Now what I have to repeat in this connection is, that you should, in
your debates, overhaul portions or chapters of systematic logic, with a
view to present the difficulties in their natural position in the
subject. You might, for example, take up the question as to the Province
of logic, with its divisions, parts, and order--all which admit of many
various views--and bring forward the vexed controversies under lights
favourable to their resolution. Regarding logic as an aid to the
faculties in tackling whatever is abstruse, you should endeavour to
cultivate and enhance its powers, in this particular, by detailed
exposition and criticism of all its canons and prescriptions. The
department of Classification is a good instance; a region full of
delicate subtleties as well as "bread-and-butter" applications.
It is in this last view of logic that we can canvass philosophical
systems upon the ground of their method or procedure alone. Looking at
the absence, in any given system, of the arts and precautions that are
indispensable to the establishment of truth in the special case, we may
pronounce against it, _a priori_; we know that such a system can be true
only by accident, or else by miracle.
Pages:
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186