An introductory text-book of logic - Mellone, Sydney - Rare Books at ...

AND THE LAWS OF THOUGHT. 39
called the Ethics of Thought.
The student will already
have observed the applicability of this title. In dealing
logically with the concept, for instance, our main business
is not to inquire what kind of Universals are formed in
the average mind, as a matter of fact, and what are the
processes of thought which lead to their formation ;
we begin to formulate and shall formulate more fully
in the sequel an ideal of what the Universal ought
to be. This is the characteristic of logical treatment
throughout.
In this way we have answered the over-discussed question,
whether Logic is a Science or an Art. A mere Art would be
a body of practical rules, having no scientific connection
among themselves ; gathered, perhaps, from haphazard
experience, or gathered from very various object-matters, as
"
the art of music." But Logic is first a Science, a system
atic body of doctrine, of
"
theory," and then a science which
aims at distinguishing correct principles of thought. Hence
many logicians have described it as both a Science and an
Art; e.g., Mill in his Examination of Sir W. Hamilton s
Philosophy, speaks of Logic as
"
the art of thinking, which
means correct thinking, and the science of the conditions
be defined
on which correct thinking depends." Logic may
as a practical, or better, as a normative or regulative,
science.
10. In a wide sense, the phrase Laws of Thought
means all the general principles or types of Thought (see
ch. I.
2) which we treat of. In a narrower sense,
it signifies certain fundamental principles which lie at
the basis of inference.
Since the time of Aristotle, three such principles have
been made of fundamental importance. The first of
these was not explicitly stated by him. It was sub
sequently known as the Law of Identity, and assumed
the form : "a thing is identical with "A is A."
itself";
The second principle, afterwards called the Law of Con-