imposed by a superior upon an inferior and sanctioned by a penalty for
disobedience. But by the 'laws of nature' are meant merely certain
uniformities among natural phenomena; for instance, the 'law of
gravitation' means that every particle of matter does invariably
attract every other particle of matter in the universe.

9. The word 'law' is transferred by a metaphor from one of these
senses to the other. The effect of such a command as that described
above is to produce a certain amount of uniformity in the conduct of
men, and so, where we observe uniformity in nature, we assume that it
is the result of such a command, whereas the only thing really known
to us is the fact of uniformity itself.

10. Now in which of these two senses are we using the term 'laws of
thought'? The laws of the land, it is plain, are often violated,
whereas the laws of nature never can be so [Footnote: There is a sense
in which people frequently speak of the laws of nature being violated,
as when one says that intemperance or celibacy is a violation of the
laws of nature, but here by 'nature' is meant an ideal perfection in
the conditions of existence.]. Can the laws of thought be violated in
like manner with the laws of the land? Or are they inviolable like the
laws of nature?

11. In appearance they can be, and manifestly often are violated-for
how else could error be possible? But in reality they can not. No man
ever accepts a contradiction when it presents itself to the mind as
such: but when reasoning is at all complicated what does really
involve a contradiction is not seen to do so; and this sort of error
is further assisted by the infinite perplexities of language.