Search -
Outlines Of Cosmic Philosophy 2 volumes (Notable American Authors)
Outlines Of Cosmic Philosophy 2 volumes - Notable American Authors Author:John Fiske Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IX PHILOSOPHY AS AN ORGANON THE absence of Logic, as a distinct science, from the Comtean classification, has by most critics been rightly regarded as... more » a serious defect. Nevertheless, before we can intelligently find fault with Comte, we must make sure that we understand his grounds for assigning to Logic no independent position. The explanation is more deeply implicated with his fundamental conception of the Scope of Philosophy than has generally been suspected. But let us begin by considering the more obvious aspects of the case. The science of logic consists of two portions, — the doctrine of the syllogism, and the general theory of induction, the latter comprising a codification on the one hand of the methods of research, and on the other hand of the laws of evidence. But this twofold province of logic can hardly be said to have been clearly indicated until the publication of Mr. Mill's treatise. From the days of Aristotle down to the time when Comte wrote the " Philosophie Positive," the logic officially recognized and taught assuch consisted almost exclusively of the doctrine of the syllogism. Besides this there was nothing save the Baconian logic, containing indeed many valuable hints for inquirers, but not organized into a coherent system. Now Comte held in small esteem the syllogistic logic. He held, and justly, that something besides the scholastic quibbling over Baroco, Camestres, and Barbara, was needed in prosecuting the search after new truths. To attempt, by prolonged dealing in these dialectic subtleties, to acquire the art of correct reasoning, was, in his opinion, much like trying to learn the art of correct speaking by prolonged study of the rules of grammar. Men do not learn to swim, to fence, or to hunt, by reading elaborate treatises on gymnastic...« less