Reformed Logic: A System Based on Berkeley's Philosophy with an Entirely New Method of DialecticMcLachlan, D. B.
Philosophy
Reformed Logic: A System Based on Berkeley's Philosophy with an Entirely New Method of Dialectic
McLachlan, D. B.
Logic
Another Samradian--or perhaps the same individual--having
married the daughter of a rich man, she, on finding out
her husband's creed, proposed to have some amusement at his
expense. One day the Samradian brought in a bottle of pure
wine, which during his absence she emptied of its contents and
filled with water. When the time for taking wine arrived she
poured out water instead of wine, into a gold cup which was
her own property. The Samradian having observed, 'Thou hast
given me water instead of wine,'--she answered, 'It is only
ideal; there was no wine in existence.' The husband then said,
'Thou hast spoken well; hand me the cup that I may go to
a neighbour's house and bring it back full of wine.' He
thereupon took out the gold cup, which he sold, and instead
of it brought back an earthen vessel full of wine. The wife on
seeing this said, 'What hast thou done with the golden cup?'
He replied, 'Thou art surely thinking of some ideal
golden cup'--on which the woman greatly regretted her
witticism.--_Dabistán_, v. i. p. 199-200.]
REDACTION OF COLLOQUIAL ARGUMENTS
XXVIII
A clever man has said that the use of language is to conceal thought.
Its primary use is certainly not to reveal thought, but to enable
one person to produce an effect on the mind of another or of others,
either for their or his own advantage. In the course of using
speech as an instrument of command, entreaty, persuasion, menace, or
fustigation, it may happen that the movements of the speaker's mind
are revealed to some extent, but this is a mere incident, not the main
purpose of the speech.
Grammar is the system of rules which govern the use of language in its
primary and ordinary capacity.
It follows from this that language is in no sense a revelation of the
reasoning processes, nor do the rules of grammar coincide with the
laws of intellect. It is just as reasonable to expect to find the
metaphysic of thought revealed in any of the industrial and fine arts,
as to look for it in the structure of speech. Aristotle drew his logic
from the composition of the Greek sentence--he might as well have
sought for logic in the constitution of the Greek buskin.[16]
Even when men begin to reason aloud and seek to render their logical
movements as evident as possible, they are so hampered by the ordinary
habits and rules of speech that their meaning is often difficult or
impossible of comprehension. Whence arises the necessity, if we would
reason aloud to any purpose, of redacting or translating language from
the vernacular into a dialect more indicative of the logical processes
that take place when we reason.
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