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proposition the proposition itself, as for instance, This man is a

rascal, because he is a rogue; he is a rogue, because he is a rascal.
We see through glass, because it is transparent.
The child is
dumb, because it has lost the power of speech.
He is untruthful,
because he is a liar. The weather is warm, because it is summer;
it is summer, because the weather is warm.
These and other fallacies may be detected by a knowledge of
Logic, and the perception and detection of them strengthens
one in his faculty of Deductive Reasoning. The study of the
Laws of the Syllogism, in Logic, will give to one a certain habitual
sense of stating the terms of his argument according to these
laws, which when acquired will be a long step in the direction
of logical thinking, and the culture of the faculties of deductive
reasoning.
In concluding this chapter, we wish to call your attention to
a fact often overlooked by the majority of people. Halleck well
expresses it as follows: Belief is a mental state which might as
well be classed under emotion as under thinking, for it combines
both elements. Belief is a part inference from the known to the
unknown, and part feeling and emotion. Others have gone so
far as to say that the majority of people employ their intellects
merely to prove to themselves and others that which they feel
to be true, or wish to be true, rather than to ascertain what is
actually true by logical methods. Others have said that men
do not require arguments to convince them; they want only
excuses to justify them in their feelings, desires or actions.
Cynical though this may seem, there is sufficient truth in it to
warn one to guard against the tendency.
Jevons says, regarding the question of the culture of logical
processes of thought: Monsieur Jourdain, an amusing person
in one of Moliere s plays, expressed much surprise on learning
that he had been talking prose for more than forty years
without knowing it. Ninety-nine people out of a hundred
might be equally surprised on hearing that they had long been
converting propositions, syllogizing, falling into paralogisms,
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framing hypotheses and making classifications with genera and
species. If asked if they were logicians, they would probably
answer, No. They would be partly right; for I believe that a large
number even of educated persons have no clear idea of what
logic is. Yet, in a certain way, everyone must have been a logician
since he began to speak. It may be asked: If we cannot help
being logicians, why do we need logic books at all? The answer
is that there are logicians, and logicians. All persons are logicians
in some manner or degree; but unfortunately many people are
bad ones and suffer harm in consequence. It is just the same
in other matters. Even if we do not know the meaning of the
name, we are all athletes in some manner or degree. No one can
climb a tree or get over a gate without being more or less an
athlete. Nevertheless, he who wishes to do these actions really
well, to have a strong muscular frame and thereby to secure
good health and personal safety, as far as possible, should learn
athletic exercises.
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