Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by HARPER & BROTHERS, 34307 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFACE. LITTLE preface is needed. The treatise is not elementary in the sense of bringing the subject within the grasp of immature minds. This I believe to be impracticable, and no such profession is made. It is elementary in the sense that it begins at the beginning, supposing the reader to have no previous knowledge of the subject. Its extent is such that one who masters its contents will be in possession of the technical details of the science, acquainted with its established doctrines, and prepared to study with profit and interest advanced treatises. It is, in general, a reproduction of the old Logic. Whatever scorn the modern student may have for antiquity, he must know its doctrine respecting Thought if he would read intelligently the recent literature of the subject, even that in sympathy with him, for it is permeated with the terminology and the doctrines of the ancient logicians. The treatise reverts to Aristotle, and is largely a restatement of his theory as colored by filtration through mediæval mind. "Since his day," says Kant, "Logic has taken no backward step, and also up to this time it has been able to take no step forward, and thus, to all appearance, is concluded and perfected." A fiery trial for ages has neither consumed it nor refined it, and it is likely to remain perpetually an accepted part of the sum of human knowledge. Hence, in treating the old Logic, I have aimed at clear, correct, and complete statement rather than at any modification. Of late years many innovations have been proposed, some of which are examined and criticised. Whenever in the treatise a new view is offered, it is distinctly indicated as such. A great number and variety of examples, both for illustration and for praxis, mitigating somewhat the severity of the subject, seemed to me desirable. They have been collected from every available source; some are ancient, some modern, many are newly invented. I have used with great freedom standard authors, keeping constantly at hand Arnauld, Whately, Hamilton, Mansel, Thomson, De Morgan, Mill, and Bain, and a dozen or more school-book writers, profited by their research, and adopted their views and phraseology whenever it seemed advantage Abundant references to them, together with this general acknowledgment, will, I hope, be deemed sufficient. I have not sought to embellish the margin with recondite matter, but have added many references to other accessible works, hoping to lead the reader into yet wider fields. The treatise has been prepared with much pains. That there are no blunders in it would be too much to hope, but it is sent to its account with all its imperfections on its head. If, on the whole, it is a good book, it will live and be useful; if not, it will die, the sooner the better. NOAI K. DAVIS. UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. |