A Class Room Logic: Deductive and Inductive, with Special Application to the Science and Art of Teaching — John Shaqi
A Class Room Logic: Deductive and Inductive, with Special Application to the Science and Art of TeachingMcNair, George Hastings
Philosophy
A Class Room Logic: Deductive and Inductive, with Special Application to the Science and Art of Teaching
McNair, George Hastings
Logic
An analogous development is seen in the thinking mind. The little
child thinks in _lumps_, and these lumps are only faultily linked
together, but the adult thinks in terms of the _grains_ of the lump,
each grain having its place, which it must occupy for the sake of all
the other grains as well as the entire lump. The child’s thinking is
vague, general and inaccurate, while the adult’s thinking should be
definite, specialized and accurate. Thinking in the lump means little
discrimination and very faulty integration or unity, while thinking
in terms of the grains means detailed discrimination and perfect
integration. To illustrate: The child sees a dog trotting along the
side walk which, according to the suggestion of his mother, he learns
to call “bow-wow.” Later he observes a cat and at once says “bow-wow,”
because all that the child notes is that something with legs, ears
and a tail is trotting along the side walk. Anything which fits these
general marks is a “bow-wow.” Similarly when a child first observes
a robin perched on a gate post he fails to distinguish between the
two――it is _all_ bird from the top of the robin’s head to the bottom
of the gate post.
Progress in thinking is measured by progress in discrimination. The
skilled thinker divides the large unit into very small units, compares
these with each other and then reunites them into a more perfect and
unified whole. First there is an analysis and then a synthesis. Like a
shuttle the power of thought works in and out; it goes in to separate,
it comes out to unify.
There is another aspect in the analogy between the life of the
physical and mental worlds. Somewhere in the order of progress there is
a connecting link between the mineral and vegetable kingdoms, likewise
between the vegetable and animal kingdoms. The sensation is as much
a state of feeling as an act of knowing and consequently is the
connecting link between the _feeling_ mind and the _knowing_ mind. If
the percept is the result of thinking as well as intuition then it may
stand for the dividing line between the _knowing_[4] mind and the
_thinking_ mind.
=9. THE CONCEPT AS A THOUGHT PRODUCT.=
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