Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

matter, which is the end of the inquiry; (2) The way in which the activities of the examiner move forth and continue, while arriving at the end; (3) The state or condition of the one who is putting forth the exertion to secure the end. A direct discussion suggests these questions : (1) Does Method regard immediately and solely the object-matter of the investigation, how it is finally left, or to be left, by the student, whether or not it shall be in an orderly arrangement, as of Classification? (2) Or does it regard only the way in which the inquiry proceeds, as by Analysis, Synthesis, Induction, Deduction, Classification, or Generalization? (3) Or does it consider especially the way in which the scholar, as as a particular individual, carries on his work, whether in this or that state of mind or body, or by means of these or those carefully chosen and utilized expedients and appliances which are peculiar to himself alone?

That is, in recapitulation: (1) Does Method point sharply and first to the object investigated, in what shape, form, or condition it shall be left? (2) Or does it indicate the direction, or way in, or over, which the energy of the mind moves in its activity? (3) Or does it judge the characteristics which are the difference between the mind of the examiner and that of other men? In order to answer these questions, it becomes necessary to attend to each in turn.

41. I. Consider the object-matter of study, whatever it may be, as arithmetic, botany, or grammar. The purposes of examining any ob

ject are to know it; to apprehend its parts, as single things; to discover the relations which exist among those parts; to rearrange its parts and relations, if thereby the mind can better seize, comprehend, or remember them, singly and collectively; to classify these parts into some new whole, which is the product solely of intellectual activity called thought, reflection, or simply reason. The student finds the objectmatter of his attention in an apparently heterogeneous mass of disorder and confusion-he leaves it reduced into a congruous condition—he has been entirely unconscious of his own eccentricities, or individuality, or expedients, or ways in which his activities and energies have proceeded, whether by this or by that process or route he has steadfastly and daily kept his attention upon the object-matter, as to what it is, and how he shall finally leave it adjusted, part to part, part to the whole, and the whole to other parts and wholes-himself and the ways by which his thought-powers went along in their work have dropped entirely out of consideration. In this case the idea of searching out is not found, because the attention rests exclusively upon the object-matter which incited and determined the action called seeking after-that is, the student considers the purposes attained, and not the routes or ways through or by which his powers brought forth those classified and organized ends. It follows, hence, that this is not a case of Method. The result or end spoken

of is properly a system, economy, or constitution. (See § 124, and Appendix B, § 226.)

42. II. Consider exclusively the ways over which the activities of the intellect proceed when they are engaged in an investigation. These may be called Modes of Method in General.

43. (a) The faculties of observation are on the alert to discriminate the parts of the wholes of the object-matter of investigation, and the attributes or characteristics of those parts or wholes -these parts and attributes are likewise observed under the light of thought or reflection, called comparison, by which the analogous elements of similars are discovered. This way, by which the powers of the mind must pass in order to discover the individual Facts, known as elements, for the relations called similars and dissimilars, is properly denominated Analysis. (See Appendix C, § 227.)

44. A rigid distinction should be observed between analysis and separation, or division. Separation sets apart one thing from another-the thing set aside may be a part of that from which it is now placed, or it may be some other whole thing placed apart from the former. Division implies a taking asunder, and ordinarily refers to some whole which is cut into parts. In separation or division the process ends with the action, while in analysis these parts are not only made or found, but they are examined for the purpose of discovering similarities. Separation and division, having set apart the portions, give them no farther examination nor attention. An artisan takes a

watch into its parts for the purpose of cleaning and repairing the time-piece. His examination of each part is to the sole end of discovering whatever particles of dust may be adhering to it. There is no examination in the interests of science or higher truth, either theoretical or practical. This is a case of separation, rather than of analysis.

45. (b) Assuming the foregoing analysis complete, the powers of thought apprehend the elements, which are to constitute the similars, and from them create a new intellectual product. In this process the unassimilative elements are rejected by the mind, and form no portion of the new products. The way or route by which the mind proceeds in creating these intellectual products is called Synthesis. (See Appendix D, § 228.)

46. Sometimes the elements of a synthesis are the products of Definition. (See Appendix E, § 229.)

47. The process of assorting and rejecting the analytical elements is known as Abstraction. (See Appendix F, § 230.)

66

48. Analysis and synthesis, though commonly treated as two different methods, are, if properly understood, only the two necessary parts of the same method. Each is the relative and the correlative of the other. Analysis, without a subsequent synthesis, is incomplete; it is a mean cut off from its end. Synthesis, without a previous analysis, is baseless; for synthesis receives from analysis the elements which it re

[ocr errors]

composes. (Sir W. Hamilton, Metaphysics, p. 69, ed. 1871, Boston.)

49. Synthesis should be discriminated from Reconstruction-it is Construction. Reconstruction is the opposite of separation or division: it simply re-makes the whole by re-adjusting those elements or parts which were set aside from each other-it fashions no new whole. Synthesis is Construction; it fabricates an original product which essentially and materially differs in its nature from any and all of the wholes that were separated by analysis. In the supposition of the watch (§ 44), if the parts be restored to their former position, and the watch " put together" again, it is a case of reconstruction, rather than of synthesis. There is no new product created by the procedure.

[ocr errors]

50. (c) Analogous elements being assumed in the possession of the student, he proceeds by synthesis to comprehend, under a common name, several objects agreeing in some point which he abstracts from each of them, and which that common name serves to indicate." This way of proceeding is usually known under the name of Generalization. (See Appendix G, 8 281.)

51. (d) Generalization, in its ways of proceeding, is but another name for classification, although in the extent to which they are carried in science classification is the more comprehensive term. By some writers, generalization is used in reference to the object-matter of cause and effect, while investigation proceeding on the

« ElőzőTovább »