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Christian Thomas Kohl The Metaphysical Foundations of Buddhism and Modern Science

Christian Thomas Kohl The Metaphysical Foundations of Buddhism and Modern Science

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Section X. Undoubtedly, philosophy is dominated by its past literature to<br />

greater extent than any other science. And rightly so. But the claim that<br />

it has acquired a set <strong>of</strong> technical terms sufficient for its purposes, <strong>and</strong><br />

exhaustive <strong>of</strong> its meanings, is entirely unfounded. Indeed its literature is<br />

so vast, <strong>and</strong> the variations <strong>of</strong> its schools <strong>of</strong> thought so large, that there<br />

is abundant evidence <strong>of</strong> most excusable ignorance respecting verbal<br />

usages.<br />

A recent instance illustrates the vagueness <strong>of</strong> philosophical terminology.<br />

Logic is, by far, that branch <strong>of</strong> philosophy best systematized with the aid<br />

<strong>of</strong> stable technical language. Consider the terms Judgement <strong>and</strong><br />

Proposition. I am not writing a preface to Logic, so I will confine myself<br />

to the assertion that there is considerable variation in the usages <strong>of</strong><br />

these terms among logicians.<br />

Also we may well ask whether there are not subtle variations <strong>of</strong> meaning<br />

stretching far beyond the competence <strong>of</strong> the two-term vocabulary, -<br />

Judgement, Proposition. For example, Mr. Joseph [Cf. Mind, Vols. 36, 37,<br />

New Series] has been examining Mr. W.E. Johnson's use <strong>of</strong> the term<br />

Proposition in his well-known Logical Treatise. Mr. Joseph finds twenty<br />

100

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