svalutano progressivamente come le
monete, come, appunto, i valori. Quando
pensiamo troppo profondamente, perdiamo l’uso della parola. La parola si può
“usare”, cioè profanare, quando non se ne comprende il significato. Se
comprendessimo il significato delle parole, non usciremmo mai più dal silenzio.
La conversazione è pericolosa per un’idea, per uno spirito, per una
verità che non resiste alla lieve immediatezza (e cioè rapidità) che è l’anima
irriducibile di una conversazione e di una comunicazione tra viventi (e che
altro è l’arte?). E così l’idea è pericolosa per una conversazione.
Conversazione (espressione, comunicazione ecc.) e idea tentano continuamente di
sopraffarsi. Appunto perché l’una non può vivere senza l’altra. È lecito
ad un artista prendere sul serio ciò che scrive? Non decade dalla sua qualità
di artista e di creatore per divenire soltanto un credente? Il torto dei
romantici è stato principalmente quello di prendersi sul serio; i più antichi
scrittori prendevano sul serio il loro argomento, ma sempre conservandosi
estranei ad esso; senza considerare la loro soggettività di creatori come
l’oggetto stesso della loro creazione. I romantici invece prendevano sul serio
se stessi, e ciò li rendeva ridicoli, perché ovviamente non potevano più
mantenersi al di sopra del loro argomento. Si dovette, pertanto, da Baudelaire
in poi, ricorrere ad una forma di ironia. Ciò che distingue la sfera (moderna)
del sacro è la mancanza di ironia; eppure può anche darsi che l’universo che
abitiamo sia una forma dell’ironia divina, manifestatasi come creazione. Nella
sfera antica del sacro, gli Dei di Democrito e di Epicuro ridevano negli intermundi.
La sfera della sacralità antica si differenzia dalla sfera della sacralità
moderna appunto perché gli antichi Dei, grazia alla loro pluralità,
conoscendosi l’un l’altro, ridevano. Un’ilarità che non si addice a un Dio
unico e solitario, ma che potrebbe, se l’Unico non fosse troppo preso da se
stesso e dalla sua onnipotenza, tradursi nel termine più moderno di ironia. A
noi uomini accade appunto di osservare che l’ironia è il solo modo di
distaccarci dalla nostra onnipotenza, di uscire all’esterno della nostra
assolutezza. Le opere d’arte, come tutte le immagini, sono in realtà dei
ricordi. Sono la memoria. Noi amiamo un’opera d’arte perché essa è la nostra
memoria che si risveglia, che riprende possesso di noi, e del suo universo,
cioè di tutto. La memoria talvolta dimentica; ed essa ricorda quando dimentica.
La forma letteraria in cui meglio ci si può esprimere è appunto la
lettera (l’epistola). Perché l’altro è sempre presenta mentre scriviamo e
abbiamo la facoltà di creare il destinatario. Abbiamo la facoltà di creare un
pubblico come destinatario? Se non avessimo la facoltà di creare un
destinatario, individuale e universale, non scriveremmo mai. Forse non
penseremmo neppure. Nessuno scrive per sé. L’immagine e la rappresentazione,
che dovrebbero essere la fedeltà assoluta delle cose rappresentate, sono allora
infedeltà altrettanto assoluta, diversità radicale dal rappresentato? Il
rappresentato in quanto oggetto è per definizione diversità assoluta dal
soggetto; come allora, con quale sintesi si può superare questo iato? In quanto
differenza dal soggetto, l’oggetto ne è la negazione, la pura negazione; e
questa negazione, in quanto puramente essa stessa, è soggetto essa medesima,
cioè è il soggetto che si nega; è l’atto del soggetto, in quanto questo atto è
l’atto del negarsi. Quindi noi siamo la rappresentazione, siamo l’atto in cui
tutte le cose sono e vivono, cioè l’attualità, in quanto siamo autonegazione.
La negatività è l’universalità dell’atto. L’eco è la voce del nulla, la parola
del nulla, appunto perché è esattamente la nostra voce e la nostra parola,
obiettivata, ripetuta. L’obiettività è la ripetizione del soggetto che non può
mai ripetersi? Tutto ciò che pensiamo o scriviamo è nell’atto stesso una
metamorfosi. Il nostro pensiero non ha altro oggetto che il proprio nulla.
L’arte dello scrivere è l’arte di far dire alle parole tutte le trasmutazioni
che esse contengono e sono – tutta la loro attuale diversità, tutta la
negazione che esse sono quando si affermano, e tutta l’affermazione che viene
espressa dalla negazione. Mediante la loro trasmutazione, che è l’affermarsi
dell’attualità di una negazione (cioè dell’attualità dell’atto che si riconosce
come negativo), le parole finiscono per creare un organismo, un organismo di
parole, cioè la frase: L’organismo della frase e del verbo che trasforma la
negatività della parola in un atto. La parola è la diversità dell’atto. Negarsi
e attualità, negarsi e trascendenza e diversità, sono sempre, e sempre
attualmente congiunti; perciò la parola contiene il seme della frase, del
discorso. Forse il nostro nome è soltanto uno pseudonimo; forse anche i nomi
delle cose sono pseudonimi. Ma qual è il vero nome? È più probabile che le cose
come crediamo di vederle siano soltanto gli pseudonimi di un nome; e noi stessi
e il nostro essere siamo pseudonimi; di un nome che forse non conosceremo mai e
che appunto per questo ha una realtà suprema. Una realtà unica. Una sintesi
invisibile di realtà e verità. Una realtà che la conoscenza (la scienza) non
può dissolvere, analizzare. Gli scritti di aforismi o di idee frammentarie, di
epigrammi o di formule, sono i modi di esprimere l’assoluto, o qualche
assoluto, qualche verità in forma breve. Ma ognuno di questi frammenti vuole
essere l’espressione dell’assoluto, e quindi non può essere frammentario.
Frammenti e parti che sono relative all’assoluto, senza esserlo, si trovano
nelle opere di una certa ampiezza, ampie come la vita. La vita, essendo
universale, può essere plurale. Il Mangiaparole rivista n. 1Il Mangiaparole 6
Mario Gabriele Lo scrivere è una forma silenziosa (fonicamente) del parlare; ma
è un parlare che ha il singolare privilegio di non essere interrotto, se non
dalla propria coscienza; la coscienza è la madre, l’origine del discorso, ma è
anche la coscienza che fa al discorso, cioè a se stessa, le continue obiezioni.
La coscienza è il maggiore obiettore di coscienza. La coscienza parla per
affermarsi o per smentire? La nostra scrittura è geroglifica come la nostra
parola, che non coincide con ciò che vuole esprimere, ma soltanto vi allude
simbolicamente; allude a qualcosa di originariamente noto od originariamente
ignoto. A qualcosa di diverso. La parola stessa è originariamente diversità. La
Parola è diversità da se stessa e perciò coincide con la diversità dell’atto,
con la diversità originaria che vuole esprimere? Questa coincidenza era
l’ideale, lo scopo, la fede dell’età dell’autocoscienza. L’età
dell’autocoscienza e la tirannia; vi è sempre un quid al di là
dell’espressione, senza questo quid l’espressione non sarebbe una metamorfosi.
La metamorfosi vuole esprimere se stessa con la negazione; noi alludiamo alla
diversità con la negazione, con la identificazione. Noi siamo la verità; è
proprio per questo che ci è impossibile conoscerla. la conosciamo quando diventa
altro da noi. La conoscenza, l’espressione, la stessa memoria creano
l’anteriorità della verità e della sua attualità. Se la verità è un Eden, noi
possiamo conoscerla solo quando ne siamo fuori, quando ne siamo espulsi ed
esiliati. L’arte dello scrittore consiste nel creare una complicità nel
lettore; e di quale colpa diviene complice il lettore? Non lo si è mai saputo.
Esistono innumerevoli sistemi di estetica e di spiegazioni complesse e fallaci
di un atto che è la semplicità originaria. Una complicità del lettore con
l’autore. Il delitto (e il diletto) perfetto. Soltanto l’inesprimibile è degno
di un’espressione. La parola è un irrazionale ed è strano che essa esista in un
mondo razionale e quantitativo; nel mondo dell’identità. la razionalità è soltanto
nel numero; la Parola è divina, anzi la scrittura ha identificato la Parola (il
verbo) e la divinità; per gli antichi il numero aveva significati simbolici,
cioè spirituali. Oggi il numero privato di ogni significato è identificato
dalla sua «posizione» (nello spazio è o sarà il vero successore della parola –
ma troverà in se stesso una nuova irrazionalità?) Il numero è la massima
razionalità e insieme la massima irrazionalità come serie infinita; non
possiamo vivere senza irrazionalità, appunto perché la vita è essa stessa
irrazionalità; il numero può vivere? Noi parliamo, noi scriviamo, senza
ricordarci la suprema scadenza del silenzio. L’espressione più perfetta è
quella che crea l’inesprimibile. L’aforisma e l’ironia sono una professione di
scetticismo nei confronti della poesia. L’aforisma è la definizione, l’analisi,
la spiegazione, la risoluzione in termini umani della lirica; l’ironia è la
scoperta dei suoi motivi non lirici: uno sguardo dietro le quinte. Come
esprimerò io il mio pensiero, la mia vita, la mia esperienza? Questa dovrebbe
essere l’interrogazione da ogni uomo posta a se stesso. Vero è però che in
genere l’inesprimibile è ciò che per noi ha più valore e importanza; quello
verso cui ci sentiamo più attirati; quello per cui sentiamo come un’antica,
istintiva e simpatica affinità e parentela. La quantità di parole inutili che
uno scrittore inserisce nel suo scritto è inversamente proporzionale
all’importanza dello scrittore stesso. Vi sono scritti in cui nessuna, o quasi,
parola può essere tolta senza grave danno per l’opera e per noi; altri in cui
si possono togliere tutte… (Q. 14, 1932). Il
caso della vendita della Palladiana Villa Emo a un magnate straniero. SEMBRA
CHIUDERSI UN LUNGO MINUETTO DURANTE IL QUALE LA BANCA DI CREDITO TREVIGIANO HA
CONCRETIZZATO L’INTENZIONE (SINO AD ORA MAI UFFICIALMENTE AMMESSA) DI ALIENARE
IL BENE. La vendita della Palladiana Villa Emo a Fanzolo di
Vedelago è stata ufficializzata. Il
consiglio di amministrazione di Banca di Credito Trevigiano, che ne detiene la
proprietà (da quando per 15 milioni di euro la acquistò dall’ultimo erede, il
conte Leonardo Marco Emo Capodilista) ha messo ai voti il suo destino e ha
deciso: accetterà l’offerta di uno sconosciuto magante straniero. IL
PERCORSO Sembra chiudersi così un lungo minuetto durante il quale l’istituto di
credito ha concretizzato l’intenzione (sino ad ora mai ufficialmente ammessa)
di alienare il bene. Il 9 gennaio la prima avvisaglia attraverso un comunicato
stampa che parlava di un’offerta d’acquisto misteriosamente pervenuta “da un
privato appassionato del Palladio, e desideroso di riportare la Villa
(Patrimonio Unesco dal 1996) al suo originario splendore”. Ora la conferma di
cedere “il solo edificio storico e non gli adiacenti cespiti occupati dalla
banca. L’immobile oggetto della trattativa -specifica l’ultima comunicazione-
non rappresenta un asset strumentale all’attività bancaria e il Consiglio di
amministrazione (…) ha deciso di dare il via libera alle attività propedeutiche
alla due diligence di tipo tecnico per giungere all’eventuale chiusura della
transazione entro l’anno 2019. Fatto salvo il diritto di prelazione previsto
dal D.lgs. a favore del Ministero dei Beni culturali e delle altre competenti
autorità”. Nota, quest’ultima, che, ad onor del vero, suona un po’ come una
beffa: se lo stesso ente di credito ad oggi dimostra di non poter investire nel
mantenimento del bene (ordinario e straordinario inclusi i restauri di cui gli
affreschi dello Zelotti avrebbero urgenza), ancor più lontana appare l’ipotesi
che possa farsene carico un ente pubblico. LA STORIA La storia recente
del resto lo conferma: dopo il commissariamento (seppur temporaneo) da parte di
Bankitalia, la fondazione appositamente creata per la gestione della villa ha
dovuto dire addio ai 325 mila euro annui che Credito Trevigiano versava.
Insufficienti i proventi derivanti da bigliettazione e affitto degli spazi.
Così i bilanci in perdita, primi licenziamenti per il personale della
fondazione, le dimissioni, nell’ottobre scorso del presidente Armando Cremasco.
Poi, reciproche accuse tra parti, la preoccupazione del sindaco, la petizione
“No alla vendita di Villa Emo a Fanzolo di Vedelago” su change.org che
raggiunge in pochi giorni quota 975 firme. Tentativo inutile ma che tocca,
negli intenti, un nodo fondamentale della vicenda: i firmatari sono soci,
clienti della banca e semplici cittadini che riconoscono in Villa Emo il bene
più rappresentativo della loro comunità. Un bene acquisito da una banca
strettamente legata al territorio e che su di esso ha come stesso suo mandato
quello di reinvestire. Una banca della comunità in cui però la comunità, a
seguito di questo atto, non si riconosce più. IL CASO DI VILLA EMO Il
caso di Villa Emo, generalizzando, appare uno fra molti nell’inarrestabile
processo di alienazione del nostro patrimonio storico. Perché agitarsi tanto
se, solo per citare i casi territorialmente più prossimi, la magnate cinese Ada
Koon Hang Tse ha recentemente acquisito Villa Cornaro a Piombino Dese (Padova)
e il veneziano Palazzo Pisani Moretta sul Canal Grande? Perché forse, per fare
un po’ d’ordine, ogni singola vicenda necessiterebbe d’un corretto approccio,
di una corretta lettura, esercitando invece proprio il diritto a una non
generalizzazione in polemiche a catena. Polemiche aventi nel nostro paese
sempre le stesse parole-chiave: sostenibilità, valorizzazione, gestione
strategica, autosufficienza nonché il terribile reiterato “fare sistema”. Anche
il caso di Villa Emo (per la verità per ora confinato alla cronaca locale) si
presterebbe quindi benissimo a dibattiti e disquisizioni filologiche in
rapporto al paesaggio, alla fruizione futura (sarà ancora accessibile?) agli
immancabili paragoni gestionali (esteri) qui in Italia spesso apparentemente inattuabili.
Ma servirebbero, ancora una volta, a tener desta per un po’ l’attenzione e
nulla più. L’analisi dei fatti dimostra solamente una sola, nuda verità: siamo
bravissimi a scatenare il dibattito e a proporre a parole soluzioni possibili
ma anche stavolta, conti alla mano, non siamo stati capaci di elaborare un
piano di sostenibilità per tenerci stretto qualcosa che appartiene alla nostra
storia. Non resta che augurarci che il nuovo proprietario si riveli un
illuminato signore in villa. Così potremo risolvere il tutto con la consueta,
amara alzata di spalle: “molto rumore per nulla”. Rodenigo Villa Emo is
one of the many creations conceived by Italian Renaissance architect
Andrea Palladio. It is a patrician villa located in the Veneto region of
northern Italy, near the village of Fanzolo di Vedelago, in the Province of
Treviso. The patron of this villa was Leonardo Emo and remained in the hands
of the Emo family until it was sold in 2004. Since 1996, it has been conserved
as part of the World Heritage Site »City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas
of the Veneto«.[1] History Andrea Palladio's architectural fame is considered
to have come from the many villas he designed. The building of Villa Emo was
the culmination of a long-lasting project of the patrician Emo family of
the Republic of Venice to develop its estates at Fanzolo. In 1509, which
saw the defeat of Venice in the War of the League of Cambrai, the estate on
which the villa was to be built was bought from the Barbarigo family.[2]
Leonardo di Giovannia Emo was a well-known Venetian aristocrat. He was
born in 1538 and inherited the Fanzolo estate in 1549. This property was
dedicated to the agricultural activities that the family prospered
from. The Emo family's central interest was at first in the cultivation
of their newly acquired land. Not until two generations had passed did
Leonardo Emo commission Palladio to build a new villa in Fanzolo.
Historians unfortunately do not have firm chronology of dates on the design,
construction, or the commencement of the new building: the years 1555 or
1558 is estimated to have been when the building was designed, while the
construction was thought to have been undertaken between 1558 and 1561.
There is no evidence showing that the villa was built by 1549: however, it
has been documented to have been built by 1561. The 1560s saw the interior
decoration added and the consecration of the chapel in the west barchesse
in 1567.[1] The date of completion is put at 1565; a document which attests
to the marriage of Leonardo di Alvise with Cornelia Grimani has lasted from
that year.[3] Partial alterations were made to the Villa Emo in 1744 by
Francesco Muttoni. Arches within both wings that were close to the central
build were sealed off and additional residential areas were created. The
ceilings were altered. The villa and its surrounding estate were purchased
in 2004 by an institution and further restorations were made. Since
1996, it has been conserved as part of the World Heritage Site »City of Vicenza
and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto«.[1] The villa is at the centre
of an extensive area that bears centuriation, or land divisions, and extends
northward. The landscape of Fanzolo has a continuous history since Roman
times and it has been suggested that the layout of the villa reflects the
straight lines of the Roman roads.[2] Architecture Marcok The main
building (casa dominicale). Villa Emo was a product of Palladio's later period
of architecture. It is one of the most accomplished of the Palladian Villas,
showing the benefit of 20 years of Palladio's experience in domestic architecture.
It has been praised for the simple mathematical relationships expressed
in its proportions, both in the elevation and the dimensions of the
rooms. Palladio used mathematics to create the ideal villa. These
«harmonic proportions» were a formulation of Palladio's design theory.
He thought that the beauty of architecture was not in the use of orders and
ornamentation, but in architecture devoid of ornamentation, which
could still be a delight to the eye if aesthetically pleasing portions
were incorporated. In 1570, Palladio published a plan of the villa in his
treatise I quattro libri dell'architettura. Unlike some of the other plans
he included in this work, the one of Villa Emo corresponds nearly exactly
to what was built. His classical architecture has stood the test of time
and designers still look to Palladio for inspiration.[1]
Renato Vecchiato [CC-BY-SA-3.0] Another view of Villa Emo. The layout of the
villa and its estate is strategically placed along the pre-existing Roman
grid plan. There is a long rectangular axis that runs across the estate in
a north-south direction. The agricultural crop fields and tree groves were
laid out and arranged along the long axis, as was the villa itself.[1]
The outer appearance of the Villa Emo is marked by a simple treatment of
the entire body of the building, whose structure is determined by a geometrical
rhythm. The construction consists of brick-work with a plaster finish, visible
wooden beams seen in the spaces of the piano nobile, and coffered ceilings
like that within the loggia. The central structure is an almost square residential
area.[4] The living quarters are raised above ground-level, as are all of
Palladio's other villas. Instead of the usual staircase going up to the main
front door, the building has a ramp with a gentle slope that is as wide as
the pronaos. This reveals the agricultural tradition of this complex. The
ramp, an innovation in the Palladian villas, was necessary for transportation
to the granaries by wheelbarrows loaded with food products and other goods.
The wide ramp leads up to the loggia which takes the form of a column portico
crowned by a gable – a temple front which Palladio applied to secular
buildings. As in the case with the Villa Badoer, the loggia does not stand
out from the core of the building as an entrance hall, but is retracted into
it. The emphasis of simplicity extends to the column order of the loggia,
for which Palladio chose the extremely plain Tuscan order.[2] Plain windows
embellish the piano nobile as well as the attic. The central building
of the villa is framed by two symmetrical long, lower colonnaded wings, or
barchesses, which originally housed agricultural facilities, like granaries,
cellars, and other service areas. This was a working villa like Villa Badoer
and a number of the other designs by Palladio. Both wings end with tall
dovecotes which are structures that house nesting holes for domesticated
pigeons. An arcade on the wings face the garden, consisting of columns
that have rectangular blocks for the bases and capitols. The west barchesse
also contains a chapel. The barchesses merge with the central residence,
forming one architectural unit. This typological format of a
villa-farm was invented by Palladio and can be found at Villa Barbaro and
Villa Baroer.[1] Andrea Palladio emphasises the usefulness of the
lay-out in his treatise. He points out that the grain stores and work areas
could be reached under cover, which was particularly important. Also, it
was necessary for the Villa Emo's size to correspond to the returns obtained
by good management. These returns must in fact have been considerable,
for the side-wings of the building are unusually long, a visible symbol
of prosperity. The Emo family introduced the cultivation of maize on
their estate (and the plant, still new in Europe, is depicted in one of
Zelotti's frescoes). In contrast to the traditional cultivation of millet,
considerably higher returns could be obtained from the maize.[5] It is not
clear if the long walk, made of large square paving-stones, which leads to the
front of the house, served a practical purpose. It seems to be a
fifteenth-century threshing floor.[6] However, Palladio advised that
threshing should not be carried out near a house. Hans A. Rosbach. Frescoes
by Giovanni Battista Zelotti, west wall of the hall Frescoes Hans A. Rosbach
[CC BY-SA 3.0] Hall West The exterior is simple, bare of any decoration.
In contrast, the interior is richly decorated with frescoes by the
Veronese painter Giovanni Battista Zelotti, who also worked on Villa Foscari
and other Palladian villas. The main series of frescoes in the villa is
grouped in an area with scenes featuring Venus, the goddess of love. Zelotti
appears to have completed the work on the frescoes by 1566.[1] In the
loggia, the frescoes have representations of Callisto, Jupiter, Jupiter
in the Guise of Diana, and Calisto transformed into a Bear by June. The Great
Room is filled with frescoes that were placed between Corinthian columns that
rise from high pedestals. The events in the frescoes concentrate on humanistic
ideals and Roman history alluding to marital virtues. Exemplary scenes
include Virtue portrayed in a scene from the life of Scipio Africanus. On
the left wall is the scene of Sciopio returns the girl betrothed to Allucius
and the right wall a scene showing The Killing of Virginia. The sides
of these frescoes have false niches that consist of monochrome figures:
Jupiter holding a torch, Juno and the Peacock, Neptune with the Dolphin,
and Cybele with the Lioness. These figures allude to the four natural elements
(fire, air, water, earth). Side panels contain enormous prisoners emerging
from the false architectural framework. On the south wall of the great hall
toward the vestibule is a false broken pediment that appears above a real
entrance arch. A fresco of two female figures, Prudence with the Mirror
and Peace with an Olive Branch, can be seen. The North wall at the center of
the upper part of the building contains the crest of the Emo Family. It is
carved and gilt wood, surrounded by trompe-l'œil cornices and
festoons.[1] To the left of the central chamber is the Hall of Hercules.
It contains episodes referring mainly to the mythological hero. The intent
was to emphasize the victory of virtue and reason over vice. The frescoes
are inserted in a framework of false ionic columns. The east wall contains
scenes of Hercules embracing Dejanira, Hercules throwing Lica into the
sea, and The Fame of Hercules at the center. The west wall is Hercules at
the Stake, placed within false arches. On the south wall is a panel above the
doorway that depicts a Noli me Tangere («Touch Me Not») scene.[1] To
the right of the central chamber is the Hall of Venus. This hall contains
episodes that refer to the Goddess of Love. On the west wall within false
arches are the scenes of Venus deters Adonis from Hunting and Venus aids the
Wounded Adonis. The east wall fresco shows Venus wounded by Love. On the south
wall is a panel above the doorway that shows Penitent St. Jerome.[1]
The Abstinence of Scipio appears frequently in cycles of frescoes for
Venetian villas. For example, the Villa la Porto Colleoni in Thiene and
Villa Cordellina in Montecchio Maggiore, built nearly 200 years later, also
use this image, fostering ideals which, had in the 15th and 16th centuries,
resulted from the renewed discussion of the depravity of town life, in
contrast to the tranquility, abundance, and freedom of artistic thought
associated with rural existence. Hence, another room in the villa is
called the Room of the Arts, featuring frescoes with allegories of individual
arts, such as astronomy, poetry or music.[7]Within the many frescoes are depictions
of different flowers and fruit, including corn, only recently introduced
into the Po Valley. Many of the frescoes are presented within false architecture,
like columns, arches and architectural framework.[1] Media Markhole
[CC BY-SA 4.0] Perspective view of the front grounds Marcok / it.wikipedia.org
[CC BY-SA 3.0] Perspective view of the rear garden. In the 1990s Villa Emo was
featured in Guide to Historic Homes: In Search of Palladio,[8]Bob Vila's
three-part six-hour production for A&E Network. The movie Ripley's
Game used the Villa Emo as a location. The City of Vicenza and The Palladian
Villas in the Veneto: A Guide to the UNESCO Site. Italy: The Unesco Office of
the Municipality of Vicenza, the Ministry of Cultural Assets and Activities.
2009. pp. 186–191. ^ a b c Wundram (1993), p. 164 ^ Wundram (1993), p. 165 ^
Beltramini, Guido (2009). Palladio. Italy. . ^ Wundram. Palladio Centre
ArchivedJune 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine (in English and Italian)Centro
Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio, accessed September
2008 ^ Wundram (1993), p. 173 ^ BobVila.com. »Bob Vila's Guide to Historic
Homes: In Search of Palladio«. ^ »Ripley's Game News« ArchivedJune 9, 2008, at
the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 2008 05 31 Sources The City of Vicena and The
Palladian Villas in the Veneto: A Guide to the Unesco Site. Italy: The Unesco
Office of the Municipality of the City of Vicenza. 2009. pp. 186–191. Wassell,
Stephen R. »Andrea Palladio (1508-1580)«. Nexus Network Journal: 213–222.
Beltramini, Guido, Palladio. Italy; Boucher, Bruce (1998) [1994]. Andrea Palladio:
The Architect in his Time (revised ed.). New York: Abbeville Press. Rybczynski,
Witold; The Perfect House: A Journey with Renaissance Master Andrea Palladio.
New York: Scribner. Wundram, Manfred (1993). Andrea Palladio, Architect between
the Renaissance and Baroque, Cologne, Taschen. Andrea Emo Capodilista. Emo Capodilista. Keywords: in principio era la
conversazione, filosofia fascista, I taccuini del barone Capodilista, il
taccuino del barone Capodilista. Refs.: Luigi Speranza, “Grice e Capodilista” –
The Swimming-Pool Library. Capodilista.
Grice e Capograssi: l’implicatura
conversazionale degl’eroi di Vico – filosofia italiana – Luigi Speranza (Sulmona). Filosofo
italiano. Grice: “I love Capograssi; at Oxford we’d call him a lawyer, but the
Italians call him a philosopher! My favourite of his tracts is his attempts –
linked as he was to the Napoli area – Vico relevant! Oddly, he stresses the
‘Catholic,’ or RC, as we say at Oxford, rather than the heathen, pagan, side,
of this illustrious philosopher who Strawson – as along indeed with Speranza --
think as the greatest Italian philosopher that ever lived – I mean, what can be
more Italian than Vico?!” Si occupa principalmente di filosofia del diritto. Fu
membro della Corte costituzionale. Da un'antica famiglia nobile che vi si
era trasferita da un comune della provincia di Salerno, a seguito del vescovo
Andrea. Si laurea a Roma con “Lo stato e la storia", in cui già affiorano
le problematiche connesse alle interrelazioni fra individuo, società e stato:
problematiche che impegneranno tutta la sua filosofia. Insegna a Sassari,
Macerata, Padova, Roma, e Napoli. Prende parte ai lavori che portarono alla
redazione del Codice di Camaldoli. La sua filosofia si centra nell’esperienza
giuridica ed è rivolta alla centralizzazione della volontà del soggetto agente,
che si imprime nell'azione stessa, vera fonte di espressione giuridica e di
vita. La filosofia dovrebbe quindi occuparsi della vita e dell'azione, avendo a
centro della sua speculazione la "persona". Il suo pensiero si
ricollega al personalismo. Il ponere al centro della sua filosofia il rapporto
essenziale che intercorre fra il diritto inteso come esigenza giuridica e la vita
consente alla filosofia del diritto di superare il campo della tecnica
giuridica per pervenire ad una visione organica e totale del reale, cioè a
Dio. Fede e scienza; Lo Stato; Riflessioni sull'autorità; democrazia
diretta; Analisi dell'esperienza comune; L’esperienza giuridica; La vita etica;
Il problema della scienza del diritto); Incertezze sull'individuo, Milano,
Giuffrè). “Pensieri” sono alcuni scritti
vergati su foglietti e conseglla. Nei Pensieri, poi raccolti e pubblicati, si
colgono i momenti salienti della sua filosofia. La teoria dei valori. Il
personalismo. Il positivismo giurdico in
Italia. Decentramento e autonomie nel pensiero politico europeo. I sentieri dell'uomo comune. Dizionario
biografico degli italiani. Kelsen
avrebbe, invece, potuto utilizzare la stessa idea di una Norma Fondamentale
come un principio etico-politico costituente. Anzi, proprio perché essa è tale,
non si identifica con la pura fatticità della Forza, come, invece, pensa C.. Ed
è rivendicando la funzione costituente della Norma Fondamentale che Bobbio può
osservare: Il C. sostiene che tutta la costruzione kelseniana è così solida
solo perché poggia su alcuni presupposti, e che questi presupposti non sono
soltanto delle ipotesi di lavoro utili alla ricerca, ma si fondano su una vera
e propria concezione della realtà. E che questa concezione è che il diritto è
forza (N. BOBBIO, La teoria pura del diritto ecc., cit., p. 24. Per la
posizione di C. si veda: Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto, in «Rivista
trimestrale di diritto pubblico», poi in Opere, Giuffrè, Milano). Le
argomentazioni di Capograssi, secondo Bobbio, rinviano a una concezione
giusnaturalistica del diritto che confonde «il criterio di validità e il
criterio di giustificazione del diritto», e aggiunge che il Kelsen si limita a
dire che il diritto esiste (indipendentemente dal fatto che sia giusto o ingiusto)
solo quando la norma, oltre che valida, è anche efficace (il cosiddetto
principio di effettività). Non si potrebbe mai trarre dalla concezione
kelseniana il principio che il diritto è giusto in quanto è comandato, perché
da nessun passo del Kelsen si può trarre la conclusione che il diritto, il
quale esiste in quanto è comandato (e fatto valere colla forza), sia anche
giusto53. Dunque, l’insoddisfazione di Bobbio per la soluzione kelseniana nasce
dal fatto che il giurista viennese lascia aperto il problema del che cosa fondi
e legittimi il sistema normativo e l’ordinamento giuridico, con la 50 BOBBIO,
La teoria pura del diritto e i suoi critici, in «Rivista trimestrale di diritto
e procedura civile», poi ristampato in ID., Studi sulla teoria generale del
diritto, Giappichelli, Torino; Il saggio è ora in ID., Diritto e potere,
Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, Napoli. Utilizzo quest’ultima edizione. La
citazione è alla p. 39. 51 Cfr. BOBBIO, MaxWeber e Hans Kelsen, «Sociologia del
diritto», , ora in ID., Diritto e potere, BOBBIO, La teoria pura del diritto
ecc.. Per la posizione di Capograssi si veda: Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto,
in «Rivista trimestrale di diritto pubblico», poi in ID., Opere, vol. V,
Giuffrè, Milano, BOBBIO, La teoria pura del diritto, BISIGNANI conseguenza che
la stessa funzione costituente della Norma Fondamentale non viene esplicitata.
L’esigenza di superare i limiti teorici di Kelsen non comporta, però, il
recupero del giusnaturalismo come ideologia (come idea di una fondazione del diritto
su valori assoluti e trascendenti), ma sollecita il pieno recupero di quelle
ragioni etiche e sociali che, dopo la catastrofe della Seconda guerra mondiale
e dopo l’olocausto, si erano manifestate come una “rinascita del
giusnaturalismo”54. Per queste ragioni Bobbio non si lascerà mai tentare
dal ridurre lo Stato al suo ordinamento giuridico; a quello Stato-Forza che
Capograssi rinfaccia a Kelsen. REFS.: Impressioni su Kelsen. C. E IL
NICHILISMO GIURIDICO. ASPETTI DELLA CRISI DELLA SCIENZA GIURIDICA. Le
“Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto” come critica all’astratto formalismo giuridico
kelseniano e alla teoria del diritto come “forza e forma”. La “pars destruens”
di C.. C. scrisse le “impressioni su Kelsen tradotto” poco dopo la traduzione
della teoria generale del diritto e dello stato da Cotta e Treves, edita dalle
Edizioni di Comunità. Si tratta di un saggio denso, in cui la prosa
capograssiana e la sua cifra stilistica è mossa, libera, sinuosa, andante come
sempre, ma particolarmente severa, austera, critica, propositiva,
concettualizzante, come dappresso noteremo, sia nella “pars destruens” che nella
“pars costruens” del saggio. La pars destruens è chiara e persuasiva. La
dottrina kelseniana dello stato e del diritto si pone fuori i reali problemi
della scienza giuridica ed una prima immediata impressione ha il lettore, e
deve subito dirla, una impressione singolare di riposo. Sarebbe così bello se
uno potesse accettare questo pensiero. Come si capisce il successo che ebbe
quando nacque, in un’epoca e in un mondo, che ci è ormai così lontano e che era
così facile ad accogliere ogni genere di illusioni. Qui non ci sono più
problemi. Come per un’operazione di magia i problemi sono spariti. Non ci sono
più disordini, incertezze, incoerenze, nel pensiero e nella realtà. Ogni cosa è
sistemata ordinata disegnata in una specie di piano regolatore, che smista e
distribuisce tutto in compartimenti separati. Se uno potesse accettare. Con
tanto più impegno di attenzione il lettore è indotto a leggere. Il diritto come concepito e teorizzato da
Kelsen è una scienza esangue. Lo notava pure Pigliaru, in “Persona umana ed ordinamento
giuridico” richiamando proprio in nota il pensiero capograssiano testè citato.
E’ un diritto scisso dall’essere e dalla storia, fondato su un’astratta idea di
dovere contrapposta all’essere, entro una rigida separazione, che Kelsen svolge
nell’opera surriferita, ma anche in altri scritti, tra natura (essere) e
spirito (devere). Si tratta di un’idea di scienza giuridica totalmente formale,
fondata sulla norma giuridica, monade, essenza, fondamento del sistema kelseniano.
Il diritto è un ordinamento coercitivo basato sulla validità, cioè la forza
vincolante e sull’efficacia cioè l’effettiva applicazione delle norme
giuridiche. L’ordinamento giuridico è un sistema di norme connesse fra loro in
base al principio che il diritto regola la propria creazione. Lo stato, il
potere dello stato, i tre poteri dello stato, gli elementi dello stato, sono
soltanto stadi diversi nella creazione dell’ordinamento giuridico. Così come,
in questa intelaiatura teoretica, per Kelsen quelle che per lui sono le due fondamentali
forme di governo, democrazia ed autocrazia, sono modi diversi di creare
l’ordinamento giuridico. Lo stato, entro una simile ed asfittica concezione, è
un ordinamento giuridico espressione di norme giuridiche valide ed efficaci,
collocate in un sistema giuridico gerarchico, in cui ogni norma trae il
fondamento della sua validità dalla norma gerarchicamente superiore e la stessa
costituzione è ridotta a norma sulla normazione, sulle procedure di formazione
della legge. C. nota opportunamente che lo stato è, altresì, un ordinamento
relativamente accentrato, a differenza dell’ordinamento internazionale più
decentrato. Un ordinamento che produce diritto e da cui deriva la
giurisprudenza normativa, che coincide con un sistema di norme valide, che è
l’unico sistema che deve riguardare l’indagine del filosofo della
giurisprudenza. C. osserva, inoltre, che in Kelsen il diritto in senso
sociologico che descrive l’effettivo comportamento umano che rappresenta il
fenomeno del diritto e cerca di predire l’attività degli organi creatori del
diritto e specialmente quella dei tribunali e lo stato in senso sociologico
riguardano la sfera dell’ efficacia del diritto, delle norme, e sono
condizionati dal diritto normative, così come quest’ultimo concerne la sfera
della validità delle norme e condiziona la scienza sociologica del diritto. Ma
scienza delle norme e scienza dei fatti sono scisse, ciascuna vive di vita
propria, sono parallele e non interferenti, sempre rigorosamente distinte ed
eterogenee. In questi due mondi così puri l’uno e l’altro, il filosofo si muove
con la libera facilità con cui l’uccello vola nell’aria. Di conseguenza, la
giurisprudenza normativa non si interseca mai con la giurisprudenza
sociologica, il diritto come tecnica della sanzione ed ordinamento coercitivo
può rivestire qualsiasi contenuto, in una concezione del dovere assolutamente
formale che non ha nemmeno per così dire il contenuto di sé stessa come dovere,
perché questo dovere non ha nulla del
dovere reale. E afferma altresì l’insigne autore, citando Bobbio e comparando
la teoria generale del Kelsen a quella di Carnelutti, che se la teoria generale
è teoria generale del diritto POSITIVO, sicuramente quella del Carnelutti, a
differenza di quella del Kelsen, è relativa alla vita stessa della realtà
giuridica, perché muove dalla nozione di diritto come composizione di conflitti
di interesse. La teoria generale del Kelsen è astratta e resta sulla superficie
della norma e della vita dell’esperienza giuridica comunale, perché il sistema
gerarchico di norme valide trae il suo fondamento da una norma non da un fatto,
da una norma fondamentale, una “Grundnorm”, presupposta ed ipotetica, ricavata
con procedimento interpretativo dal filosofo. Quest’ultima pone una data
autorità, non si fonda su nessuna norma, è valida» in virtù del suo contenuto e
non «perché è stata creata in un certo modo, al pari di una norma di diritto
naturale, a prescindere dalla sua validità puramente ipotetica, ed il suo
contenuto è il fatto storico particolare qualificato dalla norma fondamentale
come il primo fatto produttivo del diritto. La norma fondamentale cioè significa
in un certo senso, la trasformazione del potere in diritto. La perfetta
separazione della forma dal contenuto, la perfetta indifferenza della forma da
qualsiasi contenuto, che è la base di tutto questo sistema, non vale per la
norma fondamentale, che da validità a tutte le norme, che si caratterizzano
proprio perché il contenuto è per esse indifferente…perché è proprio il
contenuto a dare qui validità alla norma fondamentale». L’identificazione
perfetta tra diritto e Stato, inoltre, fondata sulla “Grundnorm” e
“l’esteriorità” del diritto, osserva il Nostro, deriva da una concezione del
diritto «come forza», come «diritto naturale della forza». E’sistema di «norme
sanzionatorie» che, formalmente, sono «un aliquid di stabile di fronte al
perpetuo oscillare della forza», ma la cui validità è “emanazione” di una
“norma fondamentale”, la quale trae il proprio contenuto dall’evento di forza
che si è assicurato il potere vale a dire il diritto di riempire le forme vuote
delle norme».Questo è il «residuo giusnaturalistico kelseniano»: il diritto
naturale della forza» che fonda il diritto positivo statale. La prosa
capograssiana sul punto è vibrante, incisiva: «qui il diritto è forza
organizzata, cioè forza e forma; la forza sostiene e riempie la forma, la forma
riveste la forza». La “pars destruens” del saggio in esame giunge al suo acme
con una metafora corrosiva: «la rappresentazione del diritto che è in questo
libro…richiama la visione di quegli spettri di città e paesi, che i
bombardamenti avevano demolito in modo che erano rimasti in piedi muri e travi:
non c’era più nulla tranne quel tragico scheletro di case nude e vuote,
terribili sotto la luna», «ma che si sarebbe detto di uno di noi che avesse
preso quei “cadavera urbium” per città viventi, per le case dove gli uomini
vivono? Ci sarebbe stato errore pari a questo? E così accade per il diritto,
come è esposto in questo libro». Il diritto è, in definitiva, confuso dal
Kelsen per «eventi di forza», «dispositivi di sanzioni», «sistemi coercitivi».
La “pars costruens” capograssiana ed il richiamo al pensiero del VICO ed alla
concezione del “diritto come esperienza” La “pars costruens” dello scritto
oggetto delle presenti considerazioni richiama, con riferimenti sintetici ma
convincenti, il pensiero del Vico, sempre presente nella riflessione del C., la
storia e lo storicismo, la nozione di esperienza. Capograssi indica come
prioritaria la necessità «di non mutilare l’oggetto della scienza del diritto,
cioè l’esperienza», «riducendola tutta al cosiddetto valore o alla cosiddetta
forma o alla cosiddetta forza», alla «nuda forza» e alla «vuota forma»; la
«necessità di vedere l’oggetto, cioè l’esperienza, nella sua integralità
vivente, nella sua natura, cioè vichianamente nel modo di nascere perenne e
quotidiano del diritto come vita e come esperienza, e quindi con tutto quello
per cui nasce, per cui si afferma, per cui si concreta in forme concrete nella
realtà». Al riguardo si accennano idee di grande importanza che hanno più ampi
sviluppi nell’opera principale del Nostro, “Il problema della scienza del
diritto”: la possibilità della conoscenza della realtà e del diritto si compie
«nella comune coscienza umana di colui che osserva e conosce e di colui che
opera nella realtà che è osservata e conosciuta. In quanto chi osserva
partecipa della stessa vita, degli stessi principi, delle stesse esigenze di
chi opera, è il segreto per cui chi osserva riesce a rendersi conto di quello
che fa colui che opera». Ne “Il problema della scienza del diritto” si legge,
infatti, ad esempio, che «con tutto il suo lavoro l’intelletto riflesso che si
pone come scienza viene faticosamente e lentamente, perché fa il suo cammino
momento per momento e tappa per tappa, scoprendo quella che è l’idea viva del
diritto, la viene scoprendo traverso tutte le forme concrete e particolari
dell’esperienza che essa forma». E l’idea viva del diritto si forma come «parte
essenziale dell’esperienza», «momento e parte della vita stessa
dell’esperienza» che «conosce sé stessa nella sua effettiva e determinata
puntualità e riesce a conservare la realtà di sé stessa nelle sue molteplici e
puntuali determinazioni». C., inoltre, soffermandosi ulteriormente sull’opera di
Kelsen richiama anche «la grande verità vichiana che il mondo storico lo
conosciamo perché lo facciamo…»; richiama il monito, proprio del Vico, di non
«mettersi fuori dall’umanità…»E rileva che «se uno si mette al mondo
supponendolo già compiuto…e quindi estraneo all’osservatore, necessariamente
l’integralità dell’esperienza gli sfugge». In tal modo l’insigne autore coglie,
dunque, il punto di maggiore fragilità dell’impianto teorico di Kelsen, cioè la
netta, irriducibile, incolmabile separazione tra la “norma giuridica” e la
“coscienza dell’individuo”, tra l’ “oggetto” ed il “soggetto”, tra la «norma
estrinseca al soggetto e il soggetto estrinseco alla norma». La “pars
costruens” capograssiana ruota, quindi, intorno al concetto di «unità in
perenne movimento che è tutta la natura dell’oggetto» del diritto,
«l’esperienza nella sua vivente umana unità» che è “falsata” (perché l’
“oggetto” è falsato) dai presupposti e dai postulati della teoria generale del
diritto e dello Stato di Kelsen. E l’illustre autore, perciò, individua la
«positività del diritto» come «coerenza intrinseca al processo di vita»,
«coerenza interna e vitale», e non «coerenza formale e artificiale», delle
«determinazioni della vita giuridica», che «vivono nel concreto», ricordando
un’opera in tal senso significativa, gli “Orientamenti sui principi generali
del diritto” del civilista Cicu. 3. – Sull’attualità del pensiero di C. e su
alcuni aspetti significativi dell’attuale crisi della scienza giuridica alla
luce di recenti saggi monografici sull’argomento. Per una critica del
“nichilismo giuridico” (ontologico) Perché è attuale la critica capograssiana
al formalismo giuridico kelseniano? Perché nell’ “ambiguità del diritto
contemporaneo”, per riprendere il titolo di un notissimo saggio del grande
pensatore abruzzese, si parla di frequente di “crisi”, con ciò indicando, per
riprendere il linguaggio dello stesso C., «una situazione che non vorremmo»,
«un elemento di disapprovazione» ed «un elemento di speranza», il richiamo di
una «situazione passata» o «pensata», «che crediamo migliore, vale a dire che
preferiremmo». Ora, tra gli autori che hanno approfondito gli aspetti
dell’attuale crisi della scienza giuridica sono di notevole importanza, a
parere dello scrivente, tre saggi monografici, il “Diritto senza società” di
Barcellona, il “Nichilismo giuridico” (e la più recente opera dello stesso
autore, “Il salvagente della forma”) di Irti ed “Il diritto e il suo limite” di
Rodotà. Ritengo che la sfida più radicale ed invasiva[46], tra le teorie
sviluppate in questi saggi, sia quella del “nichilismo giuridico” (più
precisamente del “nichilismo giuridico ontologico”, riprendendo la
ricostruzione di una recente monografia di Barcellona, “Critica del nichilismo
giuridico”, che lo distingue dal “nichilismo giuridico cognitivo”
nordamericano) e quest’idea è affermata dall’angolo visuale di chi cerca, come
lo stesso Rodotà si propone con lucidità, risposte alternative al nichilismo.
Il nichilismo, senza voler entrare nel merito di tutti i suoi significati,
secondo il filosofo Severino ed il giurista Irti, significa, in un senso
specifico al diritto ed alla tecnica economica, «ricavare le cose dal niente» e
«riportarle al niente». Franco Volpi scrive che esso è «la situazione di
disorientamento che subentra una volta che sono venuti meno i riferimenti
tradizionali, cioè gli ideali e i valori che rappresentavano la risposta al
“perché”e che come tali illuminavano l’agire dell’uomo». Nietzsche ne parla come
«il più inquietante tra tutti gli ospiti». Sul punto penso al “Dialogo su
diritto e tecnica”, scritto in più atti dai due stessi importanti autori
surrichiamati, Irti e Severino, in cui l’Irti afferma che «l’unica superstite
razionalità riguarda il funzionamento delle procedure generatrici di norme»,
«la validità non discende più da un contenuto, che sorregga e giustifichi la
norma, ma dall’osservanza delle procedure proprie di ciascun ordinamento» ed il
Severino ritiene che «la tecnica è destinata a diventare principio ordinatore
di ogni materia, la volontà che regola ogni altra volontà», «la “capacità”
della tecnica è la potenza effettiva (“potenza attiva” nel linguaggio
aristotelico) di realizzare indefinitamente scopi e di soddisfare
indefinitamente bisogni». L’idea di sistema giuridico unitario e di diritto
statale «portatore di valori», in un simile orizzonte, è ormai destinato al
declino irreversibile, sul viale tramonto. Il diritto della globalizzazione, e
questo è il “topos” di crisi più acuta, porta alle estreme conseguenze quella
scissione tra “liberalismo” e “liberismo” che Croce già tracciava negli anni
trenta. Lo stesso Irti scrive che «la tecno-economia non conosce differenze
soggettive ma soltanto variazioni di quantità». Il “diritto globale”, come nota
un altro grande giurista, Francesco Galgano, fondato sul principio di
effettività e non su quello di legalità, è pienamente funzionale all’ “idea di
produzione” che viene dall’economia e, come scrive l’Irti, «caratterizza
l’economia globale», i cui spazi sono fluidi e sottratti al controllo giuridico
e politico degli Stati nazionali sovrani. E’ in crisi, come opportunamente pone
in risalto lo stesso insigne autore ne “Le categorie giuridiche della
globalizzazione”, il «dove del diritto», il «dove applicativo», il «dove
esecutivo» delle norme, «l’intrinseca ed originaria spazialità del diritto»,
l’idea di “confine” consustanziale allo Stato nazionale moderno che si afferma
con il capitalismo mercantile. Non solo: i ritmi produttivistici della tecnica
e della sua volontà di potenza, posti in evidenza e criticati, pur se ritenuti
ineluttabili da Severino, secondo lo stesso Irti «producono un vorticoso
succedersi di norme giuridiche…» che «attesta la “nientità” del diritto, i
canali delle procedurequesti che potremmo chiamare nomo-dotti, poiché conducono
le volontà dalla proposizione alla posizione di norme - sono pronti a ricevere
qualsiasi contenuto.Ogni ipotesi può scorrere in essi: la disponibilità ad
accogliere qualsiasi contenuto è indifferenza verso tutti i contenuti…». Per
cui, l’attuale crisi del diritto, «nella postmodernità giuridica», è
«l’indifferenza contenutistica” che “sospinge verso il culto della forma” e
costituisce perciò realizzazione ed inveramento dello “Stufenbau” kelseniano,
“capace di tradurre in norma qualsiasi contenuto” (“la Grundnorm di Kelsen –
che Severino definirebbe “logos ipotetico”- spiega la validità di qualsiasi
ordinamento», è il trionfo del vuoto formalismo giuspositivista che «si svela
nelle procedure produttive di norme», nella razionalità tecnica e
nell’«autosufficienza della volontà normativa». Al riguardo si deve porre
l’accento su un altro notevole autore, di diversa formazione culturale, il
filosofo marxista Volpe, che in un saggio dal titolo emblematico, “Antikelsen”,
contenuto nel suo volume “Critica dell’ideologia contemporanea”, individuava i
limiti propri della dottrina del diritto e dello Stato del Maestro di Praga,
del Kelsen, proprio riferendosi ad una concezione meramente formale, raffinata
e colta espressione di un’idea borghese del diritto, della democrazia e
dell’eguaglianza. Ma sono altrettanto importanti le profonde ed intelligenti
critiche di Nicola Abbagnano, che ha giustamente parlato del formalismo
giuridico nei termini di una dottrina adattabile a qualsiasi regime politico e
quindi sprovvista di sostanza, di contenuti. Per tornare all’analisi di alcuni
rilevanti aspetti dell’attuale crisi della scienza del diritto, “nichilismo e
formalismo” sono i due aspetti pregnanti di un diritto “tecnico”, “autoreferenziale”,
“senza società”, come scrive Pietro Barcellona realizzazione anche, secondo
quest’ultimo autore, delle distorsioni della teoria sistemica di Luhmann.
Rodotà nella sua opera summenzionata scrive che «il diritto deve misurarsi con
una tecnica di cui è stata da tempo esaltata l’irresistibile potenza, la
continua produzione di fini, alla quale sarebbe ormai divenuto impossibile
opporsi. Così la tecnica annichilirebbe il diritto, condannato ormai ad una
umile funzione servente. Ma questa è una profezia destinata a realizzarsi solo
se la politica diviene progressivamente prigioniera di una logica che la induce
a delegare alla tecnologia una serie crescente di problemi…e se il diritto,
seguendola in questa deriva, accettasse un’espulsione da sé di valori e scopi,
determinado quella che Michel Villey ha chiamato una “mutilazione del diritto
per ablazione della sua causa finale. Per cui viene da chiedersi, in termini
comunque molto problematici, se è possibile individuare una via d’uscita al
declino dei sistemi giuridici e della certezza del diritto, alla “crisi di
razionalità”, per riprendere Habermas, delle società capitalistiche
postmoderne, all’oscuramento dei contenuti essenziali degli ordinamenti
giuridici democratici, tra cui rientrano, anzitutto, i diritti fondamentali (lo
stesso Rodotà ritiene altresì che «la ricostruzione di un fine del diritto
intorno ai diritti fondamentali si presenta così come una guida quotidiana,
come un test permanente al quale sottoporre anzitutto le scelte giuridicamente
rilevanti. E’un impegnativo programma, che mette alla prova politica e diritto.
La politica, considerata non più nell’area dell’onnipotenza, ma del rispetto.
Il diritto, non più vuoto di fini, ma strettamente vincolato a un sistema di
valori, dunque in grado di offrire una guida pur per le scelte tecnologiche»)
Insomma: qual è oggi lo scopo del diritto? Ed in che senso l’antikelsenismo
vichiano e personalista di C. è attuale e può costituire, “storicizzato” ed
adeguato al “presente storico”, una chiave di lettura delle asimmetrie e degli
scompensi dei sistemi giuridici vigenti e degli attuali “usi sociali del
diritto”? La critica capograssiana al
formalismo costituisce un richiamo al presente. Essa rappresenta una delle più
significative alternative teoriche agli esiti del nichilismo formalista; essa,
per riprendere le parole del Maestro che ricordiamo, è «sforzo per costruire la
storia», per «realizzare la vita nei suoi termini di attualità», e quindi il
diritto «nella profonda vita delle sue determinazioni positive»; anche perché
il diritto, come scriveva un altro importante giurista, Satta, è «dover essere
dell’essere» e non «dover essere» contrapposto all’«essere, “Sollen” staccato
dal “Sein”. C. ne “L’ambiguità del diritto”propone delle conclusioni dense di
speranza, affermando che «quest’epoca…pur muovendosi in un macrocosmo di
dimensioni così gigantesche…non fa che mettere al centro di questo mondo e
delle sue creazioni niente altro che l’uomo». Ed esse possono essere
un’alternativa alla “nientità” del diritto globale contemporaneo ed al
liberismo tecnicistico, produttivistico e massificante; al trionfo dell’
«Apparato tecnocratico», di cui parla Severino ne “La filosofia futura”, che
quasi lascia presagire la «fine della storia» e del «divenire storico» come
«farsi dell’esperienza umana» e, per riprendere Jhering, della “lotta per il
diritto”. Il presente testo riprende, nelle linee essenziali, la relazione
presentata al convegno di studi internazionale sull’ “Attualità del pensiero di
C.”, Sassari, Mulino”. C., Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto, in “Rivista
trimestrale di diritto pubblico”, ora in ID., Opere, Milano, KELSEN, General
theory of law and State, Teoria generale del diritto e dello Stato, tr. it., a
cura di Cotta e Treves, Milano; PIOVANI, Introduzione a G.Capograssi, Il
problema della scienza del diritto, Milano, C., Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto,
op.cit., 314. Per una differente concezione del diritto critica verso il
formalismo gradualista di Kelsen v. WINKLER, Teoria del diritto e dottrina
della conoscenza.Per una critica della dottrina pura del diritto (1990), tr.
it. di A. Carrino, Napoli (ove è scritto che «la dottrina pura e generale di
Kelsen è stata…, sin dall’inizio, nelle sue premesse epistemologiche e
gnoseologiche, priva di fondamenta solide…»); 189 (pagina in cui si afferma che
«la dottrina pura del diritto di Kelsen si impiglia inevitabilmente in
molteplici dilemmi. Un aspetto di questi dilemmi risiede nel tipo di
determinazione dell’oggetto, un altro nella concezione della scienza. Un altro
ancora nella ipostatizzazione di un orientamento metodologico che deifica il
concetto teoretico del diritto, lo interpreta nel senso della logica formale,
lo deforma e lo priva al tempo stesso del suo oggetto empirico»). [5] V. A.
PIGLIARU, Persona umana ed ordinamento giuridico, Milano, 1953, 98. Su
quest’opera v. G. BIANCO, Prefazione a Pigliaru, Persona umana ed ordinamento
giuridico, in “Diritto @ storia”, dirittoestoria.it/5/Contributi/ Bianco-Pigliaru-persona-
umana- ordinamento-giuridico ed in A. PIGLIARU, op.ult.cit., Nuoro, KELSEN,
Teoria generale del diritto e dello Stato, Milano, KELSEN, Teoria generale del
diritto e dello Stato. KELSEN, Teoria generale del diritto e dello Stato,
op.cit., 18 ss. KELSEN, Teoria generale del diritto e dello Stato; KELSEN,
Teoria generale del diritto e dello Stato. C., Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto. KELSEN,
Teoria generale del diritto e dello Stato. KELSEN, Teoria generale del diritto
e dello Stato. KELSEN, Teoria generale del diritto e dello Stato, op.cit., 126
ss. Peraltro Kelsen sull’argomento introduce una sua distinzione tra
“Costituzione formale” e “Costituzione materiale” specificando che «presupposta
la norma fondamentale, la costituzione rappresenta il più alto grado del diritto
statale. La costituzione è qui intesa non già in senso formale, bensì in senso
materiale. La costituzione in senso formale è un dato documento solenne, un
insieme di norme giuridiche che possono venir modificate soltanto se si
osservano speciali prescrizioni, la cui funzione è di rendere più difficile la
modificazione di tali norme. La costituzione in senso materiale consiste in
quelle norme che regolano la creazione delle norme giuridiche generali, ed in
particolare la creazione delle leggi formali». Questa distinzione è,
ovviamente, eterogenea rispetto al dualismo “Costituzione formaleCostituzione
materiale” proposta dai “realisti”, in particolare da Costantino Mortati, Carl
Schmitt, Guarino, peraltro con connotazioni peculiari in ciascuno degli autori
richiamati. V. in argomento G. Bianco, Quel che resta della Costituzione
materiale (tra congetture e confutazioni), in “La Costituzione materiale.
Percorsi culturali e attualità di un’idea”, a cura di A. Catelani e S.
Labriola, Milano. C., Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto, KELSEN, Teoria generale
del diritto e dello Stato. C., Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto. C., Impressioni
su Kelsen tradotto. C., Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto. C., Impressioni su
Kelsen tradotto. C., Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto, CAPOGRASSI, Impressioni su
Kelsen tradotto, C., Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto. C., Impressioni su Kelsen
tradotto. C., Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto. C., Impressioni su Kelsen
tradotto. C., Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto, C., Impressioni su Kelsen
tradotto. Ed il nostro aggiunge nella stessa pagina, con il consueto tono
intelligente ed appassionato, che «concepito il diritto come forza e come
forma, è evidente che l’ordinamento giuridico ha una doppia faccia, la forza,
cioè l’efficacia, la forma, cioè la validità. La seconda dipende dalla prima ed
è condizionata dalla prima; la prima finchè dura si esprime nella seconda; la
validità è l’espressione formale dell’efficacia, e l’efficacia è la realtà
sostanziale della validità. Per questo i due diritti in senso normativo e in
senso sociologico si rispecchiano e vanno di conserva: sono due facce dello
stesso fatto. Dappresso è scritto che «la forza è il principio del diritto; gli
interessi, le passioni, le ideologie sono il contenuto; e la forma è la norma
come puro dispositivo della sanzione, e l’ordinamento che è il sistema delle
norme valide fondato sull’evento di forza che costituisce il contenuto della
norma fondamentale. Si può dire, può non chiamare nuda, perché non ha in sé
nulla di razionale: forza nuda dall’esterno, poiché s’impone per qualsiasi via
e vince se è legittimata, forza nuda dall’interno di sé stessa, perché non è
altro che il (preteso) fondo irrazionale e cieco dell’azione umana. Rare volte
la concezione del diritto come nuda forza è stata espressa e svolta con più
riuscita e più completa coerenza sia in sé sia nel suo naturale esplicarsi e
compiersi nelle forme vuote delle norme. Abbiamo qui nella forma più razionale
e perfetta il diritto naturale della forza e la sua dogmatica». C,, Impressioni
su Kelsen tradotto, C., Impressioni su
Kelsen tradotto. C., Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto. C., Impressioni su Kelsen
tradotto. C., Il problema della scienza del diritto (1937), Milano, 1962 (con
introduzione di Pietro Piovani) C., Il problema della scienza del diritto. C., Il
problema della scienza del dirittv btg55zo, C. Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto.
C., Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto, C., Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto. C., Impressioni
su Kelsen tradotto. C., Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto, C., Impressioni su
Kelsen tradotto, op. cit., 356. Molto intense e particolarmente significative
sono le vivaci conclusioni del saggio in considerazione: «Quello che è
essenziale è questo riportare a questa unità vivente, a questa coerenza
intrinseca al processo di vita, proprio le profonde esigenze e funzioni per cui
il diritto costituisce un interesse formativo della vita; quel cogliere
dall’interno e come componente il diritto tutta la sostanza etica del fenomeno
giuridico. Qui il giurista è non il tecnico che fa uno sforza di costruzione
puramente formale, per raggiungere una coerenza puramente formale, ma l’uomo,
proprio l’uomo nell’alto senso della parola, che cerca di cogliere il diritto
nella profonda vita delle sue determinazioni positive e nelle profonde e
immutabili connessioni, con i principi e le esigenze costitutive della vita e
della coscienza. Qui il giurista è proprio il collaboratore della vita, il
collaboratore indispensabile del segreto processo traverso il quale la vita
concreta si trasforma in esperienza giuridica, e l’umanità del mondo della
storia viene perpetuamente difesa contro la barbarie sempre presente e sempre
immanente della forza. E se non è questo, che cosa è il giurista? Che cosa ci
sta a fare nella vita? Perché vive?» [41] V. G. CAPOGRASSI, L’ambiguità del
diritto contemporaneo, in AA.VV., La crisi del diritto, Padova, 1953, 13-47,
ora in ID., Opere. C., L’ambiguità del diritto contemporaneo; BARCELLONA,
Diritto senza società, Bari, IRTI, Nichilismo giuridico, Bari, 2004; ID., Il
salvagente della forma. RODOTÀ, La vita e le regole. Tra diritto e non diritto,
Milano, 2006. [46] Sia consentito di rinviare a G. BIANCO, Nichilismo
giuridico, in Digesto IV, disc.priv., sez.civ., III vol. di agg., Torino,
BARCELLONA, Critica del nichilismo giuridico, Torino, RODOTÀ, La vita e le
regole, op.ult.cit., 9 ss. Si legge, in particolare, tra i molti spunti
presenti nel saggio monografico, che «sullo sfondo scorgiamo la fine di
un’epoca nella quale esistevano valori generalmente condivisi, mentre oggi
viviamo in un tempo caratterizzato da un politeismo dei valori e da
controversie intorno al modo di dare riconoscimento al pluralismo…Si scorge una
frontiera mobile, addirittura sfuggente, tra diritto e non diritto…»(p. 16);
«il percorso tra diritto e non diritto porta al disvelamento progressivo
dell’inadeguatezza della dimensione giuridica tradizionalmente conosciuta
rispetto alla vita quotidiana…nello stesso ordine giuridico possono annidarsi i
fattori che si oppongono al dispiegarsi della personalità, alla pienezza della
vita» (p. 23); «non siamo più di fronte all’astrazione, ma alla cancellazione
del soggetto». V.in modo particolare sul
punto M. HEIDEGGER, Il nichilismo europeo, tr. it., a cura di F. Volpi, Milano,
2003, 108; F. NIETZSCHE, La volontà di potenza, frammenti postumi ordinati da
P. Gast e E. Forster-Nietzsche, nuova ed. italiana a cura di M. Ferraris e P.
Kobau, Milano; IRTI, Atto primo, in N.
IRTI-E. SEVERINO, Dialogo su diritto e tecnica, Bari, 2001, 8 ss.; ID.,
Nichilismo e metodo giuridico, in “Nichilismo giuridico”, op. cit., 7. [51] V.
F. VOLPI, Il nichilismo, Bari; NIETZSCHE, La volontà di potenza, IRTI, Atto
primo, in N. IRTI-E. SEVERINO, Dialogo su diritto e tecnica, SEVERINO, Atto
primo, in op. ult. SEVERINO, Atto primo, in op. ult. cit., 28-29. [56] Su cui
v. B. CROCE, Liberismo e liberalismo, in “Elementi di politica”(1925), Bari,
1974, 69 ss. v. al riguardo N. IRTI, Il diritto e gli scopi, in “Esercizi di
lettura sul nichilismo giuridico”, op. cit., 115 ss. Sull’argomento v. pure le
riflessioni contenute in B. LEONI, Conversazione su Einaudi e Croce, in ID., Il
pensiero politico moderno e contemporaneo, a cura di A. Masala e con
introduzionedi L.M. Bassani, Macerata. IRTI, La rivolta delle differenze, in
“Esercizi di lettura sul nichilismo giuridico”, in Nichilismo giuridico; IRTI,
Nichilismo e formalismo nella modernità giuridica, in Nichilismo giuridico,
op.ult.cit., 25. Sul pensiero del Galgano v. ID., Lex mercatoria, Bologna; IRTI,
Le categorie giuridiche della globalizzazione, in Norme e luoghi. Problemi di
geodiritto, Bari, 2006 (2a ed.), 143 ss., 144. [60] v. tra i molti scritti
dell’illustre filosofo Id., La filosofia futura, Milano; Destino della
necessità, Milano, 1980, p.41sgg.; Id., Essenza del nichilismo, Brescia, 1972,
p.227sgg. [61] V. N. IRTI, Atto secondo, in E. SEVERINO-N. IRTI, Dialogo su
diritto e tecnica. IRTI, Atto primo; VOLPE, Antikelsen, in ID., Critica
dell’ideologia contemporanea, Roma, ABBAGNANO, Stato, in Id., Dizionario di
filosofia, Torino; BARCELLONA, Diritto
senza società; BARCELLONA, Diritto senza società, op. ult. cit., 9 ss., 11, in
cui si legge che l’epoca della globalizzazione «appare essenzialmente come
definitivo tramonto della società come istituzione (come tecnica
organizzativa), attraverso la quale si realizza la mediazione tra l’istanza di
libertà e l’ordine prodotto dall’autogoverno della società, e come fine della
storia intesa come metamorfosi dell’orizzonte di senso entro il quale si
sviluppa la dialettica sociale…I concetti di Stato nazionale, che aveva
rappresentato la forma dell’organizzazione sociale, e di sovranità, che aveva
individuato nella democrazia, come governo di popolo, la base di ogni
ordinamento, sono inutilizzabili per descrivere e comprendere le forme della
globalizzazione». BARCELLONA, op. ult. cit., 151 ss., ove si afferma che nella
teoria surrichiamata «il sistema può fare a meno delle intenzioni e dei
progetti, della volontà e della coscienza e, in definitiva, degli uomini in
carne ed ossa. Perché il suo destino si compie nella perfetta circolarità della
riproduzione auto-referenziale e auto-riflessiva dei suoi “dispositivi” e della
sua logica. Luhmann ha scoperto il segreto del moto perpetuo e per questo la
sua teoria è ormai il nucleo vero di tutte le rappresentazioni della
modernità…»(p. 152). V. al riguardo N. LUHMANN, La differenziazione del diritto
(1981), tr. it., Bologna. RODOTÀ, La vita e le regole. Tra diritto e non
diritto, RODOTÀ, La vita e le regole. Tra diritto e non diritto. Su cui v. in
generale le classiche pagine di JHERING, Lo scopo del diritto, tr. it., con
introduzione di M.G. Losano, Torino, 1972, 6, in cui è scritto che «lo scopo è
il creatore di tutto il diritto; non esiste alcuna norma giuridica che non
debba la sua origine ad uno scopo; cioè ad un motivo pratico». Sul tema è stato
opportunamente notato che «là dove si parla di scopo…si allude a processi
intenzionali, consapevoli, voluti» (R. RACINARO, Presentazione di “La lotta per
il diritto” di R.von Jhering, tr. it., Milano, 1989, XX). [71] Sull’attualità
del pensiero del Capograssi v. anche il paragrafo quarto di BIANCO, Nichilismo
giuridico. Al riguardo v. la ricostruzione contenuta in S. RODOTÀ, La vita e le
regole. Tra diritto e non diritto, op.cit., 9 ss. [73] V. G. CAPOGRASSI,
Impressioni su Kelsen tradotto, op. cit., 356. [74] Sul tema v. S. SATTA,
Norma, diritto, giurisdizione, in “Studi in memoria di Carlo Esposito”, III,
Padova, Capograssi, in “Raccolta di scritti in onore di Arturo Carlo Jemolo”,
Milano, 1963, IV, 589 e ora in ID., Soliloqui e colloqui d’un giurista, Padova.
Sull’argomento sia consentito rinviare, per una più articolata ed ampia
trattazione, a G. BIANCO, Crisi dello Stato e del diritto in Salvatore Satta,
in “Clio”. L’ambiguità del diritto contemporaneo. SEVERINO, La filosofia futura.
La volontà che nell’Apparato si vuole sempre più potente e decide in questa
direzione, in ogni momento del suo sviluppo decide innanzitutto di eseguire
quell’insieme determinato di azioni che in quel momento aumentano
determinatamente la sua potenza. In quantoè questa decisione, la volontà è
quindi certa dell’accadimento di tali azioni e pertanto è certa di esistere nel
futuro in cui tali azioni sono compiute. Ma la volontà che si vuole sempre più
potente non è solo questa certezza di esistere in quel momento del futuro in
cui la sua potenza riceve un incremento determinato: è anche la certezza che in
ogni momento futuro essa sarà il tentativo di aumentare la propria potenza e
cioè di trasformare ogni stato dell’essere. E’ certa del proprio tentativo.
Decide che, in ogni momento del futuro in cui essa si troverà esistente,
tenterà di aumentare la propria potenza», pur non essendo «certa che il
divenire sia eterno» perché «la volontà che si vuole sempre più potente
riconosce la possibilità del proprio annientamento»). JHERING, La lotta per il diritto. Sostiene
l’Insigne giurista che “il diritto ci presenta, pertanto, nel suo movimento
storico, il quadro del tentare, del combattere, del lottare, in breve dello
sforzo faticoso…il diritto come concetto rivolto a uno scopo, posto nel mezzo
dell’ingranaggio caotico di scopi, aspirazioni, interessi umani, è costretto
incessantemente a tastare, saggiare per trovare la via giusta, e, quando l’ha
trovata, ad atterrare ancora innanzi tutto l’opposizione, che gliela preclude”.
C. The Antiquity of the Italian
NationThe Cultural Origins of a Political Myth in Modern Italy. Francesco. Oxford.
With Italy under Napoleon, the antiquarian topic of anti-Romanism is turned
against the dominant French culture and becomes a pillar of the nation-building
process. The antiquity of the Italian nation — prior to the Roman dominion — is
evoked in order to support an inveterate Italian cultural primacy and proves
very useful for creating Italian nationalism. The issue is completely forgotten
today because Italian studies of Roman history, following the example of
Mommsen, would drape a long veil over the period of earliest Italy, while,
subsequently, Fascism openly claims the legacy of the Roman Empire. Italic
antiquity, however, remains alive throughout those years and it often returns
as a theme, intersecting deeply with the political and cultural life Italy. Philosophy
examines the constantly reasserted antiquity of the Italian nation and its
different uses in history, archaeology, palaeoethnology, and anthropology, from
the Napoleonic period to the collapse of Fascism. Examining the fortunes and
misfortunes of this subject, it challenges the view of 19th-century Italian
nationalism as an ethnical movement, suggesting how deeply the image of
pre-Roman Italy forged the political and cultural sensibility of modern Italy.
Introduction Source: The Antiquity of the Italian Nation. Francesco. Oxford. The
resumption of studies on Italian nationalism focuses upon the aggressive forms
that Fascism comes to represent. The introduction discusses the easy notions of
ethnic or racial nationalism, questioning these categories and suggesting how
complex Italian nationalism is. Regarding this, the theme of the antiquity of
the Italian nation—that is, the myth of a perpetual presence in the country
substantiating a cultural primacy—represents an important example. An
examination of the earliest Italy, as it was proposed in 19th-century Italian
culture, suggests how it did not have a racial or ethnic basis, its main
feature being cultural. This peculiar aspect of early Italian nationalism is
outlined in its historical perspective, and the structure of the essay is
described, indicating how the topic will be followed from its birth during the
Napoleonic years to its final demise shortly after the fall of Fascism.
Keywords: Italian nationalism, Fascism, earliest Italy.The historic
past of the nation The Antiquity of the Italian Nation. Francesco. Oxford. This
philosopher is devoted to the first explicitly nationalizing reading of the
myth of antiquity developed by Cuoco,
who, in his “Platone in Italia”, recalls the existence at the dawn of humanity
of a civilizing people, the Etruscans. In this way, Cuoco, aiming to establish
antecedents for the Italian nation as it measures itself against the French
cultural model, could propose the ethnic-cultural unity of the peninsula’s
inhabitants since ancient times. Italian nationalists rediscover Cuoco’s thesis
and see it as the basis of Italian
political identity. However, some philosophers have underlined how this can be
regarded as a predatory operation, which overvalues the actual significance of “Platone
in Italia” in the cultural context of Italy. It also shows how “Platone in
Italia” remains known mainly for emphasizing the cultural primacy of the
Italians rather than its assertion of their ethnic uniformity. Cuoco,
Platone in Italia, Etruscans, Italian nationalists. A plural Italy. The
Antiquity of the Italian Nation. Francesco. Oxford. Cuoco’s interpretation of
Italian antiquity does not hold up against Micali’s Italy before the dominion
of Rome. Micali responds to Cuoco’s view, suggesting that cultural unity does not
lead one to believe that the country’s peoples necessarily share a common origin.
It is Micali rather than Cuoco that come to dominate the patriotic culture of
the Italians. The significant impact that Micali has is shown by the fact that
Micali became a subject of great interest throughout the country, accompanying
the national movement -- the so-called Risorgimento -- on its progress towards
the events of the
revolution. Micali, Italy before the dominion of Rome, Cuoco,
Risorgimento, revolution. Unity in
diversity. The Antiquity of the Italian Nation. Francesco Publisher: Oxford. We
measure the impact of Micali on the political culture of the Risorgimento,
testing the importance of his “Storia degl’antichi popoli italiani” on the
studies of the Italic past published in several areas around the peninsula,
especially in Lombardia, which remains the main Italian publishing centre, Napoli,
and Sicilia. The analysis shows the multiple and different nationalizing uses
of Micali’s works in tthese regions and confirms how his reading of a cultural,
rather than ethnic, uniformity of the Italian people, is overwhelmingly
accepted by the patriots on the eve of the revolution. Micali’s model appears,
in fact, to be the only one that could be followed in a country which, though
culturally united for centuries, is at the same time deprived of political
cohesion. Micali, Storia degl’antichi popoli italiani, Risorgimento,
Naples, Sicily, Lombardy. The other Italy. The Antiquity of the Italian Nation.
Francesco. Oxford. Micali’s model comes under fire when, after the political unification
of the Italian peninsula, it becomes clear that the encounter between the
various parts of Italy is not particularly harmonious. The problematic area of
southern Italy seems to obstruct, rather than smoothen, the way towards a rapid
process of stabilization for the newly unified state. We cast light on how the
southern regions’s difficulty in becoming an integral part of the new unified
Italy determine the reflections on the roots of a diversity which wocomes home
to roost in the considerations concerning the Aryan race which populates
ancient Italy. Unified Italy, southern Italy, Micali, Aryan race,
Mediterranean race. The anthropology of the nation. The Antiquity of the
Italian Nation. Francesco Publisher: Oxford Those who insist on the racist
nature of the unified state improperly rely on Sergi’s anthropology as
demonstrating firm evidence of his racist tendencies and establishing a
connection between liberal Italy and Fascism. Philosophers have reconstructed
Sergi’s career in order to re-situate him in his specific political and
cultural context. From this point of view, his theme of racial differences
within the nation suggests the existence of two different peoples on the
peninsula: one northern and Aryan, the other southern and Mediterranean. This
distinction remains popular and rapidly becomes a political matter, pertaining
to the left of the political spectrum rather than the right. It is used to
explain the reasons why the modernization of Italy seems to be grinding to a
halt, as well as to help sustain the political struggle that the radical left
launches against liberal Italy. Sergi, anthropology, racist tendencies,
liberal Italy, fascism Return to Rome. The Antiquity of the Italian
Nation. Francesco Publisher: Oxford. The Italian state seems to be heading for
an irreversible crisis. Faced with this challenge, many academics are quick to
reaffirm the value of the unified state and reject every reading of Italian
identity which does not sustain the idea of complete uniformity. This area is
covered by philosophy, which deals with the renewal of the study of Roman
history through the example of the work of Pais. A keen admirer of Micali, Pais
soon adopts the model suggested by Mommsen, which sees in Roman expansionism a
work of political and cultural unification of the whole of Italy. Pais’s main
concern, therefore, is the construction of the nation’s common historical
identity. That is why he aligns himself with all the political choices of the
nationalist movement, from colonialism to the interventionism of The Great War
and the acceptance of Fascism. Pais, nationalist movement, colonialism,
Fascism. The Italian Fascist Empire, racial policy and Etruscology. The
Antiquity of the Italian Nation. Francesco. Oxford. Romanism does not eradicate
the tradition of Italian plurality, founded on the specific contributions of
peoples of different origins. The theme of Italic antiquity is useful during fascism.
Following the war in Ethiopia and the foundation of the Italian Empire, the
idea of italic antiquity is used to reject the mixing of races in the name of a
civilising policy with regard to populations held to be inferior. This theme
helps to bring about a significant return of academic interest in relation to
the origins of Italy’s ancient civilisation. Basing his ideas on the example of the ancient
Romans, Pallottino is able to re-read Etruscan origins as the result of the
meeting of different peoples through a cultural model that becomes common
property. In this way, the process turns full circle and the work of Micali makes a powerful comeback.
Romanism, Pallottino, Italic antiquity, Etruscan origins, Italian Empire,
Micali. Keywords: gl’eroi di Vico, il culto degl’eroi, positivismo, positivismo
giuridico, H. L. A. Hart, Kelsen, il concetto di stato, stato italiano, il mito
dell’Italia nuova -- stato come forza, stato come autorita, Capograssi contro
Bobbio. La critica di Bobbio a Capograssi, essere/devere – Capograssi/Hart –
Capograssi e il fascismo – la nazione d'Italia previa all’unificazione -- in
concetto di stato come medimen, medimen medimen medimen previous drafts -- il concetto di stato com medimen --– kelsen,
positivismo giuridico – l’esperienza giuridica, azione giuridica, due tipi
d’obbedenza: formale (vacua) e materiale (intenzione inclusa), intenzione,
agire, vita etica, intersoggetivita, intersoggetivo, soggeto, individuo,
interpersonalismo, l’interpersonalismo di Capograssi – Aligheri, Leopardi,
Zibaldone, Rosmini. Refs.: Luigi Speranza, “Grice e Capograssi” – The
Swimming-Pool Library. Capograssi.
No comments:
Post a Comment