Logic - Deductive and Inductive by Carveth Read
page 40 of 478 (08%)
page 40 of 478 (08%)
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degree of congruity; yet, unfortunately, I cannot believe it: there
seems to be no such cheap defence of innocence. Now, Mill held that Logic is concerned with the grounds of belief, and that the scope of Logic includes Induction as well as Deduction; whereas, according to Hamilton, Induction is only Modified Logic, a mere appendix to the theory of the "forms of thought as thought." Indeed, Mill endeavoured in his _Logic_ to probe the grounds of belief deeper than usual, and introduced a good deal of Metaphysics--either too much or not enough--concerning the ground of axioms. But, at any rate, his great point was that belief, and therefore (for the most part) the Real Proposition, is concerned not merely with the relations of words, or even of ideas, but with matters of fact; that is, both propositions and judgments point to something further, to the relations of things which we can examine, not merely by thinking about them (comparing them in thought), but by observing them with the united powers of thought and perception. This is what convinces us that _water rusts iron_: and the difficulty of doing this is what prevents our feeling sure that _murderers are haunted by the ghosts of their victims_. Hence, although Mill's definition of a proposition, given above, is adequate for propositions in general; yet that kind of proposition (the Real) with regard to which Logic (in Mill's view) investigates the conditions of proof, may be more explicitly and pertinently defined as 'a predication concerning the relation of matters of fact.' § 5. This leads to a very important distinction to which we shall often have to refer in subsequent pages--namely, the distinction between the Form and the Matter of a proposition or of an argument. The distinction between Form and Matter, as it is ordinarily employed, is easily understood. An apple growing in the orchard and a waxen apple on the table may have the same shape or form, but they consist of different |
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