The Art of Logical Thinking; Or, The Laws of ReasoningAtkinson, William Walker
Philosophy
The Art of Logical Thinking; Or, The Laws of Reasoning
Atkinson, William Walker
Logic; Reasoning
Brooks says: "In one sense all judgments are synthetic. A judgment
consists of the union of two ideas and this uniting is a process of
synthesis. This, however, is a superficial view of the process. Such a
synthesis is a mere mechanical synthesis; below this is a
thought-process which is sometimes analytic, sometimes synthetic and
sometimes neither analytic nor synthetic."
The same authority states: "The act of mind described is what is known
as _logical judgment_. Strictly speaking, however, every intelligent act
of the mind is accompanied with a _judgment_. To know is to discriminate
and, therefore, to judge. Every sensation or cognition involves a
knowledge and so a judgment that it exists. The mind cannot think at all
without judging; to think is to judge. _Even in forming the notions
which judgment compares, the mind judges._ Every notion or concept
implies a previous act of judgment to form it: in forming a concept, we
compare the common attributes before we unite them; and comparison is
judgment. It is thus true that 'Every concept is a contracted judgment;
every judgment an expanded concept.' This kind of judgment, by which we
affirm the existence of states of consciousness, discriminate qualities,
distinguish percepts and form concepts, is called _primitive or
psychological judgment_."
In Logical Judgment there are two aspects; _i.e._, Judgment by Extension
and Judgment by Intension. When we compare the two concepts _horse_ and
_animal_ we find that the concept _horse_ is contained in the concept
_animal_ and the judgment that "_a horse is an animal_" may be
considered as a Judgment by Extension. In the same comparison we see
that the concept _horse_ contains the _quality of animality_, and in
attributing this quality to the _horse_, we may also say "_the horse is
an animal_," which judgment may be considered as a Judgment by
Intension. Brooks says: "Both views of Judgment are correct; the mind
may reach its judgment either by extension or by intension. The method
by extension is usually the more natural."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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