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SIR W. HAMILTON'S LECTURES ON LOGIC*
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MISS MACHEADY'S POEMS. *
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pioneers , who advanced timidly , keeping their fingers m their mouths like civilized infants , until within reach of the prize , when they clutched it ravenously , and rushed backed triumphant . " Mr . Oliphant by no means agrees in the terms of the late treaty with Russia . He complains that the interests of the Gircassians have not been sufficiently considered ; a line of Hussian forts upon the Circassian coast ,-which had been evacuated during- the war , have since been reconstructed and regarrisoned by Russian forces . "The whole question , " says the author , " of Eastern aggression by-Russia line of fortsWithout them
hinges upon the existence of this . Russia could never have hoped to subdue Circassia , any more than she could have taken Kars if she had left one gate open . The success of the Russian war in the Caucasus depended upon the efficacy of the blockade that could only be secured by the reconstruction of these forts . Now that these are rebuilt , Sehamyl lias been captured , and Circassia has been thrown again upon its own limited resources , the latter must soon be exhausted ; and when the besieged country has entirely capitulated , the only barrier to Russian aggression in the East will have been swept away . "
The second portion of this book is entirely devoted to America , its politics and institutions ; but since the whole of the argument has been before published in Blfrrl-ivood ' s Mac / aziue , it will be unnecessary to dilate further upon it here . The reader who desires information on such points , will do well to seek it in these wellponsidered pages .
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A BOUT eighteen months have elapsed puoncauon of Sir William Hamilton ' s Lectures on Metaphysics . We have now before us the complement of his professorial prelections , the ' Lectures- ' . Logic , " which he biennially alternated with his course on mental philosophy generally . We cannot complain of the lapse of time that has separated the two divisions of publication , The subject was not one which incited hasty posthumous publicity ; the author ' s reputation could well afford the delay ; and the learned editors have well occupied their leisure in the preparation of the elaborate and assiduous annotations which so greatly
enhance the value of these volumes . Dr . Mansel is to be congratulated upon his occupation in so kindred and congenial a labour , which has doubtless soothed the possible irritation which the recent angry polemics of Mr . Mauricemay have caused . "We have to congratulate Mr . Veitch , one of his pupils whom Sir William most highly regarded , upon his appointment to the logical chair of sleepy St . Andrew ' s , for which we believe he is mainly indebted to the proofs of his capacity , which his joint editorial responsibility for the metaphysical lectures evinced . ¦ : ¦ -:. . the science
The volumes before us consist of a central corpus on of logic , adapted only for those who are esoterieallyqualified , or who wish to be so ; and of a luminous introduction to the _ study of the science , ahdari instructive and copious body of concluding matter in " modified logic , " which admits and demands popular and easy treatment . There are also a variety of appendices , containing fuller and more abstruse information on certain isolated points than the text of the lectures contains more especially , an exposition of Sir W . Hamilton ' s doctrine of the New Analytic of Logical Forms , POmCTliflt- ^ 'mTO fa ^ ; n » r 1 . W . . . fin idly prepared for publication , but sufficient to show the perfect originality arid the luminous comleteness of his view .
more especially Krug and Esser , of a larger portion we had been accustomed to consider the original doctrines of Sir William than we were prepared to discover . There still remains , however , a large marginal territory , all his own , with which Ins most enthusiastic admirers may bo well content , and the sovereignty of which establishes him not only as the greatest writer on logic whom Great Britain has produced , but as the only great writer on logic whom our soil can claim . Detailed criticism , still less comparison and contrast with other writers is , within our limits , impossible . We shall , therefore , content ourselves with a brief summary of , and occasional comment on , the cardinal doctrines of Sir William ' s system . It comes unavoidably , and , indeed , explicitly ( for Sir William undertakes the criticism himself ) , into competition with Whately ' s bald grammar of the 1
Whateley says that logic has been generally regarded as an art . The fact is , that most writers have exclusively regarded it as a science . He mistakes the real difference between art and science , thereby , of course , vitiating his whole primary definit ion , and , mediately , the superstructure which he bases upon it . Whately looks upon science as knowledge viewed absolutely , and without relation to practice . If this were so , every art would be , in its doctrinal part , a science . And if art is the application of knowledge to practice , as he says or assumes , then it follows that religion , politics , and morals , are arts . The confusion inheres in this ambiguity : —the Archbishop confounds the distinction between practical and
theoretical science , with that whieh severally defines science and art . But from the foil , let us at once proceed to the counterfoil . We dwell on definitions—on the definition of the science of logic—because the decisive root of the whole corpus is here to be found And , let it be remembered , that the great and cardinal mistake ot all false logicians has been the arrogatioh to their science of a larger area , scope , and domain , than was justified by facts . And it maybe alleged , without paradox , although the statement is put vulgarly and roughly , that it was this arrogance and aU-embracmgiiess ot logicians that retarded the advent of inductive philosophy , and wmen
it required two such men as Des Cartes and Bacon to slay ana Dury out of sio-ht . Let us contrast , for example , still faithful to our plan of foil and counterfoil , the arrogant definition of the Prae-Baconian Scotus , and the Post-Baconian Hamilton . " Logic , says Scotus , " is the art of arts , and science of sciences . If it is opened up , all others are also opened ; if it is closed , all the rest ^ closed . With it , you can establish whatever you like ; without it , nothing . " Others , true Scotists in this respect at least , it no * ;" the great Realist and Nominalist controversy , have styled tne science , " Via ad Veritatem , " " Cynosura Veritatis , " " Caput et Apex Philosopliice , " " Heuristica , sive Introductio ad Arte . m in , veniendi" &c ' ¦ ' '
, . _ _ _ .. . .. . n Sir William ' s definition of logic is this : " Logic is the science of the laws of thought as thought . " It is not only a science , but a demonstrative , or apodeictic science . It is conversant about thought that is , thought proper , the acts of the understanding , of the faculty of comparison , and , in Sir William ' s nomenclature , the elaborative faculty , the fifth in the scale of his cognitive powers . But the nicest and most tobe emphasizedportion of the definition is that which designates logic as the science of the laws of thoughtas thoilnht When we think , we think about something . But the sub-Wtk-fi art , of thirikinff . and the objective , thing thought about , are ltseit
distinct and different . Only with the former does logic concern , with the tliinking act of the mind , and the laws by , or . in accord--ance with- which it operates . Still there remains one element-in the terms of the definition ; " Logic is the , science of the Ifies of thought as thought . " We may regard human thought in two aspects . It is known to us by experience or observation , and by reflective speculation ; by analysis and abstraction , by which we seek out and discriminate in the manifestations of thought whatever is necessary and universal . The former , the empirical ^ consideration , belongs to the phenomenology of mind , or psychology . And where the emp irical consideration , of the mind terminates , there the province of logic commences , and a special and exclusive science begins . Our speculative consideration secures certain nrwssnrv nlrmifints from the contingent materials of observation .
And ' ¦ ' . these are what constitute the laws of tliouglTt" 10 rth 7 yu # htr * Whoever is acquainted only with current logical manuals , more or less charlatanish , from ¦ Whately down to Watts or Gilbart , must experience all the joy of the discovery of a New Atlantis , at the sug--o-estion to his mind of the precise , definite , but large and comprehensive region thus presented to him . Independently altogether of tho question of the truth or untruth taught in these volumes , the mental exercitation which must be earned by every one who wilt not
peruse them , will be gain and recompense enough . 1 hey arc dry readin" -. Every point is so closely linked with its successor , and the nexus fs so often repeated , that none but those who will not , can fail to be carried consecutively from commencement to close . There is a statel y grandeur , too , about the style , and a keen human zest m llayiiv a ' pretender that sheds interest over this apparently dry subject . We best express our opinion of the lectures—and we arc fully alive to the full import of the not too easily to bo conceded eulogy—by saying that they are a contribution of great value as well ' to iwlite literature as to mental science .
science . And here wo may remark , by the way , that nothingmore clearly displays tho extremely backward stnto of tho science of logic in England , than the fact that until the publication of these Lectures Whatoly ' s Elements were the best and tho only manual extant in our tongue . We are not forgetful of Mill ; but he is only valuable as a toucher of applied logic . Now , Whately shows no evidence of knowing anything that has been written upon tho subject within the last hundred years , which have been as much an era of progression—in—the- B < jienco-of-logic-a * -in . ~ tho -scienco _ of- _ geolog : y . Wallis and Aldrich wore his only guides . To them ^ ho added strong coinmon-soiiBO , tact , and a great power of exposition ; and this is the receipt for " Whatoly ' s Logic . " His opening sentences proclaim his incapacity . If wo dwell upon that incapacity , it is that we may the more easily determine , ns by foil or contrawt , tho incontestable punimouncy of Sir W . Hamilton ' n claim to bo tho only reliublo expounder or the seionco in our tongue
p of what Better editing than has been applied to the text could not be imagined . Every . citation- —nay , every slight and involuntary plagiarism , is traced to its source , and verified by chapter and number . This conscientious care goes to the rare length ( for enthusiastic disciples ) of the reference to German authorities ,
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¦ * lecturei on logic . By Sir William Hamilton , Hurt . Edited by tho Uov . H . JU Manaol , ]* . r > ., hh . ii ,, Wnynfluto I ' rofeanor of floral and Motupliynlenl PhlloHophy , Oxford ; and John Vcllcli , M . A .. 1 ' rofoBSoror Logic , Bt . Androw ' tf . WilliamBlaukwood & Sons , 1800 .
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" Uaveifrom the OUv Mount . 1 ' ooin . by CUliorJiio France « . Mucromly . ( - 'hup-Ulltll Mill llllll .
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THE daughter of our last great tragedian , Mr . Macrcady , has published a volume of poems which testifies at once to the careful manner in which she has been eduoated , to her pious disposition , and to her poetical temperament . Tho volurao is suitably dedicated to her fatW , in terms which show tho warmth of her aft ' ootion and tho depth of hor reverence . Tho principal poom v » a narrative blank-vorse eflusion , entitled " The Passion Flowor . AVo may congratulate Miss Maor , eady on tho quality of Her vowo . ^ aha-haa learned to ek fiot inJho _ Miltonie benv witl ^
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Aug . 25 , I 860 . ] Tlie Saturday Analyst and Leader . 751
Sir W. Hamilton's Lectures On Logic*
SIR W . HAMILTON'S LECTURES ON LOGIC *
Miss Macheady's Poems. *
MISS MACHEADY'S POEMS . *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 25, 1860, page 751, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2362/page/7/
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