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ARCHBISHOP WHATELY AND THE PORT BQYAL LOGIC . .- ; ¦ , Sib , —Mr . Thomas Spencer Baynea has favoured the public with a new translation of the famous P < w < £ Royal LogiCy for whicheveryEnglish stwlent of reasoning is his debtor . -. Besides a body of , rare knqwledge not before accessible to the pr ^ ary . reader , l £ r , Baynes ' s admirable introduction mentions many anterior ' logicians , of interest ; * om which we see that some curious historical omissions , have been made by the most eminent of modern Oxford writers on this subject . '' . : - - ''¦' : ¦ ¦ " ' ¦"•¦ ¦ • - . ¦ ¦ ¦• - ¦ ¦¦ ' ¦¦¦ ¦ ¦ ; •"¦¦ -v - ^ . ¦ ¦¦ ¦¦ - . i - Dr . Whately > indeed , disclaims , in his work on Logic , any intention of presenting a history of logical writers , but he does profess to give ** a rapid glance at the series down to the present day , and of th £ general tendency of their labours . " Yet , afte * mentioningBdethius , he cites merely Bacon , Locke , and Wattsj and the reader is left with the impression that these a ^ e . the only noticeable logicians of modern times . * Following , however , the Introduction of Mr , Baynes , we find that this " rapid , glance' * , might have been
wider and more particular . After Boethius , we hear from Mr . Bayhes of such irien as ' L' aurentius Valla and Ludovicus Vives , whom" Mr j Baynes' describes as men of really independent thought . Thomas Granger , " preacher of God ' s Word , " wrote a book of note in 1620 . The grandfather ' ¦ of Sjr Kenelm Digby pub : lushed a work previously , in 15819 . Abraham France in 1588 , and Zachary Coke in 1654 , both English gentlemen of Lincoln ' s-inn and Gray ' s-ihn , were , it appears , authors of works on Ldgic , " able , curious , learned , and of considerable scientific value . "
But the student of limited means of research is very much interested in . discovering that'there existed , two centuries ago , a French Whately-H-one Antony Arnauld , a man who did so much for Logic ,, and wrote tip many memorable " things thereupon , that it is not possible , , to estimate the essayist . of the Encyclopcedia Metropolitana relatively , without ; unoHrstanding the chief author of the Port Royat Logic . Yet the Archbishop of Dublin , the essayist above referred to , is silent about Arnauld .
The hopeless rigidity which had fallen on the science of Logi < j—the puerility of its examples- —the contempt of the vulgar and exaggeration of the learned , are main points winch Archbishop Whately notices ; and scholars regard him for the ability with which he corrects the errors , animates the . illustrations , and moderates the pretensions of the science . It would , however , have interested many to have been told that this had been done before for the French people ; that Antony Arnauld bad recast the same subject with a vivacit y of criticism , freshness of illustration , and withal a human sympathy , which redeemed logical science from contempt , and placed it on a level with the advancing philosophy of his time . ,
It has escaped me , upon several examinatipns , if Dr . Whatol y mentions the Por , t ityyalJLogio at all , Certainly the name . of Arnauld it | pmittcd in his " series ^ logical writers /' , It is not poasiblo that Archbishop Wlmtel y was unacqxnaintod with him , . Aldrich , wtyom Whatoly so often quotes , mentions him , and , Aldrich is the only older Oxford writer whom , Mr , Baynes remembers to have alluded to him . Coincidences of illustration , » s well as spirit , seem to suggoBt Di \ Whately ' s acquaintance with Arnauld . In Book IV ., chap , iij ., § 1 ,
Whatelyremarks :- —** Inferring and Proving are not two different things , but the same thing regarded in two ^ i ^^ t points of ' ' view : like the road from Londo ^ n to York ; and the road ' frorgi York to iiondon . " Arnauld . expressly says , ( Part IV . chap i ter-ii ., of the Pbh t f&ytfiogic , } that "' the two methods of analysis andsyiit ^ sjs « di ^ ascend ; frpm V Valley ¦ ' to a mountain , fromthat by which , we , descend from the inountain into the valley . " Whately-signalizes his Logic by taking a great sceptic , and trying ^ strength upon , him . ; Arnauld did the , same thhig in his Lpgip . The analogy is re-¦ ¦
maskable . - ( .. , ., .., -, .. ., . ;• . , -.. * ... ,. .. . ¦ -: . „ • Arjiauld , iiitusfirst' ^ % ourse ,. obseryes , in relation to Mo ^ Signe ^ the Hume of France , thjat after Montaigne , had said t " hat the Academics , were different from the £ yrrhp ^^ that some things were more probable , than others , which . the , Pyrrhpnists would not allow , Montaigne declares ^ hunsei £ pn theside of the Pyrrhpnists in these terms : —" Tjhe opinion of the Pyrrhpnists is { bolder and much more p fobatie /* To this , Arnauld quickly adds :- — " Tiere are , ihe ^ efor ^ , some things which are more ^ wofe ^ . than oth ers . " , In Dr . ' WJiately * s refutation of Hume , turning upo # an -illicit process of a major and
ambiguous middle term ,, there is nothing half so brilliant as this . ,, . ., . ,, ; f . ¦¦ ¦ .,: . '¦¦ ¦ ' , •• ¦¦^ ere this the place toi enter upon , the subject , many other remarkajbiepoints pf similaritybetween Whately and Arnauld might be shown . But I , continue the instances which warranted the mention ' pf Arnauld's name hj :, his eminent continuatpr' in our day . . i > r . WJbatel ^ perfectly ^! familiar with his subject , which he . ha ^^ sfeted , restated , and it . appears revised eleyejtt dijTOrie ' nt times . , undoubtedly presents us with happy formulas of expression . _ ' . In one instance , the most proniinent pWhsaps of his realizations , he tells us that tlw ' func ^ pn of logic -, 1 b to exhibit reasoning in such a manner that the validity of an argument shall
be evident from the * mere / prm , of the expression . But . is jthis Qpinparabjie ^ in suggpstiveness or instruction&r the student , to tjhej ^ eduction of , the general laws ' o ) f syllogism to the sing | e ,, principle : of ; the Fort Royqi % Q 0 ib $ w % , lit chapterVx . )/ that " oneof the ^ premTses' must contain ' the conclusion , and the other show \ thtipbM doessoV . The student of Whately has his attention drawn to many able , and is also entertained with some trivial , objectipna to Logic , ' eppibated ; with gravity by his ,
Grace , while in Arnauld are to be found profound objections , which pass unnptieed . The opening of the third jpart of the , PoH Royal Logic contains this pas sage , alike admirable for its penetration and candour" It may be doubted whether Logic is really as useful as it % aa been supposed to be . The greater part pf the errors of men arises , much more from their reasoning on false principles than from their reasoning wrongly on their nrincinles . It rarely happens that men allow
themselves to b ( B deceived by reasonings which are false , only because the consequences are ill deduced ; and those who are not capable of discovering such errors by the , light ; of reason alone , would not commonly understand the rules which are given for this purpose , much less the ' application of them . 3 Sfevertheless , con 8 idenng these rules simply as speculative truths , they may always be useful as mental disci p line ; and further than this , it cannot be denied that they are pf service on some occasions , and in relation to those porsons who , being of a lively and inquiring turn of mind , allow themselves , at times , for want of attention , to be deceived by falso consequences , whicli attention to these rules would probablrectif" ' . , ..: . t ^ iL
y y . _ . _ „ This passage has the merit of stating the case of Logic as it stands now in the estimation of the critical public after two centuries of controversy . ( ; Of the liko nature is the opening of chapter ix . ( Part III . ) « t ( i ' must'bo confessed , " , says Arnauld , " that if there are some to whom logic in a help , thero arc many to whom it is a hindrance ; and it must bo acknowledged , at tho same time , that thoro are none to whom it is a greater hindrance than to those who pride themselves most upon it , and who affect , with tho greatest displaythat they are good logicians ; for
, this very affectation , being tho mark of a low and shallow mind , it comes to pass that they , attaching thomselvos more to the exterior of tho rules than to good sense , which is the soul of them , nro easily led to reject as bad reasoning some which are very good , since they have not sufficient penetration to adjust them to the rules which servo no other purpose than to deceive them , because they comprehend them only imperfectly . Tho wan who , tw , o centuries ago , could wnto thus about Logic , deserved uomo notice at tho hand oi an author who has put forth Ins strength upon miumoIohb
critics and trivial objectors . In Dr . Whately ' fl sketch of tho rhetorical writers , no mention is made of his great Jansonifit predecessor
although the maxims of rhetorical wisdom to be met with in Arnauld ' s Art of Thinking are matchless . For a Propagandist , there is no wiser teacher than Arnauld . Any rhetorician will warn you against the errors of ignorance , but Arnauld warns you against the errors of honesty . To mean well is the soul of aU the virtues ; but good inteiition . by no means implies infallibility pr rhetorical wisdbm . For the friends of progress there is no better practice than the study of Antony Arhauia and St . Augustine , whom he quotes .
Another point touching Arnauld is not less interesting to the logical coniioyersialist . Mr . Samuel Bailey has . published a wotk on tM Ttyortf of Reasoning in ^ hich he denies the Validity of the celebrated dictum of Aristotle ( so emblazoned by the Archbishop of Dublin ) , as the universal principle of reasoning . Mr . Bailey proves his case by adducing other principles on which reasoning ( he says ) really proceeds . He shows that only the first Figure is referable , to the " universal" dictum , and that the other figures really have dicta of their
own . When Mr . Bailey had drawn out these dicta he found that foi * two of the figures the same thing had been done in the Port Royal Logic two hundred years ago ., Mr . Bailey ' s objections to the Logic of the schools is not founded upon ignorance—his knowledge of it removes him from that suspicion ; his criticism does not proceed from prejudice- —his character disproves the possibility of that supposition . On these points Arnauld was the precursor : he was , it appears , a master of his subject . Not only did he deserve mention , but his work was the work which especially demanded it .
One mig ht here say—why do not philosophers like Bailey , whP have the rare capacity of thinking as the wise think , and at the same time talking as the common people talk , take some precaution that the people shall gain access to their works ? Instead . of this , they publish with some one of whom the people seldom hear , and at a price which they can never pay . The love of logical studies has passed over to the people , but any eminent work upon the subject , excepting Archbishop Whately ' s incomparable Lessons in Reasoning ( as the schools taught it ) , of which few working men know anything , must be obtained on loan and copied . - And this is often done . But to sit down after the day ' s work " in the mill is over , to copy , by a low fire and a dim candle , at a late hour—though eminently creditable to scholastic devotion—is conducive neither to eyesight
nor health . . As an exposition of the Logic of the schools , Whately ' s works are above all praise . No one capable of reflection , practised in study , or of any experience in comparison , will have any other feeling than that of gratitude for the services of that eminent divine . The point of interest to your correspondent , however , is this . The student of logic , with any love fov it , wants to know all about it . His faith in Whately shaken , by finding points of so much importance overlooked , and persons of so much celebrity ignored , ho knows not what may remain behind . Sir William
Hamilton is often spoken of as being the historian of Logic . In Mr , Augustus De Morgan ' s controversy with him , De Morgan spoke of him as being the " best able of any to furnish information on questions of this kind . " If any of your correspondents could say whether Sir William has published the history often announced from his pen , or whether any accessible work of a like nature exists , it would confer a benefit on your correspondent , and on many of your readers among the working class , who have been inspired with a love of the study without finding any corresponding provision for its satisfactory gratification . 1 G . J . HOI-TOAKB .
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THrre is no learned man but will Confess' he hath touch '" ™ nfitea bv reading controversies , his senses : awakened ,: £ 31 hisMudlmen ? sharpened . If , then , it he profltahle . foThim feread , ' why shoulditnot-at least , betolefahle for Ms adversary ,, to write . —Mimqw ... ¦ : , . ¦ , ¦ -.
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Feb . 14 , 1652 , ] THE LEADEB . 155
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Pfofcasor Boolo lately remarked that more than ^ 000 writers on logic nro recorded from the daya of Anetotle to tho present time .
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Tin Dr . Travis ' s lost letter , for " aelf-rogardcd , " read " self-regarding ; " for " disease , " read " decease ; for " in operation , " read " inoperative . " ] W H . W . Wo have no room for the translations ho proposes .
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Hobaob . — Horace wiw a great doal to me then , and is so still . Though his words do not abidp in memory , his proBonco does : serene , courtly , of darting hazel eye , a self-sufficient grace , and an appreciation of the world of atom realities , sometimes pathetic , never tragic . Ho is tho natural man of tho world ; he is what ho ought to bc > , and his darts never foil of their aim . There is a perfume and rnciness , too , which makes lifo a banquet , where tlio wit sparkles no leas that tho viands wero bought with blood . *—Memoirs of Margaret Fuller
Ossoh , Action m . Thottght . — A moment of action in ono ' s self , howover , « worth un ago of approhonHion through others j not that our deeds arc bottor , bufc that thoy produce ft renewal of our being . — Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 14, 1852, page 155, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1922/page/15/
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