| axioms, in Bacon's terms) and to
| render superfluous the required
| induction which would gradually lead
| from one point to the other. This
| instantaneous slip from empirical
| data to rational and essential dogmas
| is made possible by the very nature
| of the human mind. Left to itself,
| the mind hurries toward certainty; it
| is prone to gain assent and consent;
| it fills the imagination with idols,
| untested generalities. And it is this
| natural haste and prejudice which
| gives mental activity its
| anticipative form. By themselves,
| anticipations draw the most general
| principles from immediate experience,
| in order to proceed, as quickly as
| possible, to the formal deduction of
| consequences. Therefore, however
| paradoxical it may appear, the old
| logic is unduly empirical and unduly
| logical. And the critique of
| formalism [formalism draws the
| conclusions from the premises without
| inquiring upon the truth of the
| premises] must be attended by the
| critique of the nature of the human
| mind.
|