A System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive, 7th Edition, Vol. I
John Stuart Mill · en
§ 5. We have already proceeded far enough, not only to demonstrate the
error of Hobbes, but to ascertain the real import of by far the most
numerous class of propositions. The object of belief in a proposition,
when it asserts anything more than the meaning of words, is generally,
as in the cases which we have examined, either the co-existence or the
sequence of two phenomena. At the very commencement of our inquiry, we
found that every act of belief implied two Things: we have now
ascertained what, in the most frequent case, these two things are,
namely two Phenomena, in other words, two states of consciousness; and
what it is which the proposition affirms (or denies) to subsist between
them, namely either succession or co-existence. And this case includes
innumerable instances which no one, previous to reflection, would think
of referring to it. Take the following example: A generous person is
worthy of honour. Who would expect to recognise here a case of
co-existence between phenomena? But so it is. The attribute which causes
a person to be termed generous, is ascribed to him on the ground of
states of his mind, and particulars of his conduct: both are phenomena:
the former are facts of internal consciousness; the latter, so far as
distinct from the former, are physical facts, or perceptions of the
senses. Worthy of honour admits of a similar analysis. Honour, as here
used, means a state of approving and admiring emotion, followed on
occasion by corresponding outward acts. "Worthy of honour" connotes all
this, together with our approval of the act of showing honour. All these
are phenomena; states of internal consciousness, accompanied or followed
by physical facts. When we say, A generous person is worthy of honour,
we affirm co-existence between the two complicated phenomena connoted by
the two terms respectively. We affirm, that wherever and whenever the
inward feelings and outward facts implied in the word generosity have
place, then and there the existence and manifestation of an inward
feeling, honour, would be followed in our minds by another inward
feeling, approval.
After the analysis, in a former chapter, of the import of names, many
examples are not needed to illustrate the import of propositions. When
there is any obscurity, or difficulty, it does not lie in the meaning of
the proposition, but in the meaning of the names which compose it; in
the extremely complicated connotation of many words; the immense
multitude and prolonged series of facts which often constitute the
phenomenon connoted by a name. But where it is seen what the phenomenon
is, there is seldom any difficulty in seeing that the assertion conveyed
by the proposition is, the co-existence of one such phenomenon with
another; or the succession of one such phenomenon to another: their
_conjunction_, in short, so that where the one is found, we may
calculate on finding both.