GEORGE BELL & SONS LONDON: YORK ST., COVENT GARDEN NEW YORK: 66 FIFTH AVEnue, and BOMBAY 53 ESPLANADE ROAD CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON BELL & co. OR LOGICAL TREATISES OF ARISTOTLE WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF PORPHYRY LITERALLY TRANSLATED, WITH NOTES AND INTRODUCTION BY OCTAVIUS FREIRE OWEN, M.A. OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD; RECTOR OF BURSTOW, SURREY; AND DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN TO THE IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I. LONDON GEORGE BELL AND SONS LIBRARY OF THE LELAND STANFORD JR. UNIVERSITY. A.50580 [Reprinted from Stereotype plates.] MAR 8, 1901 INTRODUCTION. THE investigation of the science of Mind, especially as to its element, Thought, is of so interesting a character as in great measure to reconcile the inquirer to the abstruseness of formal reasoning. The beauty of the flower, whilst concealing the ruggedness, is apt to withdraw our attention from the utility, of the soil on which it grows; and thus in like manner the charms of Idealism, ending but too frequently in visionary speculation, have obstructed the clear appreciation of the design and use of Logic. Not that we deny the connexion which must ever subsist between Logic, as the science of the laws of reasoning, and psychology; indeed the latter is constantly introduced in several topics of the Organon; but if we would derive real practical benefit from logical study, we must regard it as enunciative of the universal principle of inference, affording a direct test for the detection of fallacy, and the establishment of true conclusion. Wherefore, while primarily connected with the laws of Thought, Logic is secondarily and practically allied to language as enunciative of Thought. To enter into the mental processes incident thereto, though so tempting a theme as already to have seduced many from the direct subject of the science, would far exceed the limits of this Introduction. We shall therefore content ourselves with a few observations upon the utility of the study connected with the Organon itself. It is a quaint remark of Erasmus, that the human understanding, like a drunken clown lifted on horseback, falls over on the farther side the instant he is supported on the nearer; and this is the characteristic of human praise and censure. From an ignorant and exaggerated notion of its purport, Logic, instead of being limited to its proper sphere, was supposed commensurate with the whole investigation of abstract truth in relation to matter, cause, and entity,-in fact, the substance of a folio volume, describing every phase of human life, compressed into a few pages of Boethius and Aldrich. Thus, not having effected what nothing short of a miraculous expansion of the understanding could effect, it sunk into insignificance, until recently vindicated, and placed upon its proper footing, by Whately, Mansel, and others. It is true that, whether viewed as an art or a science, |