ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly explains the current theory of reasoning, with the view of showing its insufficiency. It is universally admitted that in the evolution of reasoning, induction must precede deduction— that we cannot descend from the general to the particular, until we have first ascended from the particular to the general. The fact now to be remarked is, that this is true not only of reasoning considered in its ensemble, but also, in a qualified sense, of each particular ratiocination. It was pointed out that in the development alike of the general mind and the individual mind, qualitative reasoning precedes quantitative reasoning; so, each particular act of quantitative reasoning grows out of a preceding act of qualitative reasoning: and in the present case there seems to hold the analogous law, that as, in mental progress, both general and particular, induction precedes deduction ; so, every particular act of deduction properly so called, presupposes a preparatory act of induction.
