



Produced by sp1nd, CM, and the Online Distributed
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  THE ART OF
  LOGICAL THINKING

  OR

  THE LAWS OF REASONING

  By WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON


  L.N. FOWLER & COMPANY
  7, Imperial Arcade, Ludgate Circus
  London, E.C., England

  1909
  THE PROGRESS COMPANY
  CHICAGO, ILL.




  Copyright 1909
  By
  THE PROGRESS COMPANY
  Chicago, Ill., U.S.A.




CONTENTS


      I. Reasoning                            9

     II. The Process of Reasoning            17

    III. The Concept                         25

     IV. The Use of Concepts                 37

      V. Concepts and Images                 48

     VI. Terms                               56

    VII. The Meaning of Terms                73

   VIII. Judgments                           82

     IX. Propositions                        90

      X. Immediate Reasoning                 99

     XI. Inductive Reasoning                107

    XII. Reasoning by Induction             116

   XIII. Theory and Hypotheses              125

    XIV. Making and Testing Hypotheses      132

     XV. Deductive Reasoning                144

    XVI. The Syllogism                      156

   XVII. Varieties of Syllogisms            167

  XVIII. Reasoning by Analogy               179

    XIX. Fallacies                          186




CHAPTER I.

REASONING


"Reasoning" is defined as: "The act, process or art of exercising the
faculty of reason; the act or faculty of employing reason in argument;
argumentation, ratiocination; reasoning power; disputation, discussion,
argumentation." Stewart says: "The word _reason_ itself is far from
being precise in its meaning. In common and popular discourse it denotes
that power by which we distinguish truth from falsehood, and right from
wrong, and by which we are enabled to combine means for the attainment
of particular ends."

By the employment of the reasoning faculties of the mind we compare
objects presented to the mind as percepts or concepts, taking up the
"raw materials" of thought and weaving them into more complex and
elaborate mental fabrics which we call abstract and general ideas of
truth. Brooks says: "It is the thinking power of the mind; the faculty
which gives us what has been called _thought-knowledge_, in distinction
from _sense-knowledge_. It may be regarded as the mental architect among
the faculties; it transforms the material furnished by the senses...
into new products, and thus builds up the temples of science and
philosophy." The last-mentioned authority adds: "Its products are
twofold, _ideas_ and _thoughts_. An _idea_ is a mental product which
when expressed in words does not give a proposition; a _thought_ is a
mental product which embraces the relation of two or more ideas. The
ideas of the understanding are of two general classes; abstract ideas
and general ideas. The thoughts are also of two general classes; those
pertaining to contingent truth and those pertaining to necessary truth.
In contingent truth, we have _facts_, or immediate judgments, and
_general truths_ including _laws_ and _causes_, derived from particular
facts; in necessary