INTELLECTUAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE 251

word " therefore," have been already referred to in our fourth

chapter,* but here they must be considered more fully.

Of the many truths to a perception of which the human

mind has attained, a large proportion have been reached

by reasoning, and the reasoning process is, as we all know,

one so important even to the progress of science, that any

attempt to dispense with its use would be an endeavour

fit only for a lunatic. For an exploration of the groundwork

of science, a clear perception of the validity of the process

of reasoning is an indispensable antecedent. Of course,

it is in the first place necessary that all reasoning should

be strictly logical. Logic has two ends in view : one is to

teach us how to avoid certain errors, the commission of

which would vitiate all our reasoning ; the other is the

manifestation of truths which are involved in and depend

upon the recognition of other antecedent truths, from the

truth of which they necessarily follow as consequences.

It is with the latter end of Logic we are here concerned,

and we have to make manifest the fact that the conclusion

of any properly constructed syllogism, the premisses of

which are true, is a proposition which, as a consequence,

is necessarily and self-evidently true.

If it is really a fact that all female whales have mammary

glands, or organs for suckling their young, then if a

particular animal just caught turns out to be a female

whale, then we may, in that case, most confidently expect

to find it provided with such organs.

But many objections have been made to such syllogistic

reasoning on the ground that the conclusion is already

contained in the premisses. If "all men are mortal," such

objectors say, then those who know that, know that any

special man, such as Socrates, is mortal also, and, therefore,

the assertion that he is mortal can be nothing more than

* See ante, p. 103.

word " therefore," have been already referred to in our fourth

chapter,* but here they must be considered more fully.

Of the many truths to a perception of which the human

mind has attained, a large proportion have been reached

by reasoning, and the reasoning process is, as we all know,

one so important even to the progress of science, that any

attempt to dispense with its use would be an endeavour

fit only for a lunatic. For an exploration of the groundwork

of science, a clear perception of the validity of the process

of reasoning is an indispensable antecedent. Of course,

it is in the first place necessary that all reasoning should

be strictly logical. Logic has two ends in view : one is to

teach us how to avoid certain errors, the commission of

which would vitiate all our reasoning ; the other is the

manifestation of truths which are involved in and depend

upon the recognition of other antecedent truths, from the

truth of which they necessarily follow as consequences.

It is with the latter end of Logic we are here concerned,

and we have to make manifest the fact that the conclusion

of any properly constructed syllogism, the premisses of

which are true, is a proposition which, as a consequence,

is necessarily and self-evidently true.

If it is really a fact that all female whales have mammary

glands, or organs for suckling their young, then if a

particular animal just caught turns out to be a female

whale, then we may, in that case, most confidently expect

to find it provided with such organs.

But many objections have been made to such syllogistic

reasoning on the ground that the conclusion is already

contained in the premisses. If "all men are mortal," such

objectors say, then those who know that, know that any

special man, such as Socrates, is mortal also, and, therefore,

the assertion that he is mortal can be nothing more than

* See ante, p. 103.