Of the Cautions in examining a Process of Reasoning or Inves- Distinction between a Process of Reasoning and a Process of In- Page. Peculiar Condition of the Mind constituting Insanity INTRODUCTION. METHOD OF USING THE BOOK. TO BE CAREFULLY STUDIED BY THE PUPILS AS THEIR FIRST LESSON THE design of the study of Intellectual Philosophy is not merely, as in the case of most other studies, the acquisition of knowledge. Something far more important, and far more difficult to attain, is in view. In the study of Chemistry, History, Geography, and other similar sciences, the main object is to obtain information-to become acquainted with facts. But although the science of Mind does indeed present to view a most valuable and interesting class of facts, it is not merely with reference to these that the study is pursued. This science aims at a higher object. It is intended to introduce the pupil to a new range of thought, and to bring out into action, and consequently into more full development, a new class of faculties. It is its aim to exercise and strengthen the thinking and reasoning-powers, to enable the mind to grasp abstruse and perplexing subjects, to think clearly and to reason correctly, in regard to truths that lie in those depths which the senses cannot explore. Design of the study, what? Compared with other studies. What is its chief aim ? Of course, the study of Intellectual Philosophy is not intended to be an easy one. Its very difficulty is one source of the benefit to be derived from it; for it is by encountering and overcoming this difficulty, that intellectual strength is acquired. In Gymnastics, the exertion necessary to perform the feats is the very means by which the advantage is secured, and it is to require this exertion that the whole apparatus is contrived. Now mathematical and metaphysical studies are intended as a sort of intellectual gymnastics, in which the tasks ought indeed to be brought fairly within the powers of the pupil, but they ought nearly to equal those powers, so as to call them into active and vigorous exercise, or the end will be lost. If, therefore, the writer of a treatise on such a subject comes down so completely to the level of the young as to make the study mere light reading, he fails entirely of accomplishing what ought to be his highest aim. He destroys the difficulty and the advantage together. It is indeed true that a very useful book may be written for children, with the design of merely giving them information on some subjects connected with the structure of their minds. It might be entertaining, and to a considerable degree instructive, but it would answer none of the important purposes which ought to be in view, in the introduction of such a study into literary institutions. It would develop no new reasoning or thinking powers. It would awaken no new intellectual effort. Such being the nature of this study, it is plain that it ought not to be commenced by any pupil without a proper understanding of its object and design. Such an understanding is essential. That it may come more distinctly and definitely before the mind, I propose to enumerate the qualifications which each individual should see that he possesses, before he commences the study of this work. The study difficult. Why? Gymnastics. Difference between reading and study, on this subject. I. Ability to understand the language of the work. It is not a child's book. It was written by a man, and was intended to be read by men. The editor has made no effort to alter it in this respect, so that the book stands on a level, as to its style and language, with the great mass of books intended to influence and interest the mature. It ought to be so; for to be able to understand such writing is necessary for all, and if the pupil is far enough advanced in his education to study metaphysics, it is high time for him to be habituated to it. Let no pupil therefore, after he is fairly engaged in the study, complain that he cannot understand the lessons. is a point which ought to be settled before he begins. Take for instance the following passage, which may perhaps be considered as a fair specimen. Let the pupil read it attentively, and see whether or not he can fully understand it. This "There is a class of intellectual habits directly the re-. verse of those now referred to; namely, habits of inattention, by which the mind, long unaccustomed to have the attention steadily directed to any important object, becomes frivolous and absent, or lost amid its own waking dreams. A mind in this condition becomes incapable of following a train of reasoning, and even of observing facts with accuracy and tracing their relations. Hence nothing is more opposed to the cultivation of intellectual character; and when such a person attempts to reason, or to follow out a course of investigation, he falls into slight and partial views, unsound deductions, and frivolous arguments. This state of mind, therefore, ought to be carefully guarded against in the young, as, when it is once established, it can be removed only by a long and laborious effort, and after a certain period of life is probably irremediable. "In rude and savage life remarkable examples occur of the effect of habits of minute attention to those circumstances to which the mind is intensely directed by their relation to the safety or advantage of the observer. The American First qualification-what? Language of the book. Mode of ascertaining the pupil's ability to understand it. Substance of the passage quoted-what? |