LENOX

LIBRARY

NEW YORK

:

THE

ELEMENTS

OF

LOGICK.

1.

INTRODUCTIΟΝ.

Importance of the Know ledge of ourfelves.

Fall the human Sciences, that concerning Man, is certainly the moft worthy of Man, and the moft neceffary Part of Knowledge. We find ourselves in this World furrounded with a Variety of Objects; we have Powers and Faculties fitted to deal with them, and are happy or miferable in proportion as we know how to frame a right Judgment of Things, and shape our Actions agreeably to the Circumstances in which we are placed. No Study therefore is more important than that which introduces us to the Knowledge of ourselves. Hereby we become acquainted with the Extent and Capacity of the human Mind, and learning to diftinguish what Objects it is fuited to, and in what manner it muft proceed, in order to compass its Ends, we arrive by degrees at that Juftness and Truth of Understanding, which is the great Perfection of a rational Being.

Different

Gradations of
Perfections in

II. IF we look attentively into Things, and furvey them in their full Extent, we see them rifing one above another in various Degrees of Eminence. Among the inanimate Parts of Matter fome exhibit nothing worthy our Attention, their Parts seem as it were jumbled together by mere Chances VOL. II.

B

Things.

nor

nor can we discover any Beauty, Order, or Regularity in
their Composition. In others we difcern the finest Ar-
rangement, and a certain Elegance of Contexture, that makes
us affix to them a Notion of Worth and Excellence. Thus
Metals, and precious Stones, are conceived as far furpaffing
those unformed Mafics of Earth, that lie every where expofed
to view. If we trace Nature onward, and pursue her through
the vegetable and animal Kingdoms, we find her still multiply-
ing her Perfections, and rifing by a just Gradation, from mere
Mechanism to Perception, and from Perception in all its vari-
ous Degrees, to Reason and Understanding.

Usefulness of
III. BUT though Reafon be the Boundary, by
Culture, and which Man is diftinguished from the other Crea-
particularly
tures that furround him, yet we are far from
finding it the fame in all. Nor is this Inequality

of the Study

of Logick.

to be wholly afcribed to the original Make of Men's Minds, or the Difference of their natural Endowments. For if we look abroad into the several Nations of the World, fome are over-run with Ignorance and Barbarity, others flourish in Learning and the Sciences; and what is yet more remarkable, the fame People have, in different Ages, been diftinguished by these very oppofite Characters. It is therefore by Culture, and a due Application of the Powers of our Minds, that we increase their Capacity, and carry human Reason to Perfection. Where this Method is followed, Knowledge and Strength of Understanding never fail to enfue; where it is neglected, we remain ignorant of our own Worth: and those latent Qualities of the Soul, by which the is fitted to furvey this vaft Fabrick of the World, to scan the Heavens, and search into the Causes of Things, lie buried in Darkness and Obscurity. No Part of Knowledge therefore yields a fairer Prospect of Improvement, than that which takes account of the Understanding, examines its Powers and Faculties, and shews the Ways by which it comes to attain its various Notions of Things. This is properly the Design of Logick, which may be justly stiled the Hiftory of the human Mind, inasmuch as it traces the Progress of our Knowledge, from our first and simple Perceptions, through all their different Combinations, and all those numerous Deductions that result from varioufly comparing them one with another. It is thus that we are let into the natural Frame and Contexture of our own Minds, and learn in what manner we ought to conduct our Thoughts, in order to arrive at Truth, and avoid Error. We fee how to build one Difcovery upon another, and by preferving the Chain of

Reai

Reasonings uniform and unbroken, to pursue the Relations of
Things through all their Labyrinths and Windings, and at
length exhibit them to the View of the Soul, with all the
Advantages of Light and Conviction.

Operations of

IV. BUT as the Understanding in advancing from one Part of Knowledge to another, proceeds by a just Gradation, and exerts various Acts, according to the different Progress it has made, Logicians have been careful to note these several Steps, and have diftinguilhed them in their Writings by the Name of the Operations of the Mind. These they make four in Number, and agreeably to that, have divided the whole System of Logick into four Parts, in which these Acts are severally explained, and the Conduct and Procedure of the Mind, in its different Stages of Improvement, regulated by proper Rules and Obfervations. Now, in order to judge how far Logicians

I have followed Nature, in this Distinction of the Power of the Understanding, let us take a short View of the Mind, and the manner of its Progrefs, according to the Experience we have of it in ourselves, and fee whither the Chain of our own Thoughts will without Constraint lead us.

V. FIRST then, we find ourselves furrounded

with a Variety of Objects, which acting diffe- Perception. rently upon our Senfes, convey distinct Impressions into the Mind, and thereby rouse the Attention and Notice of the Understanding. By reflecting too on what passes within us, we become fenfible of the Operations of our own Minds, and attend to them as a new Set of Impressions. But in all this there is only bare Consciousness. The Mind, without procceding any farther, takes notice of the Impreffions that are made upon it, and views Things in order, as they present themselves one after another. This Attention of the Underftanding to the Object acting upon it, whereby it becomes fenfible of the Impressions they make, is called by Logicians Perception; and the Notices themselves, as they exift in the Mind, and are there treasured up to be the Materials of Thinking and Knowledge, are diftinguished by the Name of

Ideas.

Judgment.

VI. Bur the Mind does not always reft fatiffied in the bare View and Contemplation of its Ideas. It is of a more active and bufy Nature, and likes to be affembling them together, and comparing them one with another. In this complicated View of Things, it readily difcerns, that some agree, and others difagree, and joins or Eparates them according to this Perception. Thus upon comparing

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1

paring the Idea of two added to two, with the Idea of four, we at first Glance perceive their Agreement, and thereupon pronounce that two and two are equal to four. Again, that white is not black, that five is less than seven, are Truths to which we immediately assent, as foon as we compare those Ideas together., This is the first and fimpleft Act of the Mind, in determining the Relations of Things, when by a bare Attention to its own Ideas, comparing any two of them together, it can at once see how far they are connected or disjoined. The Knowledge thence derived is called intuitive, as requiring no Pains or Examination; and the Act of the Mind affembling its Ideas together, and joining or disjoining them according to the Result of its Perceptions, is what Logicians term Judgment.

VII. INTUITION affords the highest degree of Reasoning. Certainty, it breaks in with an irrefiftible Light upon the Understanding, and leaves no room for Doubt or Hesitation. Could we in all Cases, by thus putting two Ideas together, difcern immediately their Agreement or Difagreement, we should be exempt from Error, and all its fatal Consequences. But it so happens, that many of our Ideas are of fuch a Nature, that they cannot be thus examined in Concert, or by any immediate Application one to another; and then it becomes necessary to find out some other Ideas, that will admit of this Application, that by means of them we may difcover the Agreement or Disagreement we search for. Thus the Mind wanting to know the Agreement or Difagreement in Extent, between two inclofed Fields, which it cannot so put together, as to discover their Equality or Inequality, by an immediate Comparifon, casts about for some intermediate Idea, which by being applied first to the one, and then to the other, will discover the Relation it is in quest of. Accordingly it affumes fome stated Length, as a Yard, &c. and measuring the Fields, one after the other, comes by that means to the Knowledge of the Agreement or Disagreement in question. The intervening Ideas, made use of on these Occafions, are called Proofs; and the Exercisfe of the Mind in finding them out, and applying them for the Discovery of the Truths it is in search of, is what we term Reasoning. And here let it be obferved, that the Knowledge gained by Reasoning, is a Deduction from our intuitive Perceptions, and ultimately founded on them. Thus in the Cafe before-mentioned, having found by measuring, that one of the Fields makes threefcore fquare Yards, and the other only fifty-five, we thence conclude