ABSTRACT
We have in several places in this work had occasion to refer to the symbolic process in children’s thinking, and have pointed out that such symbolization is by no means limited to childhood, nor to unconscious aspects of thinking. Such is, in fact, a common quality in all creative thought, and of the learning process at all levels of realization. Symbolism is based on the recognition of the relationship of analogy existing between two ideas or groups of ideas. Analogy is the most fundamental and primary of the logical relations from which, as has been suggested elsewhere (see Chapter IX), the other relational ideas, such as cause, effect, attribution, constitution, and so on, are evolved in the course of the development of concepts in early childhood. The acquisition of knowledge is dependent upon the extension of the symbolizing function to new and ever more complex subject matter.
