Luigi Speranza -- Grice e Capocasale:
la ragione conversazionale e l’implicatura conversazionale dei segni di
dialettica – scuola di Montemurro – filosofia basilicatese -- filosofia
italiana – Luigi Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di H. P. Grice, The
Swimming-Pool Library (Montemurro). Filosofo basilicatese. Filosofo
italiano. Montemurro, Potenza, Basilicata. 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 quæ
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 præditi 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, quæ regulas ac præcepta
tradat, quibus naturalis illa cogitandi vis augeatur, perficiatur, et ad
veritatis investigationem in offenso pede dirigatur. Naturalis hæc percipiendi,
iudicandi, ratiocinandi que vis LOGICA NATURALIS appellatur, quæ 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 LOGICÆ ARTIFICIALIS necessitas.
Disciplina hæc vulgo LOGICA ARTIFICIALIS appellatur, quam definimus per
doctrinam, qua regulæ traduntur, quibus, humana mens in cognoscenda, et di iudicanda
veritate dirigatur. Vocatur hæc a non nullis
PHILOSOPHIA RATIONALIS, ARS COGITANDI, et kat i Sony LOGICA. Logicæ Prolegomena
quæ tantum abest, ut essentialiter a Naturali differat, ut sit potius distincta
eiusdem explicatio, adeoque tanto illa præstantior quanto distincta cognitio præstat
confusæ. 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
humanæ 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 Logicæ 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: inventæ
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
aliæ attente consideranti mentis operationes occurrere pote runt. Scholion. De
Logicæ 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
disciplinæ se debere, aperto cognoscet. Prima mentis hnmanæ operatio est
SIMPLEX PERCEPTI, sive NOTIO sive NOTA sive SIGNUM, quam definimus per
simplicem rei alicuius re-præsentationem in mente factam præsentationem autem
intelligunt ad curatio res assimilationem eorum, quæ 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 hæ, aliæqne definitiones eodem
redeunt. Repræsentationis 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-præsentatio.
In omni autem re-præsentatione duo considerarida veniunt, nem, pe modus re-præsentandi,
et obiectum, sive res ipsa quæ re-præsentatur: liquet, in qualibet idea itidem
duo animadverti posse, scilicet percipiendi modum, et obiecta nempe res
perceptas; quorum ille FORMA, hæc MATERIA idearum recte dicuntur. Si ergo ideæ
ad formam referantur consideratio illa dicetur FORMALIS. Si vero ad materiam,
OBIECTIVA, vel Realis appellabitur, Et quia utroque respectu ideæ inter se
differunt: de formali ac materiali earum differentia diversis sectionibus
agemus. MATE B nos De formali idearum differentia Experi Xperientia abunde
constat quædam ita percipere, ut ca ab aliis inter noscere possimus, quædam
vero non ita. Re-præsentatio illa quæ sufficit ad rem perceptam ab aliis
dignoscendam, idea di citur CLARA; OBSCURA contra, quæ ad eam discernendam est
insufficiens. Vnde idea recte dividitur in claram et obscuram E. Rosæ 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 ideæ 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 tenebræ in lucis privatione consistant, hæc vero
obiecta externa distinguere faciat. Deficiente luce, deficit distinctionis
facilitas: adeoque obscuritas in distinguendi impotentia sita est. Quum res
existentes innumeris determinationibus et circumstantiis involutæ observentur.
Hæ 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 hæ 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
ideæ meliores funt, si ex obscuris claræ evadant, ex confusis distin ctæ, ex
inadæquatis adæquatæ: ita deterio res redduntur, si ex claris fiant obscuræ ex
distinctis confusæ ex adæquatis inadæquatæ. 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 quæren dam esse; ac proinde
præcipitanter iu dicare illos, qui absolute obscura esse di cunt, quæ eorum
superant captum: quo ut quæ ignorant (ut Æsopica vul pes ) exsecrentur. *
Obscuritas vel absoluta est, vel relativa. Illa habetur quum res percepta ab
aliis prorsus internosci' non potest; hæc 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 obscuræ 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 prædominan tibus nullæ, nisi obscuræ confusæve
ideæ 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 æstuans, qui donec ea
agitatur, nec res clare percipere, nec perce ptionum suarum conscius esse
potest. Vid. Seneca de Ira, et apud Virg. Æn. Furor, iraque mentem præ cipitant.Vides
hinc, obscuritatis caussas easdem esse, quæ attentionem turbant vel minuunt:
nem pe distractionem, obiectorum multipli citatem, præproperam festinationem,
denique adfectuum prædominium. Quæ 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 adæ quatarum perceptionum statu versari debe re
ut infra dicemus. se; Claræ namque ideæ attento sensuum usu ad Logic. Pars I.
quiruntur; sensus autem, ut mox adparebit, res tantummodo exsistentes confuse
repræsentant', 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 præsentatio clara' notarum obiecti,
quod percipimus, idea dicitur DISTINCTA: repræsentatio 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 tædium ob alterius felicitatem,
illius characteres sibi clare sistit, adeoque invidiæ 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 ideæ colorum, saporum,
sonorum, odo rum, etc., quorum characteres prorsus igno ramus. Distinctio hæc 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 claræ ideæ di stinctæ fiant potissimum attentione, qua deficiente,
etiamsi distinctæ sint, confu sæ evadant. Et quia singulæ notæ peculiaribus
gaudent nominibus, qui bus exprimuntur: infertur CRITERIVM ideæ distinctæ id
esse, si cogitala nostra aliis.cxponere, atque con is com municare queainus;
oppositum autem ess: indicium ideæ confusæ. Hinc idcas confusas aliis referre
volentes, objecta, quæ confuse percepimus, ipsis ostendere, vel cum alia re, de
qua ideam habent claram, comparare debemus. * Res clarior fiet exemplis supra allatis.
Qui notionem invidiæ 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 invidiæ idea iam tradita completa est: adsunt enim notæ
sufficientes ad eam in statu quolibet internoscendam. Si ve ro hominem cum
Platone definires per ani mal bipes implume, notionem haberes incom pletam: * hæ
namque notæ 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.
Lært. 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 quædam 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 ADÆQUATA; quum antem notas neb; confuse repræsentamus, idea
oritur INA DÆQUATA. Quo fit, ut distinctam ideam rursus dividanius in adæquatam,
et inadæquatam. E. g. Si quis invidiæ notas rursus evolvat, sciatque tædium
esse sensum imperfectionis, et felicitatem determinet per siatum durabilis
gaudii: is invidiæ idlea adæquata gandebit. Si vero in solis invidiæ
characteribus ail juie scat: nec ulterius in iis evolvendis progredia tur, tunc
ideam habebit inadæquitam. Ob servandum tamen, quod quo novas notas, donec
fieri possit, invenire liceat, eo adæquatior 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 adæquatarum. Quumque idea fiat adequatioi, si novos semper
cha racteres invenire liceat: patet eo adæquatiorem 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
anatomiæ 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. Hæcæc de divisione
idearum formali. Ad, materialem, sive obiectivam quod at tinet, primo res, quas
nobis repræsen {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. Repræsentatio
ergo individui vo catur idea SINGULARIS sive INDIVI DVALIS. E. g. “Socrates”,
“Plato”, Aristoteles, Caius, Titius, hæc dumus, hæc mensa, hic liber quem
legis, sunt individua, quia in unoqucque eorum adsunt tales circumstaniiæ et
detern ina tiores, ut Socrates sit Socrates, et non Plato, Caius sit præcise
Caius, et non alius: ita ut si aliqua earum desit, desinant esse quæ 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), quæ
efficiunt, ut ea longe inter se differant: bent tamen aliquas determinaliones,
in quibus perpetuo conveniunt. Harum de terminationum complexus aliam ideam su
periorem constituit, quæ 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 ætate, ingenio, roribus,
conditione, habitu, ceterisque inter se multum distent, habent tamen commuue
corpus organicum, et animain ratione præditam. Duæ hæ de terminationes speciem
constituunt, qnæ ho m, dicitur. Hinc vides, hæc 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 hæ determinaciones, in quibus spe.
cies, licet diversissimæ, perpetuo conve. niunt, novam ideam, eamque supremam,
constituunt, quæ 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 aliæ
determinationes exsistant, quibus il læ 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 tædium. En genus. In eo ve ro differuut, quod invidia sit tædium ob alte
rius felicitatem; commiseratio vero ob infelici tatem. Id ipsum constituit
differentiam specificam. 32. Repræsentatio, quæ 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 hæ 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, quæ
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 hæc aliter ab aliis enunciatur, sci licet: Ono maiorem habet idea
comprehensio nein, eo minorem habet extensionem, ct con tra. Comprehensio
dicitur complexus determi dationum, quæ ideam aliquam constituunt. Ex tensio
vero est consideratio subiectorum, qui bus delerminationes illæ 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 regulæ 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,
quæ in speciem non ingrediuntur: ac proin de de hac enunciari nequit. Eodem
modo, quæ 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 præditus erat,
quæque inter Socratis proprielátes individuales enumeratur. Possesne id de
specie, idest de homine pronuntiare? Minime quidem: in determinationibus enim
hominis specificis non scientia, sed scientiæ 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 æque, 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 animæ actiones; posterioris vero obiecta quæcumque
sensibus nostris obyer santia, vel mutationes in corpore humano ciusque organis
supervenientes. SENSV INTERNO percipiuntur, sive REFLEXIONE, hæ contra SENSIBVS
EXTERNIS. Liquet ergo 10, ideas omnes singulares sola sensionc adquiri Illæ
Intra nos sunt affectus, et cogilationes vo stræ, quæ interno sensu,
conscientia refle xione (hæc 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, quæcumque illæ 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 ideæ 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., quæ nihil aliud revera sunt, nisi ice
rum prius sensione adquisitarum combinatiores ab intellectu, vel phaniasia in
unum redactæ, pro quarum veritate generalem tradunt regulam: Si ideæ arbitrio
coniunctæ sibi con tradixerint, impossibiles sunt, adeoque fal sæ (quæ alio
nomine CHIMERICÆ, a Scola sticis ENTIA RATIONIS vocantur ); si vero inter se
non repugnent, pro possibilibus, adeoque pro veris sunt habendæ. TITIAS esse. Ex
quibus omnibus plane consequi tur 12. recte adfirmari a Philosophis, i deas
omnes ex earum origine vel ADVEN. vel FACTITIAS. INNATÆ namqne ab omnibus
negantur, quid quid de iis prædicent Plato, Cartesius eorumque asseclæ, quorum
tamen au ctoritas tanta non est, ut eorum insomniis a sanioris Philosophiæ
cultoribus præbea tur adsensus, ut in Psychologia distinctius adparebit. Per
adventitias enim intelligunt notiones sen sique adquisitas: per fictitias vero
illas quæ vel abstractione vel arbitraria combinatione fiunt. Plato namque
animas humanas ab æterno præexsistentes 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, æternis ideis prius e rant intuitæ,
statim ob quos dæ. quæ in Jitas, non nisi longo sensuum usu, àc nedita tione
pristipam cognitionem recuperare. Plat. in Timæo. Hinc vulgatum eius effatum:
Stu et discere idem esse, ac reminisci. CICERONE – TUSCUL. QUÆST. 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 quædam eviden tia,
quæ 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, hæc esse pura judicia, quæ a termino runi illorum relatione,
ac ab ideis totius et partis, exsisteniiue et non exsistentiæ, sen su et
abstractione prius adquisitis immediate pendent? Quæ quum ita sini, ideas
invatas nullo modo dari posse, merito concludimus. 38. Ideæ præterea sunt aliæ
SIMPLICES, a quibus nihil mente abstrahere pos sumus, aliæ COMPOSITÆ, 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 ideæ omnes colorum,
sonorum saporum, voluptatis, tædii, quas ideo aliis explicare non possumus, nec
illarum chara cteres invicem discernere, ut ita üs'definien dis omnino
incapaceś simus. ** Sic in idea mensæ cuiusdam separatim con siderare possum
matericm, formam, figuram, colorem, magnitudincm, et id genus alia. His addunt
aliqui ideas ASSOCIATAS, si ve coniunctas, eas scilicet, quæ ita simul a nobis
adquisitæ sunt, ut quum una nobis occurrit, altera quoque menti obversetur:
veluti si rosain olim videns odoris simul no tionem accepi, quotiescumque
odorem illum sentio, rosæ etiam idea menti fit præsens.Denique quuin vel
substantias, vel modos, vel relationes pobis repræsentare queamus, ideæ sunt
vel SVBSTANTIARVM, vel MODORVM, vel RELATIONVM. Per SVBSTANTIAM intelligimus
ens, cui atiributa ei accidentia tan quam subiecto,: veluti inhærere
concipiuntur, MODI sunt adfectiones, et attributa substantiis inhærentia, a
quibus + D4 56 Log. Pars I. sola mentis abstractione separantur. RELATIONVM
denique ideæ sunt, quarum unius consideratio alterius considerationem includit
ita, ut hæc 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 substantiæ tribuantur, veluti quum dicimus- virtutem ma sni æslimatam, quæ
tamen æstimalio est in hominum opinione. Relationes sunt ideæ 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, præcipitantiæ errorisque arguamur, * Quantum hæc
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 doctrinæ
usuin acMilanius, quem paucis, iisque perutilibus, include mus regulis.
Quisquis ergo Philosophiæ operam navas si solidæ cognitionis es cupidus,
sequentes animo infigito. CANONES. i. Curato, ut rerum, quas pertra ctare cupis
', claram semper et distin ctam cognitionem adquiras: attentionem proinde, quæ
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 præproperam vitato festinationem;
præcipue in primis scien tiarum principiis diu hæreto, nec, nisi iisiprobe
intelleétis, ad cetera pergito. Quantum enim festinatio idearum claritati
osobsit, diximus in. 21. adeoque in adole. soentibus naturalis illa festinatio,
et præci pitantia caute est obtundenda, ne superficia rie discant et errores sæpe
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 ideæ deteriores fiant: ita ut de iis perbelle dicat
Seneca Ep. 2.: Nusquam est, qui ubique est. Qua de re Plinius VII. ep.9. præclaram
il lud monitum studiosæ iuventuti perutile præ 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 nullæ ad quirantur ideæ, vel saltem obscuræ, a qui bus errores
ortum ducere infra docebimus. aut mie 6. Quæ legisti, audivisti > ditatus es,
ita familiaria tibi reddito, ut eorum notas aliis indicare queas. Ea proinde
vel in chartam coniicito, te ipsum sæpe examinaudo, idcarum tuarum
distinctionem experitor. vel * Stilum CICERONE vocat oplimum, et præst 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, quæ in sensus incur ruot;; abis
potefieri possunt. SIGNUM enim est, res quædam sensibilis quæ præter sui
notionem excitat in mente ideam alterius rei, Sed quum ideæ ng ** stræ 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 quædam sono articulato prolata, mentis nostræ conceptus indicantia. Signa
quidem generatim appellantur, quia præter soni vel scripturæ; nationum
nostrarum ideam in audientibus vel legentibus excitant. E. g. Lacrimæ sunt
signum tristitiæ: 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. Quæ de signorum diversitate Scha
Jastici docent utpote ad rem
impertinentia, prætermittimus: astin Ontologia quædam observatu digna obiter
attingemus. Cave tamen credas, voces esse SIGNA conceptuum necessaria. Quum
enim eædem 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 præ ceteris articulatam red
dunt; PALATVM, nempe fornicem, ubi lingua stras vid rationes exercet; quatuor
DENTES incisores dicti, quibus sibilantes litteræ efformantur, et in quos nedum
lingua, sed et labia vibrant; ac denique LABIA, quæ 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, præter 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 hærebit, 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 “æquivocus”, hoc est plura æque significans. E. g. Cultus
varios habet significatus: sæpe 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? quæstio namque hæc ad
philologiam pertinent. Philosophia contra in exprimendis animæ 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 inhærentem, ABSTRACTUS vero qui qualitatem illam a subiecto
separatam indicat, Terminus PROPRIVS dicitur, quando rem exprimit, cui significandæ
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 ). Hæc autem omnia
idem significant. E. g. Vox oculis proprie sumitur, si organum visui destinatuin
indicet. Ubi vero Cicero Corinthum Græciæ 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 aliquæ occurrunt quas intelligimus quidem, li, cit ad notiones ipsis
adiixas animum non hæ 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 memoriæ 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 nostræ 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 technicæ, quæ ideas scientificas quibusdam
disciplinis peculiares, usu annuente, exprimunt: cuiusmo di non pauca occurrunt
in qualibet disciplina. Schol. Quæ hactenus de vocibus dicta sunt, inania fære evaderent,
nisi doctrinæ usum auditoribus nostris ostenderenus. Quæ 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 persæpe 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 persæpe 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 materiæ et idea cogitationis possibiles
sunt, pariterque voces, quibus illæ exprimuntur singulæ intelliguntur. Coaiunclæ
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 novæ voces substituuntur, quamvis rem, de qua a gitur,
adcurate exprimant. Et si houe termini philosophici, reiecta barbarie, pristinæ
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 pædantismum Empinges. Vid. Heineccium in Fundam. Stil.
cultior. Id vero egisse Ciceronem ex eiusdem scriptis didacticis, et Epistolis
ad Atticum abunde colligitur. Quum eniin pædantismus sit inanis glorio læ
cupiditas in minotüs, ineptisque rebus sectandis quæsita; pædagogi 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 hæc pædagogorum 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 ætate 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, quæ breviter do cuimus g. 25; diffusius enim hic, quæ 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 genericæ, et specifi Si cæ, quæ integram definili essentiam expo.
nunt, et repræsentant. 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 prædita:
contra vero substantia intel lectu et voluntate prædita dicitur spiritus. Ex
eodem quoque fluit 4 in defini tionem ingredi non posse, nisi ea, quæ Jei
perpetuo et constanter insunt, idest ATTRIBUTA, vel ESSENTIALIA; proin deque
locum in ea non habere ACCIDENTIA, seu MODOS. Quænam 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; hæc 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 vidiæ definitionein supra
allatam nemini proferre licebit, nisi prius tædii 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, quæ non exsistit in alio, tamquam in
subie Definitio identica est, quæ idlem per idem explicat, cuiusmodi suut
nonnullæ Scholarum cio etc. definitiones quas confusiones rectius dixeris.
Exemplo sit quantitatis definitio ab iis allata per accidens, a quo res dicitur
quanta. Quid, quæso, hæc verba significant, nisi quod quantitas sit quantitas? Cui
vero usui definitiones istæ 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, quæ in vi to posita est. Illa notas et characteres e numerat
sufficientes, quibus definitum ab aliis rebus in siatu quocumque discerni
possit; hæc autem rei definitæ 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
Synonymiæ nomine veniebat. Quæ enim nobis nominalis est, realis inter illos
audiebat. ** Nominalis ergo est definitio spiritus, si eum definiveris per
substantiam intellectu et volun tate præditam: realis autem, si invidiam
definias per tædium 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, qnæ quum in individuis tantum concreta
observentur, hinc est, ut res sin gulares describantur, abstractæ vero deti
niantur; ** proinde illæ Oratorun et Poe tarum hæ Philosophorum propriæ sint.
Descriptio itaque, licet plures enumeret no tas; quam definitio, eas tamen ad
rem in sta tu quolibet agnoscendam exhibet insufficien tes. Tales notæ 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, illæ 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, essentiæ
rerum investiga. tio, verborum præterea præcisio in deliciis esse debent.
Schol. Superest, ut quæ studiosæ iu ventuti utilitatem adferre possunt, ea pau
eis exponamus regulis huius doctrinæ usum continentibus. Philosophiæ 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 memoriæ consulentes,
quidquid in aliorum scriptis repererint, id omne discunt, ac turpe putant ab eo
discedere. Hinc fit, ut si memoriæ pondus inutile au feras, nihil, præter
arroquarov quoddam, maneat. Homunciones isti memoriæ dumtaxat exercendæ intenti,
iudicii vero prorsus ex pertes, libros quosvis sine delectu memoriæ 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, quæ in
caussa fuit, ut liberculi aliquot ex transmontanis, transma rinisque regionibus
huc appulsi stilo quodam auribus pruriente tot incautos captarint adolescentes,
quos inter crassæ 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 quæ 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 illæ verbis diversæ
synonymicis erunt expressæ 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 solidæque doctrinæ clarissimum dabis indicium. Exemplo sit elegantissima
M. Ant. Mureti pe riodus Part. I. Orat. 1. ubi de laudibus Theo logiæ acturus,
amplificat syllogismun quam brevissimum has continentem propositiones: Facultas
hominem Deo con ugens est omnium præstantissima. Egpyas a eius talis est. Nam
si eorum omnium, quæ 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 præstantissima facultas, quæ, quoad eius fieri potest, cum
humanis divi na copulando, mortalitatem nostram, quantum illius imbecillitas
patitur, Divinæ natura e ar ctissima colligatione devincit. Vides hic Theologiæ
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 adæquatarum 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, quæ recte definitur, quod sit to tius in partes resolutio. Quum
autem in divisione novæ notarum de finitiones suppeditentur: iure doctrinam
hanc definitionibus subiungimus. Quoniam vero quidlibet ut totum considerari
potest: variæ totius relationes sunt enatæ. 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 inhærere potest, 6. caus
sa, quæ plures producit 7 effectus, qui a pluribus potet procedere caussis.
Quidquid tandem pro ratione obiectorum, circa ' quæ versatur in tot partes
distribui potest, quot sunt objecta. Inde ergo est, ut va riæ 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 CAVSSÆ, ACCIDENTIS in sua snbiecta, rei
in suas caussas, denique caiusvis per sua OBIECTA. Primæ classis est hæc: Homo
dividitur in animam et corpus; vel as dividitur in duo decim uncias. Secundæ:
Animal dividitur in hominem, et brutum. Tertiæ: Homo est, vel doctus vel
indoctus. Quartæ: Bonum est. vel animi, vel corporis. Quintæ: Philoso phiæ
dogmata alia intellectuin instruunt, a. lia voluntatem dirigunt. Sextæ:
Veritatis impugnatio, vel ab ignorantia, vel a malitia procedit. Septimæ
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 hæc 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 lineæ in rectam, et curvam,
trimembris trianguli in æquila 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 æ quale
partibus simul sumtis esse debet: consequens est 1. ut membra dividentia simul
totum adæquare 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
dividendæ 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 et derari potest: vel mixtam. In primo enim casu membra
di videntia simul sunt diviso minora; in se cundo autem eodem maiora. Huic
quoque regulæ adversantur ii, qui bo. num dividunt in honestum, utile, et
iucundum: hæc 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 Ramistæ, qui tam
superstitiose di.chotomiis adhærent, ut in plura membra totum dividere
irreligiosum putent. Nec ali ter iụdicandum est de iis, qui nimiæ 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, hæc autem in idearum adæqua tarum formatione consistat,
ideo que ad maiorem distinctionem in nobis producendam sit comparata: sequitur
5. ut divisionibus æque, ac subdivisionibus, quæ iisdem ' reguntur regulis,
omnia vi tentur, quæ confusionem adferre possunt; proindeque 6. liquido patet,
non licere p? as ter necessitatem subdivisiones multiplicare, ne memoria
fatigetur, ac intellectui veių. ti tenebræ offundantur, Schol. Hæc de divisione.
Ad hujus porro doctrinæ usum nunc transeamus quem paucissimis inde nascentibus
include mus regulis. Logicæ itaque Tiro utilissi mos æque, ac necessarios hosce
discat CANONES, In dividendo subdividendove non aliorum systemata, sed naturam
tantum consulito. Confusionem æque, ac tæ 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, quæ ordi... nem non
scrval, et in qua ea, quæ in sub divisione cxprirai deberent, comprehendun tur:
e.g. si ideam diviseris in claram et ina dæquatam, divisionem conficies per
saltum; inadæquatam enim quæ 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, quæ 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: hæc 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 hæc 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 PRÆDICATVM
nomiuatur, qui duo simul pro positionis EXTREMA dici consueverunt. Quumque
eorum nexus verbo substanti vo exprimatur: merito vox illa ex hoc verbo desumta,
quæ propositionis extrema coniungit, COPVLA vocatur. E. g. In hac propositione,
“Deus est æternus,” Deus est subiectum, quia ipsi tribuitur æternitas; æternus
dicitur attributum, quia Deo convenire enunciatur; vox deniqne “EST”, quæ duo hæc
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 copulæ
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 repetendæ, nempe: “Ego fui-ve nens, ego fui videns, ego fui
vinccns.” QvanVandoquidem in qualibet
idearum comparatione sex potissimum con fiderari possunt, scilicet: materia, sive
ideæ quæ comparantur; forma, seu comparatio ipsa; qualitas comparationis;
eiusdem quantitas; objectum, 6. denique evidentia relationis: ideo sub totidem
adspectibus propositiones intueri possumus; videlicet, ratione MATERIÆ, FORMÆ,
QVALITATIS, QVANTITATIS, OBIECTI, et EVIDENTIÆ. Quamvis autem hunc ordinem
divisionis natura suppeditet: liceat nobis in hac tractatione qualitatem ante
omnia perpendere, utpote quæ in aliis distributionibus usui esse debet; quaque
postposita, nonnulla obscuritate laborarent. Propositionis QVALITAS consistit in
extremorum combinatione tione. Quum ea coniungimus, scilicet præ 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”, prædicatum cum subiecto coniungo, adeoque de
mundo adfirmo esse contingentem. Quando vero enuncio, “Mundus NON est æternus”,
extrema seiung, idest æternitatem a mundo removeo et hoc est quod dicitur negare.
Ex quo vides, negationem (“NON”) copulæ præpositam 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 hæc
aliter ab aliis enunciatur, scilicet in adfirmativam et negativam. Vtrum que
apte. 64. Si ad propositionum materiam attendamus, eæ sunt vel SIMPLICES, vel
COMPOSITÆ. SIMPLEX enunciatio dicitur, cuius termini plures non sunt sed unuin
habet subiectum, et unum præ dicatum; COMPOSITA vero, quæ 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, quæ, 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 hæc in Logica aut parvi, aut nullius fere est momenti. Simplex
ergo erit propositio: Deus est æ. ternus, iten que: ær 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, quæ prædicatum
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 æternus et omnipotens”. Disiuncta,
vel disiunctiva est, in qua uni subiecto plura tribuuntur prædicata, 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. Quæ de hac observari merentur, con fer in S. 58. cur Caussalis est, in
qua ratio additur, prædicatum subiecto tribuatur. E. g. Vitia nostra, quia
amamus, defendimus: Politicas quia prudentiæ regulas tradit, sedulo exco lenda,
1 Discreta dicitur, quæ 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 Ætherias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit. IMPLICITÆ 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 prædicati, e. g. oculus tantummodo videt. Exceptiva est, in qua
particulæ exceptivæ præter, nisi, et similes, sensum multiplicant. E. g.: “Omne
ens, præter Deum, est contingens.” Comparata cicitur propositio, vel particu la
quædam comparativa relationem adferat inter subiectum et prædicatum, ita ut ge
mipus inde emergat sensus e. g., “ira est amore validior. Restrictiva denique est, quæ multiplicem
continet sensum per particulas restrictivas. quatenus, in quantum, quoad etc.
geminatum. E. g.: Ilomo, quoad corpus ', est mortalis. INCEPTIVAS vocant, quæ
actionem aliquam in principio enunciante, ut: successio temporum a creatione
incoepi; DESITIVAS, inquibus ejus cessatio et finis prædicatur, 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, ABSOLVTÆ
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 cohærent, 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 prædicatum subie cio tribuatur, latet in ipsa subiecti
natura, scilicet, si prædicatum sit attributum essentiale subiecti. Ita hæc
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. Quæ de universalitate
metaplıysica et morali Philosophi docent, ea hic persequi brevitas non patitur,
sed in ipsis prælectionibus aliqua no tabimus. Particularem propositionem alii
esse dicunt, in qua ratio sufficiens; cur prædicatum 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 æquipollere 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 præditus est philosophus”, ex particulari in
universalem abibit. Mirum quantum transmulalio ist hæc 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 ambæ. Asserit I, negat O, sed particulariter ambo: De rat.
et Syll. De propositionibus mathematicæ methodo inservientibus. Ostrema
enunciationum divisio quæ earum obiectum, et evidentiam res spicit, ea est, quæ
in recentioribus Phi osophorum et Mathematicorun scriptis pas sim observatur
peculiaribus desiguala nominibus, quæque 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, quæ aliquid fieri posse aut debere adfirmat. Sic propositio
theoretica est hæc, “Omnes ro dii eiusdem circuli sunt æquales”. Practica vero:
“Quovis centro et intervallo circulus describi potest. Vides hinc, theoreticam
propossitionem veritatis alicuius enunciationem; pra cticam vero operationis
faciendæ expositiouera continere, Quo ad EVIDENTIAM enunciatio vel talis est,
ut extremorum nexus per se clare pateat, vel quæ demonstratione in digeat. Illa
INDEMONSTRABILIS, hæc DEMONSTRABILIS dici consuevit. Quibus enodatis, ad
peculiaria propositionum nomina explicanda transcamus. Indemonstrabilis ergo
est enunciation, “Totum sua parte maius est”. Demonstrabilis. contra hæc: “Scientia
Philosopho est necessaria”, ea enim ex collatione definitionum scientiæ et philosophi
debet demonstrari. Propositio indemonstrabilis theoretica dicitur AXIOMA. Si
vero practica fuerit, POSTVLATVM vocalır.
E.g. “Totum est æquale omnibus suis partibus simul sumti”. D. de
Tschirnausen axioma vocat quamcumque propositionem ab unica definitione
immediate deductam; Euclides au tem illam, quæ 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 æternus” Huius enim demonstratio ex
definitionibus Dei, et æter 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, quæ quid faciendum proponit, solutione, quæ modum, quo
fieri potest, ostendit, et demonstratione, quæ rem bene processis se concludit,
addends, “Q. E. F”. idest, “quod erat faciendum”. Sic problema est hæc enunciatio:
Commiserationem in altero excitare. COROLLARIVM, sive CONSEOTARIVM dicitnr quævis
enunciatio, quæ ab alia immediate, et necessariæ 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 doctrinæ usus exponitur, historia narratur,
auctorum sententiæ 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, quæ 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 æquatur quadratis parti una cum facio dupli partis unius in
al teram lucti. um Cap. V. De iud. et prop. De propositionum adfectionibus. HæcÆc
de enunciationum diversitate. Superest, ut de earum adfectionibus pau ca
dicamus, de quibus quamplurima in Scholis præcipiuntur laboris quidem plena,
vtilitatis autein expertia. Ad propositionum adfectiones referuntur:
OPPOSITIO, SVBALTERNATIO, CONVERSIO, et ÆQVIPOLLENTIA.
OPPOSITIO est duarum proposi tionum inter se pugnantium collatio: estque vel
CONTRARIA, si earura utra que sit universalis in qua propositio nes ambæ
possunt esse falsæ, sed non ambæ veræ; vel CONTRA-DICTORIA, si etiam quantitate
differant, in qua enunciationum illarum
necessario una ve ra esse debet, altera falsa; vel deni que SVBCONTRARIA, si
ambæ sint par ticulares, **** in eaque propositiones am bæ veræ, at non ambæ
falsæ esse possunt. * Sic oppositæ sunt hæ 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 præditus: nullus homo est ratione præditus, quarum
una vera est, altera falsa. Possunt tamen da ri casus, in quibus ambæ falsæ
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 ctoriæ,
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 hæc falsa sit, altera vera esse debet. Rationem eius re gulæ, 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 quædam 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 subalternatæ
consequi tur, non contra **. 2: Falsitas propo sitionis ' subalternatæ
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, hæc subal ternata dicitur. ** Sic quum ia
superaddito exemplo verum sit, omnes homines doctrinæ esse capaces, verum
quoque erit, quosdam homines doctrinæ capa ces esse. Ratio huius regulæ est.
Contrariæ ambæ veræ esse non possunt. 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, hæc non poterit non esse falsa, adeoque
subalternæ 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 subalternatæ falsitatem includit. Quum enim in subalternante,
utpote univer sali, subiectum in tota sua extensione sumatur, 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 hæc? ais. Con fer, Dan. Richterum diss. de convcrs. propo
• sition. Halæ 1740 ÆQUIPOLLENTES denique dicun tur enunciationes, quæ verbis
licet di versæ, cumdem tamen sensum habent.
Duæ ergo propositiones synonymicis termia nis expressionibusque prolatæ æquipollentes
sunt, nempe eumdem valorem habentes. Ego Omne animal vivit et sentio: nihil tam
ani manti proprium est, quam vita et sensie. Quæ de his postremis propositionum
adfectionibus laboriosius a Scholasticis traduntur, tempus terendum potius,
quam ad rationein excolendam sunt adcommodata. Nobis hæc tantum notasse sufficiet.
Schol. Quæ de iudiciis, ac propositio nibus cupidæ iuventuti observanda
arbitra. mur, ea paucis exponenda supersunt. Qua propter tironi Philosopho
sequentes tenea di sunt CANON ES, 1, Q Voniam iudicia sunt sapientiæ, vel
stultitiæ 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 adæqua tam, aut
saltem distinctam habes ideam, iudicium proferto, tuum. Idearum enim confusio
præiudiciorum mater est fera cissima.
Quum enim rerum, de quibus iudicare volu mus, distinctatu vel adæquatam
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 ideæ tali modo coniungantur vel scparentur, nec
alio. Etenim infra abunde patebit, veræ
prope, sitionis criterium esse, si ratio sufficiens ad. sit, cur prædicatum
subiecto tribuatur, vel ab eo removeatur. Tali ergo ratione perspem cta, non
poterit iudicium non esse verum; ac proinde errandi metus procul aberit. 4. Præcipitantiam
fugito: ideoque in iudicando tardus, in enunciando tardior esto, ne levitalis
errorisve arguaris. Me mento Augustini præclarum 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 præceptum istud homini bus inculeatum sit,
ostendemus in Iure Naturæ. Quoniam duarum idearum convenien tia, aut
discrepantia non semper unica intuitu aguosci potest, adeoque dan tur veritates
demonstrabites; 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 ær sit gravis
comparat ideam æris, 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: Ær est corpus; Ergo ær
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 ambæ 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. Quæ 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 Mammonæ: sed
Christianus Deo. 1. servit: ergo Christianus non servit Mamm onæ. Vides hic
duaru n idearum Christiani et Mam monæ 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 ideæ 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, prædicatum tertiæ propositionis,, quæ principalis dici
potest, MATOR adpellatur, subiectum eiusdeni, MINOR; {erminus vero, qui tertiam
ideanı ex. primit, quique rationem continet suffizientem couvenientiæ, vel
repugnantiæ termini ma ioris cum minore, MEDIUS voćatur. E pro, Cap. V. De iud.
et prop. > positionibus etiam illa,
in qua medius cum maiore confertur, MAIOR, vel PROPOSITIO simpliciter; illa, in
qua medius cum minore comparatur, MINOR vel ASSUMPTIO; ambæ vero PRÆMISSÆ
dicuntur, propositio denique, quam principalem supra, adpellavimus CONCLUSIO
COMPLE xto, a Scholasticis CONSEQUENTIA nos minantur. Sic in primo exemplo gravis
est terminus maior, ær 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 sæpius in termino aliquo, vel compositione latet. Fieri hoc potest 1. per æquivocationem,
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 philosophiæ 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
ideæ genericæ con vepit, vel ab ea discrepat; altera attributi definitionem cum
subiecto comparandi, et ab eorum convenientia vel discrepantia, prædicati
quoque cum subiecto coniunctio nem eruendi. cum ea Cap. IV. De rat. et Syll. Exemplo
sit sillogismiis supra adductus. Scire cupis, ær sit gravis? Reduc subiectum
sub genere corporis, et vide, utrum huic conveniat gravitas, eam de ære quoque
enunciabis, ita ratiocinando. Quodlibet corpus est grave, ær est corpus: ergo ær
est gravis. Hæc erit prima medium inveniendi methodus. Rursum gravitatis defi
nitionem evolve, eiusque characteres, nem pe corporum inferiorum pressionem
confer cum ære. Quumque ei conveniant, attribu tum cum subiecto coniunges hoc
modo: Quidquid corpora inferiora premit, est grave: Ær premit corpora inferiora:
Ergo ær 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 regulæ
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. 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 prædicatum tam latc pateat, quam
subiectum cui tribuitur, ut cuique manifestum est: li quet, propositionem, in
qua medius vicem prædicati 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 præmissaram esse debere universalem.
Variæ syllogismorum figuræ 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 fallaciæ tanto labore a Scholis evolutæ, an liquitatis,
amphboliæ, dictionis composi tionis, divisionis, caussæ, dicti simpliciter, con
e juentis, accidentis, cetera, nisi syllogi smi e quatuor terminis conflati, in
quibus quarins cryptice latet? Veritas hace altcate consideranti baud ægre
patescet. Vide quæ 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 æqnalitatem 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 præmissis, ne
quatuor inde éxoriantur termini. Si nanque præmissæ 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 præmissis, 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'æsit,
puniendus est: Cajus alterum læsit: 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 (præmissis ) nihil sequi, ius estc. Cap. V. De rat. et Syll.
119 * Diximus enim f. 86. *, præmissarum unam saltem esse debere universalem:
unde si am hæ essent particulares, impingeretur in regulam 1.1. S. cit.; si
vero ambæ 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 præmissarum fuerit particularis,
conclusio quoque particnlaris, conclusio quoque particularis esse debet, alias
plus esset in conclusione, quam in præmissis; quod est contra regulam 3.: si
vero una præmissarum 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. Quæ de diversis syllogismorum figuris regulæ vulgo
traduntur, eæ ad rem non faciunt; ac proinde a nobis tuto præ terinittuntur,
120 Logita Pars. I. CAPVT SEPTIMVM. De aliis ratiocinandi modis. 38. Sunt et
aliæ ratiocinandi formæ, quæ licet a syllogismo diversæ adpareant syllogismum
tamen continent vel 1. CRYPTICVM, vel 2., COMPOSITVM, vel 3. MVLTIPLICEM. De
his obiter præsenti ca pite agemus. SYLLOGISMUS CRYPTICVS est, in quo forma
ordinaria quo modolibet périurbatur, aut occultatur. CRYPSIS ergo inducitur i.
per ordinis perturbationem, *. 2. per propositionum æquipollentiam 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 præmise sarum aliqua reticetur, speciatim vero illa, quæ
cuique patet, ut: omnis adfectus tur bat attentionem: ergo ira turbat
attentionem. Minor deest, utpote quæ ab audiente sup pleri potest. Eodem modo
et maior retice ri, minor contra exprimi solet: e. g. ir et 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 æternum vivere, et cum corpore
perire, atqni ælernum 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 quæ 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 Cap. VII. De aliis rat. mo dis. Tera pars est
disiunctiva, quæ 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 æternitatem
egregie confutarit Huc referenda quæ diximus de divisione MVLTIPLICEM
SYLLOGISMVM, licet imperfecte exhibent 1. EPICHEREMA, in quo alterutri, vel
utrique præ missarum probatio additur;
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 præmissis
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, aliæ que minores subsumtæ 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 prædicatum 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. Hæc autem argumenta
tio nisi cautiones quedam adhibeantur ad fallendum aptior est. Cautiones istæ
funt. 1. Nulla præmissarum 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 duæ propositiones negantcs. Hoc enim casu in eius
resolutione aderit syllogismus ambas præmis 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 quæ a singularibus ad
particularia, alquc ab bis ad universa lia procedit. Hæc autem syllogismo prior
est: nam quum ope experientiæ præmis sas conficiat, indeque conclusiones
eliciat universales, hac vero syllogismi præmissas 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 prædicatur,
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 aliquæ 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, quæ 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 præmissarum syllogismi
saltem una debeat es se universalis, patet, In ductionem syllogismo principia
præstruere: adeoque illo priorem esse. Schol. De hụius doctrinæ usu tandem
pauca delibare juvabit. Quæ 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 materiæ soliditate ac
formæ aptitudine absolvatur: patet; Philosophum de utraque sollicitum esse
debere, ut ratioci. nia sua tulo proferre possit. 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. Præclaro 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 Logicæ
sit non contentiones nequicquam fovere, sed hominum vitæ 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 quædam de veritate generatim
spectata, eiusque genuina tessera, hic præ 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
conscientiæ, respondet; vel denique
LOGICA, si cogitationes nostræ 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, quæ ad con stituendam eius essentiam sunt necessariæ: 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 quæ trinsechs sentimus.
Atque ḥæc veritas dicitur moralis sive ethica, cui opponitur falsilo suium,
quod est sermo contra concientiam prolatus, de in Moralibus agemus. quo 93. VERITATIS
LOGICÆ 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 puræ geometricæ; hæc
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, hæc vero ob scura, dubia,
et fallibilis: non enim per eam, scire possumus, utrum cogitatioues nostræ
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 externæ 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, repræsentemus: *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 repræ 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, chimæ ricas, aliasque obiectis suis nullo modo re spondentes dici
non posse veras. Advertas - tamen, absolutam obiecti deficientiam, vel ideæ ab
eo discrepantiam veritati nocere. Si namque obiectum non sit evidens, nec ideæ
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 Logicæ regulas, ac pri ma cognitionis
humanæ principia tnrpissime peccare. In hunc errorem incidunt quicum que de
mysteriis Sanctæ 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 veræ:
leges autem adcuras te servatæ, ratiocinium non poterit non es se verum: quia,
quum qualis est caussa, ta lis esse debeat effectus, non potest ex veris præmissis
falsa legitime fluere conclusic. Ex quo liquido colligi potest, eum, qui præ
missas concessit, non posse negare conclusio nem ex iis legitimo nexu fluentem.
Cave tas men, ne ex conclusione, licet evidenter ex præmissis deducta, de hárum
veritate audeas áudicare: potest enim conclusio vera legitime ex falsis ambabus
oriri præmissis. Talis es, set sequens syllogismus: Omnis virtus est fugienda:
Avaritią est virtus; Ergo avaritia est fugienda, Vides hic veram conclusionem
legitime ex fal sis præmissis deductam. Possesne conclusionis veritate præmissarum
quoque veritatem ar 97. Quoniam iudicium verbis expres sumi propositio dicitur (§.
60. ): evi dens est. propositionem dici veram, quæ 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 Divinæ sapientiæ, homini, ipsiqne humanæ 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 quædam sufficiens, per quam intel. ligitur cur prædicatum 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, De ver. eiusq. crit. 135 Variæ de veritatis criteriis omni ætate
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 æterna 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, quæ
sensi bus percipiuntur. STOICI, secundum Lær, 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. Quæ vero de his ob
servari merentur, in ipsis prælectionibus ex ponemus. In hac ergo propositione:
Ær est gravis, qualitas attributi, hoc est gravitas, per no tionem æris
determinatur: in hac enim inest ratio sufficiens cur ipsi illam tribuatur. Quum
enim ær corpora inferiora premat; idque > 136 Logica Pars. U. ad
costituendam gravitatis notionem requira tur: clare patescit, ærem esse gravem,
adeo que propositionem esse veram. Et hoc est, quod Wolffius, criterium veræ
proposi, tionis ésse determinabilitatem attributi per notionem subiecti. E. In hac propositione: Caius est invia dus,
requisita ad veritatem sunt invidiæ 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 quæcumqne iis de terminationibus prædita 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, quæ 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. Per
res sensibiles intelligimus non modo cor poreas quæ sensibus exsternis, sed et
ipsas animæ actiones, quæ sensu interno perci piuntur. Quum igitur:Naturæ 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, quæ internus eter nique
sensus ita se habere testantur. Et
quidem omnium axiomatum evidentia a primo cognitionis humanæ principio, nempe
non posee idem simul esse et non esse, ori ginem suam repetit; hoc vero
principium in timo sensu cunctis innotescit. Quæcumque porro propositiones a
veritatibns evidentibus legitimo nexu deducuntur eamdem evidentiam adquirunt,
quam illæ 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 Logicæ 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, qnæ internam producit coactionem, at que a mente adsensum
extorquet. Huiusmodi sunt propositiones humanum ca ptum superantes, nobisque
ideo imperviæ, quæ quum ab Ente intelligentissimo tantum agnosci possint,
revelatæ tandem addiscun tur, fidemque mereatur: quum entis illius perfectiones
sint infinitæ, nec de illarum 2 I veritate addubitari sinant. Eiusdem commatis
sunt facta, sive propositiones singulares, quæ in locis temporibusve remotis
extiterunt, qnæ 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 coævis 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 hæc certitudinem potius, mentis scilicet nostræ 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. Tubingæ 1748. FALSITAS veritati opposita est di
screpantia cogitationum nostrarum ab obiectis. Quumque oppositorum contrariæ
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 repræsentata;
falsum iudicium aiens., si quando subiecto non conveniat attributum, negans
vero quoties boc illi conveniat; adeo que falsa propositio, quæ neganda
adfirmat, adfirmandaque negat, vel quæ universaliter enunciat quod
particulariter enunciari debe. bat; falsum denique ratiocinium, quod in materia
vel forma peccat: i illa, quando propositiones sunt falsæ; in bac vero, quum
syllogismi leges, violatæ sunt.
Propositionis falsæ rera tessera est, si non modo desit ratio
sufficiens, cur præuicatum 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 FALLACIÆ. 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. Logica Pars. II. minum est populus: ergo
multitudo hominum ex terra crescit: quatuor namque termini ir repsere per æquivocationem
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 operæ
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 memoriæ 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 docirinæ
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, quæ 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 præsens sistamus. Hæ
igitur ideæ proprie loquendo non falsæ, sed potius impossibiles dici possunt,
quia nihil sumt: ut ' idea circuli quadrati, ligni ferrei, creaturæ infinitue',
ec. ** Vocantur istæ a Wolffio vicariæ realium, quia earum vices gerunt, ut si
memoriam ti bi rapræsentes 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, quæ inde, quum
opus fuerit, depromiinus, ila memoria plures ideas, quæ 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 Logica Pars.
II. ſas sit, ne temere iudicato, donec veri tatis eius, falsitatisve criterio
polleas. Hoc quidem modo vitari poterit audax illa in iudicando præcipitaptia,
quæ incautos maxime adolescentes quamplurimis subjicit erroribus. Hi ramque
sola suarum virium præsumtione freti iudicia sua nec rationc ful ciunt, nec ad
criterium aliquod exigunt; quo fit, ut ea præcipitanter 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, quæ 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 quærenda (S.
20. ): nullum est huiusmo di iudicium, quod non ex præcipitantia fluat. Qui
enim ita se gerunt, ni mia de in tellectus sui viribus præsamtione laborant,
idque agunt, perinde ac si supremum persprie caciæ 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 præsentat ac percipit, COGNITIO
adpellatur. Eius vero absentia dicitur IGNORANTIA, quæ definiri pot est per
statum mentis cognitione desti tulæ. * Sic e g. qui disciplinæ alicuius
veritates ac præcepta 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 præditos 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,
quæ sciri possunt, puniero ingenii cuiuscumque vires superante, domesticaque
experientia fluxit mos ille lau dabilis ad utilium rerum cognitionem ani mum
adplicandi, neglectis iis, quæ 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 veræ
ignorantiæ versari, ac ne minem un quani reperiri posse, qui omui moda rerum
cognitione præditum 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, quæ ad interni extervique status suiperfectionem sunt necessaria.
Necessaria dicuntur, quæ Dei suique cogni tionem spectant, item quæ facultatem
quam quisque profitetur, postremo quæ 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
Medicinæ 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 ævo Lit teratores isti extra aleam
aberrantes defide, rarentur ! . Ad ignorantiæ 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, quæ nostrum si perant captum, sed
etiam in iis, quæ iu jus limites von excedunt, 2. MENTIS IMBECILLITATE, sive
impotentia co gnoscendi idearum nostrarum relationem, LABORIS IMPATIENTIA, qua fit,
ut attentio minuatur, ideæque fiant deterio res, STVDIORVM CONFVSIONE, MEMORIA
vel nimia, vel labili, 6. denique SVBSIDIORVY INOPIA. (t ) Impotentia hæc ab
idearum mediarum defe ctu pendet: quo fit, ut communi illa defi ciente mensura,
nec conferre inter se nolis nec propterea vertalem delegere quæmus. (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 præfationibusque furfuroscrum,
nostram invasit ætatem, ** Nimia namque memoriæ præstantia 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, quæ 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
quæque, (si paucos excipias ) parati evadunt. 106. Hæc de ignorantia. Quando au
tem propositicni verre dissensim, falsæ contra adsensum præbemus, 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 PRÆIVDICIVM * adpellatur, quod esse dicimus
iudicium erroneum præcipitanter et sine maturi tale latum. Dicitur vero præiudicium,
vel quia sanæ mentis prævenit iudicium, vel quia præma ture et fine criterio
profertur. Talia sunt pleraque vulgi præiudicia, veluti: discum solis diametrum
habere circiter bipalmarein: cometas esse bellorum caussas: et alia eius modi.
107. Quum præjudicium sit iudicium erroneum; error vero confusio iudiciorun:
evidens est s. præiudicia na sci ex idearum ob curitate et confusione, adeoque
2. eorum originem ab intellectus corruptione unice esse petendam. Equidem sunt
plerique, qui præiudiciorum originem a voluntaté repetunt, eamque pri us
emendandam esse aiunt; ii tamen io to aberrant coelo: voluntariam namque præiudiciis
adhæsionem vel negligen liam animum ab iis liberandi, pro præiudia ciis
venditant. Si vero rem probe per penderint videbunt, ea, quæ 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 præiudiciorum
genera, AVCTORITATIS scilicet, et NIMIÆ CONFIDENTIÆ. * Illa sunt, quæ 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, quæ nostris viribus niinium
fidentes, quamquam præcipitan ter et sine meditatione prolata., tainquam vera
lamen adsumunus illis firmiter achæ remus, et proeiis, veluti pro aris et fo.
cis, pugnamus. * Addunt alii præiudicia ÆTATIS. At quum illa non sint, nisi
opiniones præconceptæ a nutricibus parentibus, atque magistris a teneris, ut
aiunt, unguiculis haustæ: ea ad auctoritatis præiudicia referri, nemo non ri
det. Illustris VERULAMIUS de augm. scient V. 4. præiudicia,, quæ iilola vocat,
in quatuor dividit classes, quarum prima am plectitur idola tribus, scilicet quæ
in ipsa hamana natura fundata sunt; altera idola specus, hoc est hypotheses a
nobis ipsis provenientes; tertia i: lola fori, idest præ concept as opiniones,
quæ ab hominum com mercio mabant; quarta denique idola the Cap. II. de ign. et er. eor. caus. 149 atri,
videlicet erronea iudicia, quæ ex Phi losophorum sententiis bauriuntur. Quæ 0
mnia ad duas, quas retulimus, classes com mode referri possunt, ut coram
ostende mus. * Auctoritatis præiudicia sunt ea, quæ 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 glebæ, adscripli, nulloque utentes iu dicio, eas, tamquam oracula,
pronuntiant seque inde dimoveri non patiuntur. Curio sissima est Galilæi
narratio in Systemate co smico, de viro quodam nobili Peripatheticæ philosophiæ
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, quæso, hæc
au diens a risu ' temperaret? Vocari quoque solent præiudicia receptæ
hypotheseos, novitatis, similia: ut sunt sy nervo e G 3 750 Logica Pars 11. MÆ,
stemata omnia ab eruditis inventa, quibus tam acriter inhærent, ut uullum sit
rationis pondus, quo ab opinione sua dimoveri pa tiantur. 109. De errorum
caussis, restat, ut paulo ca addamus, Eæ vel REMOTÆ sunt quæ mentem ad errores
ac præiudicia præparant et disponunt; vel " PROXI., quæ mentem ipsam ad
iudicio rum confusionem impellunt, erroresque producunt. Remotæ rursus in
generales dividuntur, et speciales. Caussæ generales sunt ATTENTIONIS DEFECTVS,
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. Præiudiciorum cnim origo ab idearum ob scuritate
repetenda est, idearum vero obscuritatem pariunt attentionis defe clus et
adfectus er his ergo caussis præiudicia nasci, quisque intelligit. Quainvis
enim corporis inertia laboris impa Cap. 11. De ign. et er. Cor. caus. ¥
tientiam creet, adeoque ignorantiæ tantum Caussa esse possit: cum sciendi tamen
libidine conjuncta errorum genitrix est: etenim sciendi pruritus efflcit, ut
intellectus tali cupiditate ductus intra ignorantiæ fuæ te niebras consistere
nolit, opportunisque præ • 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 præiudicia nos urget, sel saltem
crassam parit ignorantiam. 110. Speciatim autem AVCTORITA TIS præiudicia
oriuntur harum trium abaliqua EDVCATIONE, scilicet, CONVERSATIONE
[conversazione], et CONSVETVDINE; ut et præiudicia NIMIÆ CONFIDENTIÆ aa nimia
INGENII FIDUCIA. Et ut de educatione quædam singularia attingamus, id sedulo
notandum: præiu dicia, quæ ab ca procedunt, tribus cha racteribus optime
distingui, temporis BREVITATE, 2. loci RESTRICTIONE, cognitionis DEFECTV. Qui
quidem characteres si desint, propositio non in ter præiudicia, 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 præiudiciis, anilibus fabeliis, erro neisque opinionibus
imbuant. De magistrorum educatione nihil dicemus, ab iis enim quam multa
hauriuntur præiudicia, quum iuvenes in magistrorum verba iurantes quæuis 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 quæst. Lib. . cap. 1. Qui nimium suo
indulget ingenio, fieri non potest, quin in errores incidat, el pacdın tismum
vel contradictionis spirituin induat, quæ duo vitia aliorum aversionem
odiuinque conciliant. Præterquam quod novitatis studi um quanta hominibus mala
produxerit, ii sciunt, qui Ecclesiæ vel litterarum vices er annalibus
didicerunt. Nimirum educationis præiudicia tantisper in animo sedent, donec ad
maturitatem ra tionisque perfectionem sit perventum; nou sunt ubique earlem,
sed quamvis in cuius cumque Regionis gentibus præiudicia sedeant, diversa tamen
pro educationis morumque di versitate inveniuntur; rudium tandem von eti am
sapientum mentes occupant ita, ut dum illi inter præconceptas opiniones
erroresque iacent, hi eorum insipientiam ac ignorantiam destruere nullo modo
valentes vel rideant, vel de ea conquerantur. Cap. , De ign. ei er. eor. caus.
253 mus Omnes illæ, quas recensuimus caussæ 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 nostræ; 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 præiudicia.
* Ut id consequantur adolescentes, præ ocnlis habeant quæ in prima harum
Institutionum parte observavimus, ea præcipue, quæ de ideis cap. 1. Schol.
adnotavimus. 2. Ad studia præiudiciis 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 præcepta 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 præcipue attendendum, de quibus ideo pauca
inferius delibabimus. 3. Methodum ubique atque ordinem cordi habeto. In studiis
eapræcedant per quæ sequentia intelliguntur. Ex hujus canonis neglectu oritur
studiorum confusio, quam ignorantiæ caus sam haud postremam esse, experientia
sensusque com munis evidenter ostendit Auctoritati nec nihil, nec multum
deferto. Nimia namque aliis adhæsio servum pecus; sensus vero communi ne
glectus audacem efficit, omniaque sibi permittentem. 5. De iis, quæ vel Divina
auctori tate, vel maxima evidentia destituta sunt, prudenter dubitato, donec
certus fias. Rectam rationem prius, sensum dein de optimorum communem consulito.
Quæ 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, memoriæ ac per spicaciæ tuæ ne nimis fidens
esto. Me mento Poetæ illud: ABSQUE LABO RE.NEMO MUSARUM SCANDIT AD ARCEM. Vides
hinc, quam immerito a nostræ ætatis adolescentibus voluptati ac vanitati
deditis laboremque horrentibus cognitio studiorum que felix exitus expectetur. Compendia
et dictionaria, quippe quæ nihil solidi profundique continent, ne multum amato.
Paucos habeto libros, eosque lectissimos. * Cum lectione me ditationem semper
coniungito Non nostrum est præceptum,
sed Senecæ, 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 quæ 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. 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. . De Veritate ceria, melliisque ad cam perveniendi. .
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 præbentis 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 suæ statum agnoscit, consequens est 3. ut nemo aliorum
certitudinis sed suæ tantum iudex esse possit. * Quia omne, quod verum est, vel
absolute et in se tale est vel in relatione ad mentem, quæ 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 nostræ 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 præstemus. Quoniam indicia ad certitudinem ducentia trium generum
esse possunt, sci licet vel absolute infallibilia vel dalis tantum
permanentibus caussis naturalibus, vel denique sccundum huinanæ prudentiæ leges:
evidens est 4. triplicem etiam esse certitudinem, METAPHYSICAM nempe yel
MATIEMATICAM, quæ illis; PHY. Cap. . De veritate certa etc. 159 SICAM, quæ
istis; MORALEM tandem, quæ his fulcitur indiciis, quæque alio no mine FIDES
HUMANA adpellatur. * Primi generis sunt axiomata, aliæque pro positiones nullis
obnoxiæ vicibus;alterius hæc propositio: corpus non suffultum cadt: pos fremi
vero hæc: Augustus fuit primus Ro manorum Imperator. 115. Experientia abunde
constat, men tem nostram non statim, nec semper, quod verum est, certo
cognoscere- Via ergo quædam 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 quælibet caussa
effecluin salte in natura, præcedit, ut in Metaphysica do. cebimus. Duæ igitur
cognoscendi viæ no bis aperiuntur, altera, quæ 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, quæ 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 experientiæ 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
experientiæ obiectum, adeoque 3. eam in abstractiş 2 2. Cap. Ill. de Veritate
certa ctc. 161 sensus et universalibus locum non habere, licet hæc 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 repræsentamus; toties tædio
nos adfici animadvertimus; hæc 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, quæ mnibus æque patet, ut calor
ignis, et ERVDITAM, quæ speciali studio, atque adhi bitis necessariis mediis
cooficitur, arleoque so lis innotescit eruditis, ut ' æris gravitas,
elasticitas ctc. . Habitus, sive promtitudo aliorum vel propria esperimenta
colline andi, et ex iis conlusiones elicianendi, dicitur ARS EXPERIVNDI. Quæ
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 præ 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 repræsentatio 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 et sensibus, sed a
iudicio, quod ani ma praccipitanter fert super experientia, persæpe falli.
Rinc. 8. cautiones quædam ad errorem hunc vitandum adhibendæ > 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. . De Veritatė certa
etc. 163 hi motum in nervo optico, quod sensationis caput est, producunt: si
partim in ære 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 istæ adhibeantur
nullus in percipiendis rebus sensibilibus irrepere poterit error: si vero quæ
dicta sunt probe attendantur, non in surgent amplius difficultates, nec erunt
qui vetustissimam cipionis in aqua fracti, turris que emimus rotundæ 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, quæ minime ex perti sunt, vel quæ
imaginationi aut ra tiociniis experientia deductis debentur, pro experientia
obtrudunt. * Tales sunt, qui pliænomeni 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 repræsentatio dicatur idea singularis:
recte infertur 10. notiones expe rientiæ 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. hæc
nova iu dicia di ci non posse singularia, sed DIANOETICA sive ratiocinantia.Vocantur
huiusmodi iudicia INTVITIVA, quia in his, quæ 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 regulæ
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 hæc essentialia onipibus speciebus vel
individuis Logica Pars II. convenientia
abstractionis ope retinenda, atque inde notæ characteristicæ depro mendæ sunt,
quæ ad rem illam ab a liis discernendam sulliciant. Hi quidem ermut characteres
definitionis a posteriori ex in dividuis casibus eruendæ. 125. Vt antem
operatio recte procedat, oportet 16. tot facere iudicia intuitiua quot res ipsa
percepta suppeditat, 17. ac cidentia omittere, 18. attributa, quæ 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, quæ sunt perpetuo similes. Hoc modo in
notescet tibi commiserationis idea universalis, cuius notæ 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. Quia ab experientia oriuntur iudicia
intuitiva: videatur primum, num prædicatum sit attributum rei perceptæ
essentiale: quo casu enunciatio erit uni versalis ($. 68* ). Deinde
experientiam multoties repetendo dispiciatur, utjum at tributum illud rei
perceptæ 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, quæ 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. llæ regulæ 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 ceræ liquentis igni, aut solis radiis admotæ. ** Si ergo
bellum simul cum cometa existat, vel eumdem sequatur: præcipitantia erit iu
dicare, hunc esse caussam illius. 21. Ex
quibus omn: bus clare deducitur 20 propositiones ex experientia legitime
uistitala confectas esse certo veras; quouicumque sensioni omnibus requisitis
in stuctæ convenit, pro certo haberi, adeo. que 22. et definitiones experientiæ
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 isthæc 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 præmissa 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 experientiæ rite institu
definitiones, axiomata et postulata T. 1. tæ, 2 > H 170 Logic. Pars II.
certitudine gaudent: 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 repræsentat, 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 repræsentatio 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 repræsentat. Deus vero gaudet intellectu
perfectissimo (num. 1. ): onania ergo sibi distinctissime repræsentat. 3. Qui
omnia sihi distictissime rapræsentat, ideis caret confusis (ax.): at Deus om
niasibi distinctissime repræsentat. (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 animæ 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; hæc autem in qua
oppositum tamquam verum assumen tes, conclusionem falsam inde deduci mus, ut
propositionis nostræ veritas elucescat. Directa ergo erit demonstratio, si
ordinem sequatur hactenus explicatum (., 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 præstantissimam.
Quumque ex perientiæ 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, quæ a Scholasticis adpellari solet PETITIO PRINCIPII, nempe quum
principium de monstrandi vel nullum est, vel nulla certi tudine aut ' evidentia
gaudet. Huiusmodi sunt pleræque enunciationes Epicuræorum, Pla quæ 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 Divinæ 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 scientiæ probitatisque indicia de derit si nihil emolamenti
ex iis, quæ narrat, perceperit, si ' parratio rectæ ra tioni non repugnet; si
denique pro nar rationis suæ veritate dimicaverit, vel per secntionem passus
sit. * Deinde quoniam non omnes homines eadem præditi 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 præcepta dabimus. *
Postremâ hæc conditio maius certitudini mo rali pondus adiungit: si vero
deficiat, liu modo priores adfint circumstantiæ, certilu do vim suam non
amittit.. Schol. Nunc in eo sumus, ut explica tæ doctrinæ usum paucis tradamus.
Qua propter Philosophus noster hos, qui se quuntur, observet. CANON E S. AMD
quidlibet erudite experiundum, nisi necessariis præmunitusa in strumentis me
accedito. Si hæc desint, Cap. III. De Veritate certa etc. 177 aliorum
experimenta consulito, dummo do eorum integritatis scientiæque 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 læ erunt: ac proinde aliorum experimenta consulenda, præmissis cautionibus,
quæ de eorum veritate dubitare non sinant. Hinc Physicis admodum necessarius
est machina rum instrumentorumque apparatus, ut phæa nomena observari possint,
a quibus ad caus sas proximas rationis ope concludendum est. 2. Ne phantasiæ
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
sæpius H 5 178 Logic. Pars II. repetens, an costantia sint, observato; nec,
nisi certior omnino factus, de iis enunciato. Sæpe enim accidit, ut effectus
aliqui a cir cumstantiis oriatur accidentalibus, vel caus sæ cuidam externæ
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 propriæ caussæ 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 præ inissarum probationibus
exilis enervisque exsurgit demonstratio cui nihil potest roboris accedere. *
Nimiruni demonstrationis robur a præmis stabilitate, legitimaque connexione
procedit, adeoque pro; earum firmitate con clusionis pondus augetur, vel
minuitur. sarumriat, 6. Demonstratio, ut certitudinem ра talis esto, quæ neque
per mate riam, neque per formam ulla possit ra tione convelli. Iunc enim
adsensum etiam ab invito, extorquebis. 7. Si metaphysicæ certitudini expe
rientia adversetur, hæcfallax esto. Absurdum namque foret id exsistere, quod
rectæ rationi repugnat. Eo namque casu duas habemus 'propositiones inter se
contradicentes, alteram singularem, quæ quidpiam exsistere pronuntiat, univers
salem alteram, quæ idem existere posse ne gat; adeoque duo hæc 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 præcipuum
inter suos de veritatis criterio cả nones illum posuerit: Si intellig:bili
evidentiæ physica adversetur, FALLAX HABETVR PHYSICA, est enim hæcminor, cui
proii # 6 180 Logica Pars 11. + de vals dicere, quam de intelligibili
subdubitan re, quæ 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 dentiæ præferre 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 Divinæ 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, quæ diximns, quia
demonstratio Dei verbo repugnans fal sa est, dummodo intra rationis fines quær
stip sit rationes,iterum conficiautur, e de Cap. . De. Methodo. monstrationes ad calculum revocentur, ut
adpareat, undenam oppositio illa ortum duxe rit, principiisne dubiis et
incertis,, an a defectu legitimæ connexionis? Ratio huius canonis hæc est, Onnis lex eiusdem
Legislatoris spiritu est explican da Si enim leges humanæ 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 quæ 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 sæculi.
Et loan. XVI. 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
doctrinæ 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
[Grice/Strawson, In defence of a dogma] sive divisionis, vel SYNTHETICAM seu
compositionis. Methodus ergo anulytica a
principiatis ad principia, synthetica a principiis ad princi piata (uti Scholæ
aiunt ) procedit. Dla composita resolvit. hæc simplicia componit, Rem exemplis
illustrabimus. Ad demqnstran dam enunciationem alibi (S. ) 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 repræsentatio nibus confusis, caret quoque appetitu sensi tivo (per
defin. app. ): Deus vero caret repræsentationibus confusis, ergo Deus ca. ret
appetitu sensitivo. 3 Min prob. Quicumque omnia sibi distinctist sime
repracsentat, repræsentationibus caret confusis (est axioma ): sed Deus omnia
si bi distinctissime repræsentat: caret ergo repræsentationibus confasis. 4.
Min. prob. intellectu gaudens perfcctissi mo omnia sibi distinctissime repræsentat
(per defin. intell. Quum igitur Deus gau deat intellectu perfectissimo: omnia
sibi distictissime repræsentat 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 demonstravimus. 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
Logica ir. sibi distinctissime
repræsentare (defin.) 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 primæ
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, hæc in alios docendo
adhibeatur; adeoque 2. eruditorum
reprehensionem in currant qui ip docendo illam potius, quain hanc sequi amant.
Et quia feracior illa est, hæc 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 De Methodo.
rones ducere via, eosque ad veritatem vel numquam, vel raro admodum
pervenire ** Feracior quidem est analytien methodus quia singula ad examen
revocat, minuta quæ que considerat, atque possibiles omnes fin git casus, inde
ab hac quasi sylva conserta, enodatis extricatisque ambagibus, ad rem ipsam
perveniat; synthetica vero sterilior, et generalibus namque principiis brevi
atque ex pedita via pergit conclusiones. Eadem autem ratione illa difficilior,
hæc facilior est: adeoqne illa viatori tramitis inscio, qui di vinando et om
nia tentando difficiliter quo tedebat pervenit: hæc eidem perito similis, qui
brevi apertaque via iter conficit, et finem ideo suum cito consequitur, . Iam
ad melhodi leges, tum utri que communes cum alterotri peculiares,
tradendas acMilanius. Eas aliquot complc clemur regulis; quarni quinque genera
les, ceteræ vero speciales sunt, analyticæ præsertim methodo inservituræ.
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 hæc 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 pædantismus, hoc est inutile illud memoriæ pondus iudicio destitutum,
et in minimis quibusque sectandis vanam quæ 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 ignorantiæ confusioni sve indicium est: quæ namque ignoramus vel confuse
scimus, ea nimia verborum cir cuitione explicare cogimur. 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 quæstione quam simplicis sime
exprimito. Præ oeulis tamen habeantur,
quæ de de finitionibus diximus Verba: quce obscuritatis aliquid habent,
adcurata definitione dctermina to, in eoque semper sensu adhibeto. Confer quæ diximus SS. De methodo analitica
livec habeto: 6. Ad veritatem inveniendam, quæ 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. Quæcumque cum proposita quæ stione aliquam
habent connexionem di 古 88 Logica Pars II. ligenter
exquirito: omnes possibiles ti bifingito hypotheses: quæcumque ei lu men
adferre possunt, ne rciicito sed Omnia simul colligito et comparato. 8.
Principia quæque 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 hæreto.
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, universæ Matheseos elementis * præmis-. sibi curet reddere
familiare CU sum * Exstant hæc 5. voluminibus in 4. excusa Ha læ Magdeburgicæ. 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 præsenti
capite de probabilitate, quantum satis erit, dicere instituerimus. Est autem
PROBABILITAS status mentis ex indiciis insufficientibus verita ti adhærentis,
cum aliqua tamen op positi formidine, PROBABILIS ergo di cilur enunciatio in
quc adest ratio in sufficiens, cur prædicatum 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 præter consueludiuem; 4. servos cu: n les lis
ante fundum suum collocasse. Probat id
Logica 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 æqualia 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 qnæstionem 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 quædam adsint circumstantiæ, quæ 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, præ certa: consequens est 7. ut
conclusio sit probabilis, si alte rutra præmissarum talis sit. Sed quoniam
conclusionis vis est aggregatum virium præmissarum (s. 82. seqq. ), infertur 8.
ut si utraque præmissarum 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 eæ 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 vitæ
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 historiæ præbeamus: evidens est, historicæ 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
CICERONE (vedasi) 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
historicæ; homines autem ob ignorantiam malitiamve, aut fal li aut fallere
possunt, ut experientia testa tur: consequens est, ut ad adsequendam
probabilitatem historicam cautiones quæ dam adhibendæ 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 ticæ 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, quæ sequuntur,
regulis tam historicam, quam hermeneuticam probabilita tem respicientibus,
nedum librorum genui nitatem integritatsmve expendentibus, gene rales totius
críticæ leges ad singulares spe cies et circumstantias adplicandæ 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 . ): 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 Logica
. OCVLATI, qui factum quod narrant ocu lis perceperunt, vel AVRITI, qui illud
ab aliis audiverunt; et hi denno vel Co ÆVI 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, quæ sua ætate evenerunt, testis coævus, eorum
autem, quæ ante conditam condendanıve urbem, ac per tot sæcula 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. coævos recentiori. bus, inter auritos autem prudentes ru dioribus, eos
tamen, ad quos ex oculato 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. coævi testimonium plurium
contestium narratione augeri, cui nescio quidnam ad probabilitatem ultra deesse
possit, Quod altinet ad res ipsas narratas síve facta; observandumu 9.
probabilitatem si circumstantiæ adsint sibi invicem repugnantes;nihil enim
impossibi le potest esse probabile; 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 probatæ fidei viris unico contesta
narretur; 12. nulla itidem probabilitate gaudere, narrationem, quæ claris
rationibus -aperto repugnat; . non idem tamen dicendum de ea, quæ 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,
Logica in Monte Albano lapidibus pluisse; vel quando, Tarquinio Prisco
regnante, Au guris Attii Nevii cotem novacula discissam refert.: 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 historiæ
suæ proæmio, 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 fabulæ illæ, quibus Mu hamedanum scatet Alkorauum, a Muhamede bifarian
digito divisam partemque in vestis manicam delapsam iterum in coelum repositam;
palmæ 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 sæ culo nefas
habetur id licitum esse alio: tempore potuit. Quis enim ut cum Cornelio Nepote
loquamur, non vitio verteret The bano Epaminondæ, saltasse eumcommode
scienterque tibiis cantasse? Et tamen hæc aliaque nostris moribus indecora
inter eius virtutes commemorantur. Nepos. in Proem. De Veritate probabili. 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 quæ poeticis pigmentis aut oratorio fuco lasciviens aures demulcere
conatur. De Probabilitate physica, politica, et practica. 153.TJÆc de fide
humana, quam qui ritatis præiudicio occupatus conseri debet. Ad alteram nunc
probabilitatis speciem ac Milanius, nempe PHYSICAM; quæ ha betur, quum ex
pluribus phænomenis ad caussam aliquam physicani concludimus, cui illos
tribuimus effectus. Gravesandius eas vocat hypotheses. 8 Probabile est, fluxum
maris à lunæ solisque attractione pendere: nam ex plurie. bus phænomenis hanc
illius caussam ess posse, compertum est. Ad physicam probabilitatem eruen dam
quatuor adhibendæ sunt cautiories: 1. ut phænomenon adstumtum sit certum,
eiusque distincta idea, aut clara saltem, habeatur, ne chimæram pro re, aut nu
bem pro Iunone amplectamur; 2. si phæ nomenon illud sit ab alio relatum ad
historicæ probabilitatis regulas, tamquam ad lydium lapidem, exigatur: 3. eius
porro caussæ omnes pose sibiles investigentur, et.cum phænomeno conferantur; ac
denique 4. ex iis una plu resvc adsumantur, quæ cum omnibus cir cumstantiis
apte conveniant. Quum autem doctrina hæc
ad Physicam fa cultatem pertineat: sufficiat de ea quædam tantum hic notasse:
commodius enim in Phi. sica tractabitur. POLITICA probabilitas ea est, qua ex
alicujus personæ phænomenis 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 . De
Veritate probabili. cludes: Hæc erit probabilitas politica. Lega tur interim
Cl. Heineccii dissertatio: Dein cessu animi indice. Quæ 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 Logicæ
probabilium Nos paucis rem expediemus. Eam Rudige rus vocat, qua ex physicis
vel moralibus principiis futurum aliquem prædicimus 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 prædicunt eversionem,
propte rea quod aliæ res publicæ post easdem cir cumstantias subversæ sint:
adeoque a simi Jium casuum exspectatione practicam eruunt probabilitatem. CA
habetur, quum a quibus dam in Auctoris scripto obviis eius sen. surn eruimus. Sæpe
enim accidit, ut in auctoris alicuius interpretatione quædam occurrant, quæ
multiplicem sensum ad mittunt: tunc ex auctoris fine, verborum significatione,
locorumque collatione pro babiliter colligitur, quidnam auctor ille voluerit
intelligere, idque fit ope ARTIS HERMENEUTICÆ, quæ 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. regnlæ tradantur, opor tet, quarum ope sensus ille quam proba,
bilius investigari possit, соп . De Veritate,probabili. 203 Quumque in his
regulis totius Hermeneuticæ adeoque et Criticæ artis leges Auctorum in
terpretationem respicientes pofitæ fint: non mirum, si a canonibus huic
sectioni subii.. ciendis abstineamus, quippe qui superflui omnino forent, et
loquacitatem potius, quam logicam præcisionem 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, ætatem,
gentis suæ mores ' attendat: unde 6. integrum Auctoris systema præ oculis
babeat, ac de eo secu dnm dome sticas notiones, non ex propriis opinioni bus,
iudicium ferat., quid > * Præclare id monet Clericus Arte Critica. $. 7. et
8. Opor tct, inquit Vir eruditissimus, nostrarum opi nionum veluti oblivisci,
el quærere, veteres illi Magistri senserint non quod sentire dcbuisse nobis
videniur, ut sape rent. 162. Ex eodem principio fluit 7 inter pretein
affectibus, præconceptisque 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 quædam ab indoctis
ignarisque con fectæ typographis, ut Delio sæpe notatore opus habeant.
"Nitidissimæ præ ceteris sunt editiones a Viris claris, qui id oneris
susce perunt, effectæ, quibus multum iure merita debet Respublica
litteraria, De Veritate probabili. Uoniam
magno Hermeneuticæ 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 præditus 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 præcepta trade re conaremus. Id adcurate cxsequutus est
Clericus, quo'nemo elaboratius eam pertra ctare, operæque pretium facere
posset. Nos autem tironibus scribentes, notiones maxime genericas jis
suppeditare adlaboramus; quia, quum perfectum fuerit ipsorum iudicium, et
matura ætas, omnia, quæ 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. * Quæ 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 præcedentibus sectionibus sermonem instituentes præcepta, yeluti per
lancem saluram, ex hibuimus. Earum. LIBER GENUINUS dicitur, qui ab eo, cuius
nomen præ 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 quæstioni locus, De Veritate probabili. Huius corruptionis quatuor caussas tradit
Clericus: nempe Librarios (dictantes perin de, ac scribentes ), Criticos,
impostores, tempus. Satis erit hæc generatim scire guia singillatim
percurrerenon vacat. Criticæ 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 quæ in ipso desunt in
antiquis codicibus inveniantur. Si a
veteribus quædam 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 cohæreant, 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,. 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, quæ scriptor cuius nomen præfert, alibi
constanter defendit, ut plurimum aut spurius esto, aut interpo latus. 6. Idem
iudicium ferto de eo, in quo personæ, facta, uut nomina com memorantur Auctore,
cui tribuitur, recentiora. 7. Spurium quoque aut interpolatum iudicato librum
in quo controversiæ tractantur post Scriptoris tempora na tæ, 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 sæculi, 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 * 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 præcipitan tiam, adeoque in errores prono cursu la
bamurSendus pecialior Logicæ usus nunc evol vendus, nempe PRAXIS, qua mentis
nostræ operationes sint in verita tis investigatione dirigendæ.Veritas inveni
tur vel proprio marte, sive per meditatio nem rite institutam; vel ab aliis
inventa quæritur et ud trutinam revocatur. Quia vero nec meditationi, nec bonæ
lectioni par est, qui hasce lautitias nondum degus tavit: Logicæ 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 bonæ methodi legibus adplicatio.
Meditamur itaque, quum cogitationes nostra's bonæ methodi legibus) 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 , 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 possi. Tirones ergo,
aliique bonæ 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 *} De Veritat. inquisitione. 211 neat, nec illas recte
disponere, nec ordina tam seriem formare valet. Quia ad bonam methodum requi
ritur idearum claritas; ad claritatem autem confert attentio; consequens est 6.
ut qui feliciter meditari vult, attenitonem præcipue colat; quin 7. et præiudiciis
liber et 8. certis indubiisqoe principiis (S. 131 ) præmunitus ad meditandum
accedat. Quum que ad principia referantur præcipue de finitiones (f. eod. ):
recte consequi tur 9. ut res de qua institui vult mcdi. tatio, edcurate
definiatur), ac inde novis definitionibus omnia dividantur. El * Serventur
tamen, quæ de definitionibus, et divisionihu:s
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 tædium ob alterius felicita tem, omitte genus, et habebitur
axioma: Invidia respicit felicitatem alterius: omitte differentiam, eritque
aliud axioma: Invidia est tædium 2. INVERSIONE, si definitio in definiti locum
substituatur. E. g. Qui er alterius felicitate tædium percipit est invi. dus 3.
CONVERSIONE, si aientes pro positiones in negantes convertamus E. g. Qui ex
alterius felicitate non percipit tædium, -non esi invidus; vel eum, qui non est
in vidus, alterius feliciiaiis non tædet. 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
repræ sentetur. 172. Præstructis ita principiis, opor tet il. ut ex eorum
collatione THEO REMATA, vel PROBLEMATA compo nantur, j 12. et unde consequentiæ
im mediatæ 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. Hoc modo ex
principiis 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 hæc 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 tædium 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 tæ dii non est capax,
invidus esse non potest: item ex postulato: ergo ubi non adest feli citatis
repræsentatio, locum non habet invi dia ex secundo item theoremate ergo qui
alterum amat, ei non invidet; atque ita porro. 173. Hæc omnia vero præcepta, ut
æmoriæ 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, quæ haberi poterunt, erues
consectaria. 4. Propositiones - inventas bona me thodo legitimoque nexu
comparato, et id agito, ut omnia per demonstratio nes apte cohæreant. 1 Ita novæ orientur veritates, novaque semper
ratiocinia fluent. Perinde ' vero est, qua met hodo ratiociniorum series in
ordinem rediga tur, modo regulæ alias propositæ rite observeutur. Scol. Sint hæe
satis de meditatione, ei usque legibus, quæ 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,
hæc habibit. §. I. Ex casuum sin vularium observa tione g. 124. seq. ) critor
Amici DEFI TIO: Amicus est persona, quæ 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 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. Quicumque obligatur ad volupiatem
ex aiterius fe licitate capiendan, obligatur ad alte rum amandum. 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: amicus
alteruu amat; ergo amicus alte rius felicitaie delectatur. 5. VI. Ex quo
inmediata consequutico ne cequentia fluunt, IV. AX Cop. IV. De Veritatis
Inquisitione. COROLLARIA. 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. Hinc ergo habentur THEOREMA I. Amicus non est
in vidus. DEMONSTR. Invidus enim est, qili ob'alterius felicitatem taedio
adficitur: 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. Nova rursus inde
sequenlur COROLLARIA. 1. Invidus ergo non si bonus amicus. 2. Qui ergo
nescit Logica Pars. > 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.
Ex quarum prima oriuntur AXIOMAT'A. 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. Oui - iubet primum, praecipit secundum. 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. Conferantur definitiones cum
antecedentibus, indeque nasceutur. De Veritatis Inquisitione. THEOREMA I.
Amicus alterius feli citatem sibi, tamquam bonum, reprae sentat. DEMONSTR.
Alterius enim felicita te delectatur: 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 (def.): 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. 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 amicus sibi alterius
felicitatem statum que durabilis gaudii, tamquam bonum, repraeseníat: er go ea
omnia adpeiit; et promovere stil det. 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,
quod idem est ac promovere eius perfections. F. XX. SCHOL. Est autem legis Natu rae iussum:
Tuas aliorumque promove to perfectiones. Jude ergo oriuntur. COROLLARIA. Amicus
ergo legem Naturae observat. 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. Hæc brevi meditatione
compertæ sunt veritates, Quod si modilatio aliquamdiu proferretur, dici non
potest, quot novæ 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? Logica T 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 quæ 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 quædam adhibenda est in legendis eorum libris, ac proinde Lo
gicæ interest præcepta tradere, quibns in jis ad examen revocandis,
dijudicandisqne veritatibus ab aliis inventis aut exaratis mens dirigatur: id
quod in præsenti 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, De Veritatis Inquisitione. nihil, nisi duorum, quæ 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 quæ acciderunt fidelis narratio, facta vero vel Naturæ 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 Naturæ opera enumerat, altera hominum
vices et facta commemorat, iertia Ecclesiæ 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 Naturæ
opera eno dentur; PARTICVLARIS si alicuius tantum classis, veluti ex Regno
vegetabili, fossili, ani mali etc. SINGVLARIS si alicuius tantummo do plantæ,
lapidis, metalli, aut viventis inventio, usus, incrementum etc, narrentur. Logica . civili, ecclesiastica, et litteraria,
de quibus plura coram . Quia libri vel scripta ideo. legun tur ut veritates ab
aliis inventæ et dete ctæ discántur; ea vero verbis referta sunt, ut auctoris
sensus intelliga. tur (§. 160. ), idest eædem ideæ 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, quæ sine definitione adsumuntur. Et quia claras
ideas ac distinctas adquirere si ne attentione non possumus: se quitur 2. ut ad
id potissimum requiratur attentio, crebriorque repetitio, in libris præcipue
historicis ut facta facilius me inoriæ mandentur. De Veritatis Inquisitione.
Vide quæ de attentione ac repetitione dixi mus in Part. I. cap. 1. Seol. can.
ult. 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 ricæ
probabilitatis regulæ traditæ sunt. 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 Historiæ nituralis finis est obiecta rario ra adcurate
describere, phænomeni alicuius cuncta notatıı digna, partiunqne nexum di
stincte exponere; Civilis est politices civilis que prudentiæ regulas exemplis
et factis con firmare; Ecclesiasticæ scopus est, statum Ecciesiæ, 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
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 præmittantur, per quæ sequentia in
telliguntur: consequens est 4. ut in iis legendis singulæ 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. 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, De l'erit. comm. attenta mque veritatum earumque nexus con
templationem: quæ 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 meinoriæ infi gendis adsueti,
qui vix e pædagogorum 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 tasiæ ductu exercita.
OVampdoquidem a Platone monitum non præclare,
non est no bis solum nati sumus, adeoque nec nobis sed aliorum commoda pro
movere debemus: veritates a nobis dete ctas, vel quæ ab aliis inven tæ nobis
ope lectionis innotuerunt, aliis proponere Natura obligamur. Qui vero verbis
alium ad ignotarum veri talum cognitionem perducit, is eum Do 5 K 6 Logica . Ir. CERE dicitur adeoque DOCTOR CO
gnominatur. Ip Ep. ad Archytam Tarentium.
Vid. CICERONE (vedasi). de Fin. 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. se esse
usque virtutibus ac vitiis aliqua dicere posse mus: nunc, quæ utrique communia
sunt, dispiciemus. Ad calcem denique capitis quæ dam de discentium dotibus æ nævis
com pendii loco addemus. . 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. 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 bonam methodum rigide servet, 7. et si quid
implicatum confu suinque occurrat, distincte explicet. Criterium enim notionis distinctæ est, si cum
aliis eam possimus per verba communi Care: nisi ergo distincta artis suæ docens
cognitione gaudeat, fieri non potest, ut eius præcepta perspicue aliis proponere
queat. CONVICTIO est actio, qua al terum de veritate certum reddimus. Quod quum
fiat demoustrationis ope 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 hæc solet PERSUASIO, quæ quum sit rationibus insufficientibus
innixa, convi ctio dici nequit, quippe quæ 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 CICERONE (vedasi) de In vent. SOLIDITAS est
completa artis, quam profitemur, methodique cognitio, Hinc ergo patet 10
maximam et præci puam doceotium dotem esse soliditatem, adeoque 11. litteratos
superficiarios es se ad scribendum æque, 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
, 3. si propositiones singulæ rig de sini demonstratæ, si bona me thodus in
demonstrando adbibita pec in
demonstrando cir culus irrepserit. Si vero bonæ methodi leges fuerint negle ctæ,
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 bæ 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 præcesserint,
per quæ 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 sufficientiæ 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
Logica > 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 præcipue ) 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. 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 præcipua 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, ægre
ab auditoribus au dietur, quibus abstrahendi ars vel ignota prorsus est, vel
laboriosa: adeoque tædium 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 præditus, 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 tædio, eum adficiat. Tæ 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
operæ 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 præceptis auditores manuducat, seque iis pracheat antecessorem: præcipue
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
præceptis dis crepent, nequicquam laborum suorum fru ctum exspectabit, et
adolescentes exemplum potius malum, quam bonam vocem sequuti Cap. VII. De
verit. commun. 237 nihil, præter præceptoris imitationem, præ 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 hæc 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 hæc 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 propriæ consulens; et tanc nec morun ratio umquam habebitur, et
omnes lucri fa cendi artes promovebuntur. Si hæc omnia ponantor, habebimns
magistrum, vel leo poribus inservientem, in muneris exercitio ne gligentem,
timidum, sui dumtaxat studio abreptum, et ad vilissima quæqne 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, quæ breviter enumera bimus. Eorum
primum et præcipuum 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 quæ 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 explicandæ
verbis uta tur: 5. superfluorum tractatio et necessa riorum omissio, quam veram
ignorantiæ causam esse ait Sencea (S. 103. * ): 6. ser monis barbarics, cui
proxima est obscuri. tas et tædiuin, 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 præditi. Naturalis autem hæc 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 tiæ subsidia
præsto 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, quæ in caussa est, ut auditorum Caplui
genioque se adcommodare, atque media ad finem ducentia excogitare, ac proinde
animis morbo aliquo laborantibus mederi nesciat. Quæ enim prudentia in imperito?
Imprudentiæ quoque debetur illa pædagogo rum imbecillitas, qua inter se invicem
de futilibus inoptisque rebus decertantes, vel aliis invidentes discentium
animos adversus æmulos stimulanti. et ad pueriles irrisiones dicacitatesque
concitant: quo fit, ut ipsi in spretum et abietionem incidant, adolescentes
contra pessimos, audaces, ridiculosque mo res induant. Logica Ad voluntatis
vitia, quæ amorem excludunt, referuntur: AMBITIO, si ve nimia gloriæ laudisque
cupiditas, qua fit, ut vana eruditionis, autº eloquentiæ ostentatione, nimioque
sermonis fuco di sciplinarum præcepta non explicentur, sed implicentur, propriæque
existimationi potius, quam discentium utilitati doctores consulant. AVARITIA,
quæ omnia trabit commodum efficitque, ut sola sit utilitas iusti prope mater et
æqui: VOLVPTATIS CONSECTATIO, quæ 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 frænis alios
lacerandi consuetndo, quæ in caussa fuit, ut de quorumdam adolescentum
petnlantia ad satyras proclivium emunctæ næ 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 præsumtio, qui, ne discipulus supra magistrum esse vie deatur, vel
aliquot sublimiores doctrinas sla . De verit: commun. bi solis reservant, vel sublimia auditornm in
genia deprimunt ac despiciunt. Præterquam quod ambitio in doctoribus novitatis
amorem gignit, eosque opinionum singularium et ab surdarum, sæpe etiam
impietatis studiosos efficit: id quod maximo adolescentihus detri mento est, præcipue
quum auctoritatis præ indicium altius in iis radices agat. Vid Hei nec.
Ethic. Quando quis avaritiæ studet, non
aliorum, sed sua tantum commoda promovet, idque per fas an nefas, nihil sua
referre videtur. Hinc auditorum quosdam opibus pellantes, vel præceptorum
gratiam muneribus ementes reliquis præferunt, eos seorsum instruunt, ac
speciali cura in aliquibns reconditis rebus erudiunt, eaque prædilectione
prosequuntur, ut se aliorum odio, invidiæ vero illos expo nant, adeoque nihil
neque hi pro. ficiant. Art. Logicocritic.
Voluptati nanque dediti plerumque sunt ignavi, desides, et laboris impatientes;
atque inde fit, ut non satis præparati ad doces dum accedcntes in lycæo
quidquid in buccain vererit effutiant, et quia ex abundantia cor dis, ut
Servator ait, os loquitur, bonos persæpe 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 L neque illi reni, ) Logica . aut dissimulant, aut tegunt, aut (quod
val de dolendum ) foede corrumpunt. Præterea in huiusmodi hominibus ridicula quædam
et thrasonica reperitur ambitio, scilicet pædan tismus', quo furentes nusquam,
nisi de suis rebus gestis plurima exaggeranti, auditorum, que risui se
exponunt. 201 • Superest, ut doctrinæ 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 supientiæ umore
Nagrantes. Eo rum porro attentionem excitato sæ pius, ac vitia, quibus eos
laborare per cipis, prudenter sensimque corrigito. 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 .
De Verit. comm. 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 fræno, doctores parvipendentes nihil proficiant, et ad
pessima quæque præcipites ruant. "De Discentium dotibus ac nævisn's 202,
Am de dotibus IAm vitiisque discça tium pauca apperidicis loco ad damus. Eorum
est de veritatibus certos reddi; solidache imbui co gnitione, quæ non nisi es
claris distinctisque oritur notionibus. Ad claras vero ac distinctas ideas
adquirendas requiritur attentio et libertas a præiudiciis: Quidquid ergo
attentionem tur bat, vel præiudicia fovet, ab iis abesse debet. 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 * Bonæ mentis vocabulo
intelligimus non mo do naturalem ingenii perspicaciam, cuius de fectus hominem
reddit cognitionis incapacem, verum etiam animum bene educatum vcræ que
Relligionis amantem: quum Divino oracu lo monituin sit initiuin om nis sapientiæ
esse timorem Domini. Hoc est libertas a
præiudiciis,ut supra di clum est, animique inclinatio ad quæcunque præcepta
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, tædium supervenit., attentio minuitur, que aut parum aut nihil in
studiis profie mus. | Laboris enim impatientia ignorantiæ 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 præiudicio rum
fons est sed at tentionem quoque distrahit aut saltem mi nuit: adeoque solum
oportet esse, qui sa pientiæ sentit amorem. Ex iisdem principiis sponte manant
discentium vitia, qualia sunt 1. Religionis spretus, quem conse quitur
voluntaria præiudiciis adhæsio, 2. mentis hebetudo, 3. attentionis distra ctio,
4. otium et laboris impatientia a dolescenlibus familiarissima, 4. aversio a
studiis vel doctoribus, 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. Quæ de discentium officiis tra lendæ forent regulæ, eæ 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, quæ pro veritatis
disquisitione vel diiudicatione instituuntur. Hæ 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 hæc 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 contrariæ
confutationem. Antequam vero confutatio instituatur opore tet STATVM QVÆSTIONIS
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 quæstio 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; hæc autein requirit, ut con vincendus sit attentus, nec adfectus in
eo attentionem turbantes exciteptur: liquido infertur 5. confutantem ea omnia
quæ attentionem in altero per turbant, atque adfectus excitant, vitare debere;
consequenter 6. a conviciis, ir risionibus, vel consequeniiis periculosis, quæ
confutandi famam lætlunt, abstinen dum esse. Sunt autem PERICVLOSÆ huiusmodi
CONSEQVENTIÆ, quæ non quidem ex genui no Auctoris sensi, sed ex confutantis opi
nione eruuntur, quæque non veritatis de fendendæ gratia deducuntur, sed ut
adver sarii fama in discrimen vocetur, isque alio rum ludibrio exponatur. Harum
porro con sequentiaruin confectores proprio nomine CONSEQVENTIARII vocantur. .
Qaum ergo consequentiæ pericu losæ 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 appellatæ. 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. 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 invidiæ
stimulo perficit. Schol. Quoniam itaque in confutante solius veritatis amor
exigitur: ut in con futatione nihil vel minimum peccetur, hos qui sequuntur,
servare curato. CANONE S. I. A, D confutandum solo veritatis a more, non odio
adversus alte rum ductus accedito. Adversarium soli dis rationibus non
conviciis, dictisve famæ nocentibus de errore et falsitate convincito. 2. Si
obscuro impropriove stilo ad edəssarius scripsit, ut dictionem corriagat, seque
intelligendum præstet, 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 quæstio
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.
impugnantis errores itidem detegimus. Pri mæ 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
studiosæ malo.? . 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 læsit,
scriptis modesto respondeto silentio. la
cedendo victor abibis. Si namque simili
stilo, respondeas, nullum operæ 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
quæstio sit, eum te explicasse sufficiet: si principia impugna tor urgeat eorum
certitudinem ostendas oportet: si in demonstrationibus te ar guere velit,
earuin legitimam connexiouem præ oculis ponere; si vero aliqua consequen tia
absurda tibi impPombaur, aut ipsius conse quentiæ veritatem, aut eam ab
adversario non recte deductam, demonstrare debebis. Quod si persecutor obscuræ
famæ sit, te tacente veritas ipsa loqietur, tuaque mo destia impudeutem
adversarium confusione " obruet. Ad veritatis tandem disquisitionem acMilanius,
quæ non scripto, sed voce fit, quæque 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,
PRÆSES aupellatur. Ex qua definitione liquet 1. di-, sputationem esse
impugnationem proposi tionis veræn 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, præ cipue vero 4. status quæstionis 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, præsertim 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 logomachiæ vitentur. Disputatio vel' ACADEMICA
est, vel DIALECTICA. Illa continuato ac pæne oratorio dicendi genere, hæć 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, quæ 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 prælectionibus,
quæ de ill a dicenda forent, paucis expe diemus. Vides ergo methodum Academicam
ad eru ditionis et eloquentiæ ostentationem in Aca demiis præ se ferendam unice
inventam esse. In disputando autem, quum homini pede stanti in uno ñec eruditio,
nec verborum copia præsto esse possit, Dialectica metho dus merito præterenda, 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 controversiæ sta
tum conjici !). Nihil porro, nisi terminis claris fixisque expressum, in e am
incidito. Obscura quæque 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 hæ
fere partes sunto. 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. 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. ., 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. Logic. 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.. g. 11. SMART (In The
Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy – he lived in London where he was
a mmber of the Athenaeum, the address of which he gives in several of his
essays. He defends Locke from the criicisms of Scot HAMILTON, and especially Irishman
Whately, in ‘Thought and language: an essay having in view the revival,
correction, and exclusive establishment of Locke’s Philosophy, Longman), 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 with. 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
person 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 certain. 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." 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
oco, 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," Edwards quoted by
Tooke, Diversions of Purley. 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 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 Grammar ; 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. 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 convenience, 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. 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 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 -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.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 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. 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. 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 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,
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 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. 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, 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 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.*"ON RHETORIC. 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 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-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 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. When so good a
man as Socrates fell a victim to the madness of the people, truth,
virtue, re- ligion, fell with him."
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 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 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 being 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 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. 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 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. 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
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