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THE ART OF THINKING.

97

CHAPTER VI.

THE ART OF THINKING.

IF the Self-Educator reads in the fashion and manner we have recommended, the art of reading will also train him in the art of thinking; this is the real difficulty of the Intellectual Life. It is, however, this culture of the thought which is the main purpose of all education. The three leading characteristics of healthy thought are Clearness, Comprehension, and Adroitness; and although it may tax the powers for a considerable time, it should be the object of the Educator to train an intellectual energy by which the most vivid impression of a subject should be presented to the mind, not merely by itself, but with all its attendant relations and bearings, and this distinct and compendious view reached by the most rapid and immediate perception. On many subjects, this rapid insight into the core and the circumference of subjects is impossible, even with profound and accomplished thinkers; but the well-trained mind will be so fitted for intellectual gladiatorship, that most of the sophistries which cross the path of ordinary life, will be cloven through at once by

the two-edged sword. There is a twofold method of regarding a subject, which greatly aids the thinking power: the first is the collection of details, and throwing them into generalisations-the perpetually looking at parts in relation to wholes. Thus the mind finds its views enlarged; thus it is emancipated from the village-life view of things, to the lofty and universal framework of being; but if the mind is too much accustomed to look at things in their larger relations, then let it be educated by reflecting on the infinitely small and minute parts which make up the whole: instead of tracing from the inner to the outer, it becomes then the duty to trace from the outer to the inner.

Thought is the faculty of the mind; it is thought which needs especially to be educated; it is by thought we know the excellence of the soul; the quality of thought reveals the character of the soul. A philosopher once asked a little girl if she had a soul. She looked up into his face with an air of astonishment and offended dignity and replied, " To be sure I have." "What makes you think you have?" "Because I have," she promptly replied. "But how do you know you have a soul?" "Because I do know," she answered again. It was a child's reason; but the philosopher could hardly have given a better. "Well, then," said he after a moment's consideration, "if you know you have a soul, can you tell me what your soul is?" "Why," said she, "I am six years old, and don't you suppose that I know what my soul is ? " "Perhaps you do. If you will tell me I shall

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find out whether you do or not." "Then you think I don't know," she replied, "but I do; it is MY THINK." "Your think!" said the philosopher astonished in his turn; "who told you so?" "Nobody. I should be ashamed if I did not know that, without being told." The philosopher had puzzled his brain a great deal about the soul, but he could not have given a better definition of it in so few words.

I. The great and indispensable preliminary to correct thinking is METHOD. We have called it the preliminary, but it is the very soul and body of the Art of Thinking. All that logic can do is to methodise our thoughts-it does not profess to give us thoughts; as Rhetoric professes to teach us the arrangement of our diction, so as to make words in their application effective, so Logic professes to teach us how to arrange our reasons and our ideas, so that they may wear the most complete appearance. Method, therefore, we say, should be studied. First arrange your own ideas, and you will be the better able to detect the discordancy of those which may be presented to you, even in some of your great men. Upon being admitted into the chambers of their intellect, we behold the wardrobe and vestments of their minds scattered about in ridiculous disarray; and whenever this is perceived, although you admire the genius, it is certain that you loose a large amount of your previous confidence in the teacher. Methodic minds move in a solar pathway, and they leave a track of light after them in the path along which they travel.

There is a story told by Mr. Smith, in his "Irish Diamonds," which will not be without its value here, as containing a hint and an illustration of the value of method in the art of thinking. "A lady was complimenting a clergyman on the fact that she could hear and recite more of the matter of his sermons than those of any other minister she was in the habit of hearing. She could not account for this, but she thought that the fact was worthy of observation. The reverend gentleman remarked that he could explain the cause. 'I happen,' he said, 'to make a particular point of classifying my topics-it is a hobby of mine to do so; and therefore I never compose a sermon without first settling the relationship and order of my arguments and illustrations. Suppose, madam, that your servant was starting for town, and you were obliged hastily to instruct her about a few domestic purchases, not having time to write down the items, and suppose you said, "Be sure to bring some tea, and also some soap, and coffee too, by-the-bye; and some powder-blue-and don't forget some light cakes and a little sugar; and now I think of it-soda." You will not be surprised if her memory failed with regard to one or two of the articles. But if your commission ran thus-" Now, Mary, tomorrow, we are going to have some friends to tea; therefore, bring a supply of tea, coffee, and sugar, and light cakes; and the next day you know is washing day, so that we shall want soap, and starch, and powder-blue," it is most likely she would retain your order as easily as you retain my sermons.'

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LOGIC-THE SCIENCE OF INFERENCE.

101

Indeed this Art of Thinking is what is meant by Logic, or the Science of Inference; but Logic has usually been studied merely as an intellectual amusement—a pastime for the closet: as it has been usually studied, it is wholly unfitted for "the pugilistic gauntlet of the man of the world." The art of sound thinking and right reasoning will be obtained more readily by an earnest perusal of Locke on the Understanding, Butler's Analogy, Paley's Natural Theology, Lyell's Geology, Sir John Herschell's Natural Philosophy, or even from the following out the higher order of legal evidence, than from all the volumes of mere Logic ever written or read. The Sophisms and Syllogisms of the Logician have very frequently been only the trap-doors of speech, and have been used by adroit and acute men simply to endanger unwary adversaries honestly followed: they may give some aid in the prosecution of mental method, but in the art of thinking it is most important first to clearly understand terms, then to arrange ideas. Archbishop Whateley's work on Logic is valuable, because by it the mind is emancipated from the slavery of absolute forms, and guided to the foundations of thought and of things. In the art of thinking there are several things against which the young student will need to guard. For instance, accidental coincidence is often assumed as sufficient to establish real connection. In this defect in reasoning, all the errors of superstition have their foundation. By a dishonest confusion of the ordinary experience of men with universal experience, David Hume has contrived to obtain

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