Inquiries concerning the intellectual powers, and the investigation of truth

Front matter

■lEiHi^l

iSlfil aami

■■1 BBS

Preface

The text of the following work, strictly speaking, is Dr. Abercrombie's treatise on the Human Mind, entire. In connection with this treatise, however, the original edition has two articles attached to it by the author, for the sole benefit of the class whom he was addressing, viz. a class of medical students. The first to which we refer is a history of the science of Intellectual Philosophy, prefixed to the work ; the second, an admirable set of directions, to guide 1 medical students in their professional inquiries. These treatises do not of necessity constitute a part of a treatise on the Philosophy of Mind. They are accordingly omitted in this edition. What, in the editor's opinion, constitutes the treatise itself, is published entire, without alterations or omissions, the editor holding his author's language sacred. The additions which have been made are intended, not to supply any supposed deficiencies in the original, but simply to adapt it to a purpose for which the book is, in the main, admirably suited : they are intended as nearly as was possible to be such additional explanations as the editor conceived the author would himself have made, had he have had in view, whilst preparing the book, the, purpose to which it is now applied.

The practice of studying such a work as this by formal

questions, the answer to which pupils commit to memory,

annot be too severely censured. There seemed, however

4 PREFACE.

to be something necessary as a guide to the contents of the page, both for the pupil in reviewing the lesson, and for the teacher at the recitation. That minute and familiar acquaintance, not only with the doctrines taught in the lesson, but with the particular contents of every page and paragraph, so essential in enabling the teacher to ask his questions with fluency, very few teachers have the time to secure. The editor has accordingly added an analysis of the page in the margin. This analysis is given sometimes in questions, and sometimes in topics or titles, which can easily be put by the teacher into the form of questions if he pleases ; or, what will perhaps be better, they can, at the recitation, be given to the pupil as topics, on which he is to state in substance the sentiments of the author.

In regard to the value of Dr. Abercrombie's treatise, there is, and there can be, but one opinion. Its useful tendency is most decided, both in making the pupil acquainted with his powers, and in guiding him to the most efficient and successful use of them. The effect of a proper study of this work must be highly salutary upon every mind brought under its influence ; and it is a kind of effect which is ex actly suited to guard against the peculiar dangers of the age.

Boston, September, 1833.

Contents

Introduction ...

Design of the Study ....

Qualifications for engaging in it .

Section I. Sensation And Perception

Of the Primary and Secondary Properties of Matter Knowledge of the Properties of Matter by the Senses . Of our Knowledge of Distance and Magnitude . Apparent improvement of some Senses after loss of others Of our Knowledge of the Nature of Perception . Remarkable Influence of Attention Habits of Attention and Inattention Of False Perceptions .....

Section II. Consciousness And Reflection

Of the Knowledge which we derive from Consciousness and Reflection . .... 1. The Knowledge of our Mental Processes 2 y Compound Notions, — as Time, Cause, Motion . 3. First Truths, or Intuitive Articles of Belief

Section III. Testimony

Rules by which we estimate the Credibility of Testimony

Confidence in Testimony in regard to statements at variance with our Personal Observation or Experience . . .62

Objections which have been made to the Reception of such Statement 5.on the Evidence of Testimony . . . .63

Fallacy of these Objections, and Grounds of our Confidence in

Testimony ....... 64

Distinction between Events which are marvellous and those which are miraculous . . . . .67

CONTENTS. 7

Page.

Moral Probability of Miracles ..... 68 Miracles not a violation of the estaDlished order of Nature, but

referable to an agency altogether new and peculiar . . 71 Grounds on which we estimate the Credibility of Testimony in

regard to unusual or miraculous events . . . 72

Section I. Memory

Association \ 83

1. Natural or Philosophical Association . . . 86

2. Local or Incidental Association . . 90

3. Arbitrary or Fictitious Association . . .94

Artificial Memory . . . . .95

Important Application of the Principle of Arbitrary Association in Commemorative Rites . . 96

Conception, or the Memory of Perceptions . . .98

Of the Culture and Improvement of Attention, Reflection, and

Of the Influence of Disease upon Attention and Memory • 108

Of Extensive Cerebral Disease, without Sensible Derangement cf the Mental Functions ..... 119

Influence of the Facts connected with, this subject in showing the Independent Existence of the Thinking Principle . • . - • -120

Section II. Abstraction

Nature and Application of Abstraction • • - 121

Disputes of the Nominalists and Realists • ■ L27

Section III. Imagination

Nature and Applications of Imagination • • • • 129

Various Kinds of Artificial Combination to which it is applicable 130

CONTENTS.

Importance of a Proper Application of it in the Formation of Character .......

Effects of Fictitious Narrative .

Effects of an ill-regulated Imagination ....

Page.

131 132 132

Section IV. Reason Or Judgment

Analysis of the Mental Process of which Reason consists . 134

Applications of Reason in the Investigations of Science, the

Affairs of Common Life, and the Formation of Opinions . 138

Man's Responsibility for his Belief .... 142

Farther Division of the Subject. — Brief Outline of the System of

§ I. — OF THE USE OF REASON IN THE INVESTIGATION OF TRUTH.

Of First Truths, or Intuitive Articles of Belief, as the Foundation of all Reasoning .....

1. A Belief in our own Existence, and of Mind as some

thing distinct from the Body

2. A Confidence in the Information furnished' by our

Senses . . .

3. A Confidence in our Mental Operations .

4. A Belief of our Personal Identity

5. A Conviction that every Event must have a Cause

6. A Confidence in the Uniformity of Nature

Uniformity of Physical Relations Uniformity of Moral Relations

Application to the Question of Liberty and Ne

cessity .

Of the Nature and Importance of First Truths, and Sophisms

connected with attempts to reason against them Laws of Investigation in any Department of Knowledge

1. Of collecting Facts ....

2. Of tracing the Relation of Cause and Effect

3. Of deducing General Principles .

Of Fallacies in Investigation

Fallacies in regard to Facts .

False Induction

False Reasoning Of the Nature of Reasoning )f the Syllogism and its Uses

CONTENTS.

Of the Cautions in examining a Process of Reasoning or Investigation .......

Distinction between a Process of Reasoning and a Process of In vestigation .....

Of Fallacies in Reasoning Of Mathematical Reasoning Difference between the Sound Exercise of Judgment and the Art of Disputation ....

Of the Culture and Regulation of the Judgment . Influence of Attention . v .

Influence of Prejudice

Influence of Passion, or State of Moral Feelings Importance of a well-regulated Judgment .

Page.

175 178

189 191 191 192 193 194

$ II. — OF THE USE OF REASON IN CORRECTING THE IMPRESSIONS OF THE MIND IN REGARD TO EXTERNAL THINGS.

Nature and Effects of this Exercise of Reason . Peculiar Conditions connected with the Suspension of it

I. Dreaming ......

Peculiar Condition of the Mind in Dreaming . Origin of the various Classes of Dreams.

1. Recent Events ....

2. Old Associations excited by Bodily Sensations

3. Old Associations recalled by a Process of the

Mind itself

4. Mental Emotions imbodied into Dreams . Dreams consist chiefly of Real Objects of Conception ......

Operations of an Intellectual Character in Dreams

II. Somnambulism .....

Various degrees of this Affection.

Remarkable Condition, commonly called Double Con sciousness .....

III. Insanity .....

Peculiar Condition of the Mind constituting Insanity Various Modifications of it, from Eccentricity to Mania ......

Great Activity of the Mental Powers in many Cases Remarkable Loss of Recent Impressions, and sudden

Revival of them on Recovery Hallucination confined to a single Point Probable Origin of the Peculiar Hallucinations in different cases of Insanity

198 198

193 199

203 207

213 214

225 226

227 229

230 232

CONTENTS.

Page.

1. Propensities of Character . . . 233

2. Old Associations . . . .234

3. Old Fictions of the Imagination . . 234

4. Bodily Feelings . . . . 234

5. Undefined Impression of the new and peculiar

Condition of the Mental Powers . . 235

Melancholia — Propensity to Suicide . . . 236

Origin and Causes of Insanity .... 238

Cautions in deciding on slight or suspected Case. . 241

Liability of the Insane to Punishment . . . 242

Moral Treatment of Insanity .... 244

Of Idiocy — Difference between it and Insanity . 248

Cretinism ...... 250

IV. Spectral Illusions.

Various Forms and Sources of them . . . 254

Part IV

VIEW OF THE QUALITIES AND ACQUIREMENTS WHICH CONSTITUTE A WELL REGULATED MIND.

1. Habit of Attention

2. Regulation of the Succession of Thoughts

3. Activity of Mind .

4. Habits of Association and ^Reflection

5. Proper Selection of Objects of Pursuit

6. Government of the Imagination .

7. Culture and Regulation of the Judgment

Observing and Inventive Genius

8. Right Condition of the Moral Feelings

Introduction

METHOD OF USING THE BOOK.

TO BE CAREFULLY STUDIED BY THE PUPILS AS THEIR FIRST LESSOR

The design of the study of Intellectual Philosophyis not merely, as in the case of most other studies, the acquisition of knowledge. Something far more important, and far more difficult to attain, is in view. In the •study of Chemistry, History, Geography, and other ;similar sciences, the main object is to obtain information — to become acquainted with facts. But although (the science of Mind does indeed present to view a most Valuable and interesting class of facts, it is not merely with reference to these that the study is pursued. This science aims at a higher object. It is intended to introduce the pupil to a new range of thought, and to bring ,out into action, and consequently into more full development, a new class of faculties. It is its aim to exercise and strengthen the thinking and reasoning powers, — to enable the mind to grasp abstruse and perplexing subjects, — to think clearly and to reason correctly, tin regard to truths that lie in those depths which the senses cannot explore.

Design of the study, what? Compar / with other studies. What is its chief aim?

I

Of course, the study of Intellectual Philosophy is not intended to be an easy one. Its very difficulty is one source of the benefit to be derived from it ; for it is by encountering and overcoming this difficulty, that intellectual strength is acquired. In Gymnastics, the exertion necessary to perform the feats is the very means by which the advantage is secured, and it is to require this exertion that the whole apparatus is contrived. Now mathematical and metaphysical studies are intended as a sort of intellectual gymnastics, in which the tasks ought indeed to be brought fairly within the powers of the pupil, but they ought nearly to equal those powers, so as to call them into active and vigorous exercise, or the end will be lost. If, therefore, the writer of a treatise on such a subject comes down so completely to the level of the young as to make the study mere light reading, he fails entirely of accomplishing what ought to be his highest aim. He destroys the difficulty and the advantage together. It is indeed true that a very useful book may be written for children, with the design of merely giving them information on some subjects connected with the structure of their minds. It might be entertaining, and to a considerable degree instructive, but it would answer none of the important purpbses which ought to be in view, in the introduction of such a study into literary institutions. It would develop no new reasoning or thinking powers. It would awaken no new intellectual effort.

Such being the nature of this study, it is plain that it ought not to be commenced by any pupil without a proper understanding of its object and design. Such an understanding is essential. That it may come more distinctly and definitely before the mind, I propose to enumerate the qualifications which each individual should see that he possesses, before he commences the study of this work.

The study difficult. Why ? Gymnastics. Difference between reading and study, ©n this subject.

I. Ability to understand the language of the work. It is not a child's book. It was written by a man, and was intended to be read by men. The editor has made no effort to alter it in this respect, so that the book stands on a level, as to its style and language, with the great mass of books intended to influence and interest the mature. It ought to be so ; for to be able to understand such writing is necessary for all, and if the pupil is far enough advanced in his education to study metaphysics, it is high time for him to be habituated to it. Let no pupil therefore, after he is fairly engaged in the study, complain that he cannot understand the lessons. This is a point which ought to be settled before he begins.

Take for instance the following passage, which may perhaps be considered as a fair specimen. Let the pupil read it attentively, and see whether or not he can fully understand it.

" There is a class of intellectual habits directly the reverse of those now referred to ; namely, habits of inattention, by which the mind, long unaccustomed to have the attention steadily directed to any important object, becomes frivolous and absent, or lost amid its own waking dreams. A mind in this condition becomes incapable of following a train of reasoning, and even of observing facts with accuracy and tracing their relations. Hence nothing is more opposed to the cultivation of intellectual character ; and I ; when such a person attempts to reason, or to follow out a course of investigation, he falls into slight and partial views, unsound deductions, and frivolous arguments. This state of mind, therefore, ought to be carefully guarded against in 1 'the young, as, when it is once established, it can be removed 1 ,only by a long and laborious effort, and after a certain per - riod of life is probably irremediable.

" In rude and savage life remarkable examples occur of

J <the effect of habits of minute attention to those circumstan-

e ces to which the mind is intensely directed by their relation

to the safety or advantage of the observer. The American

First qualification — what? Language of the book. Mode of ascertaining the pupil's Ability to understand it. Substance of the passage quoted — what ?

i hunter finds his way in the trackless forests by attention to minute appearances in the trees, which indicate ^ btev the points of the compass. He traces the progress of n. ■.? enemies or his friends by the marks of their footsteps ; and judges of their numbers, their baitings, their employments, by circumstances which would entirely escape the observation of persons unaccustomed to a mode of life requiring such exercises of attention. Numerous examples of this kind are mentioned by travellers, particularly among the original natives of America."

The pupil may read as attentively as he pleases. He may make use of a dictionary, or any other similar help. He may make occasional inquiries of a friend : but if he cannot, with such assistance, really understand the train of thought presented in such a passage, and give a tolerable account of it to his teacher, he had better for the present postpone the study of Intellectual Philosophy : his mind is too immature.

II. Mental cultivation enough to be interested in the subject of the work. The subjects discussed, and the views presented, are of such a nature, that mere children can take no interest in them. They cannot appreciate them. Urless the mind has made considerable progress in its development, and in its attainments in other branches, and unless it has, in some degree, formed habits of patient attention, it must fail in the attempt to penetrate such a subject as this. The pupil, in such a case, after going a little way, will say the book is dull and dry. He will attribute to the study, or to the mode in which it is treated, a failure, which really results from his own incapacity. He ought to reflect when tempted to make this charge, that it cannot be possible that the study is, in itself, uninteresting. This treatise of Dr. Abercrombie's has been bought and read with avidity by tens of thousands in Great Britain and America, who could have been led to it by no motive

Second qualification. Consequences of commencing the study without it. The study really interesting : how proved to be so.

whatever, but the strong interest which the subject inspires. They, therefore, who are not interested in it, after making faithful efforts, fail of being so because their intellects are yet too feeble to appreciate what they read ; and by complaining of the dryness or dullness of the book, they are really exposing their own incompetency to enter into the spirit of it. The teacher ought to take care that his pupils do not commence the work, until they are capable of feeling the interest which it is calculated to awaken.

III. A willingness to give to the subject the severe, patient, and persevering study which it demands. Some will wish to take up such a branch merely for the sake of having something new. Others because their vanity is flattered by the idea that they are studying Philosophy. . Others still, because they wish for the honor of being in a class with certain individuals known as good scholars. Beginning with such ideas and motives, will only lead to disappointment and failure. The pupil ought to approach this subject with a distinct understanding that though it is full of interest, it will be full of difficulty ; that it will try, to the utmost, his powers ; and that the pleasure which he is to seek in the pursuit of it, is the enjoyment of high intellectual effort, — the interest of encountering and overcoming difficulties, — and opening to himself a new field of knowledge, and a new scope for the exercise of his powers.

I come now to describe a method of studying and reciting the lessons in such a work as this. I say a method, because it is only meant to be proposed for adoption in cases where another or a better one is not at hand. Experienced and skilful teachers have their own modes of conducting such studies, and the recitations connected with them, with which there ought to

Complaints of its dullness show what? Third qualification. Wrong motives for commencing the study. Proper views of it. Method of studying — why proposed.

be no interference. The plan about to be proposed may, however, be of use in assisting teachers who are, for the first time, introducing this study to their schools ; and the principles on which it is based are well worthy the attention of every pupil who is about to commence this study.

1. When you sit down to the study of a lesson in this work, be careful to be free from interruption, and to have such a period of time before you, to be occupied in the work, as will give you the opportunity really to enter into it. Then banish other thoughts entirely from the mind, and remove yourself as far as possible from other objects of interest or sources of interruption. The habit into which many young persons allow themselves to fall, of studying lessons in fragments of time, having the book, perhaps, for some time before them, but allowing their attention to be continually diverted from their pursuit, will only lead to superficial and utterly useless attainments. It is destructive to all those habits of mind necessary for success in any important intellectual pursuit. It is especially injurious in such a study as this. Intellectual Philosophy is emphatically the science of thought, and nothing effectual can be done in it without patient, continued, and solitary study.

2. Ascertain before you commence any lesson what place it occupies in the general plan of the book, with which, at the outset, you should become very thoroughly acquainted. Nothing promotes so much the formation of logical and systematic habits of mind, and nothing so effectually assists the memory, in regard to what any particular work contains, as the keeping constantly in view the general plan of the book ; looking at it as a whole, and understanding distinctly, not merely each truth, or system of truths brought to view, but the place which it occupies in the general design.

First direction. A common but faulty mode of studying described. Its effects— what ? Second direction. Effect* of this practice.

3. This preparation being made, you are prepared to read the lesson, which should be done, the first time, with great attention and care, and with especial effort to understand the connection between each sentence and paragraph, and those which precede and follow it. It should always be borne in mind, that treatises on such subjects as these, present trains of thought and reasoning, not mere detached ideas and sentences. Every remark, therefore, should be examined, not by itself, but in its connections. This should be especially observed in regard to the anecdotes and illustrations, with which the work abounds. The bearing of each one on the subject should be very carefully studied. They are all intended to prove some point, or to illustrate some position. After reading such narratives, then, you should not only take care to understand it as a story, but should ask yourself such questions as these: "Why is the story introduced here? What does the author mean to prove by it ) What principle does it illustrate?' 7

There is, for example, in the section on Memory, a story of the author's seeing the wife of one of his patients, but he could not think who it was, until he accidentally passed a cottage where he had attended the patient, when all the circumstances came to his mind. This is a very simple story to read and remember, merely as a story. But to do that alone is only light reading ; it is not study at all, far less the study of the Philosophy of Mind. But if you inquire what the narrative is designed to illustrate, by looking back a paragraph or two, you will see that the subject is Memory, as affected by Local Association, and that this incident is intended to show how events were recalled to the memory of the author, by his coming in sight of a cottage with which they were strongly associated, although all his direct efforts failed to bring them to mind.

Third direction. Connections of the passage. Anecdotes and illustrations, how to he iludied ? Example. Mode of studying it ? w Difference between reading and study. 9*

Thus it illustrates a principle; and careful effort to discover and clearly to understand the principles thus illustrated, is what constitutes the difference between merely reading a story book, and studying the Philosophy of Mind.

The pupil, too, should avail himself of collateral helps in understanding the lesson. Every geographical, or historical, or personal allusion should be examined with the help of the proper books. If a distinguished indivi dual is mentioned, find the account of his life in a biographical dictionary. If a place is named, seek it on the map. There is one other direction which I am sorry to say it is absolutely necessary to mention. Look out all the words, whose meaning you do not distinctly and fully understand, in a dictionary. Strange as it may seem, in nine cases out of ten, a pupil in school will find in his lesson a sentence containing words he does not understand, and, perplexing himself some minutes with it in vain, he will go to his recitation in ignorance of its meaning, as if he never had heard of such a contrivance as a dictionary. Now the habit of seeking from other books explanations and assistance in regard to your studies is of incalculable value. It will cause you some additional trouble, but it will multiply, many fold, your interest and success.

4. After having thus read, with minute and critical attention, the portion assigned, the pupil should next take a cursory review of it, by glancing the eye over the paragraphs, noticing the heads, and the questions or topics in the margin, for the purpose of taking in, as it were, a view of the passage as a whole. The order of discussion which the author adopts, and the regular manner in which the several steps of an argument, or the several applications of a principle, succeed one another, should be carefully observed. There are the same reasons for doing this, in regard to any particular chapter, as in regard to the whole work. The connec-

Collateral helps. Examples of this. Use of dictionary. Fourth direction. Reriew of the lesson.

tion, too, between the passage which constitutes the lesson, and the rest of the book, i. e. the place which it occupies in the plan of the author, should be brought to mind again. You thus classify and arrange, in your own mind, what is learned, and not only fix it more firmly, but you are acquiring logical habits of mind, which will be of lasting and incalculable value.

5. You will thus have acquired a thorough knowledge of the lesson, but this is by no means all that is necessary. You must learn to recite it. That is, you must learn to express, in your own language, the ideas you have thus acquired. This is a distinct and an important point. Nothing is more common than for pupils to say, when they attempt to recite in such a study as this, "I know the answer, but I cannot express it;" as if the power to express was not as important as the ability to understand.

The pupil then must make special preparation for this part of his duty, that is, for expressing in his own language the thoughts and principles of the author. The best way, perhaps, of making this preparation, is to go over the lesson, looking only at the topics in the margin, and repeating aloud, or in a whisper, or in thought, the substance of what is stated under each. Be careful that what you say makes complete and perfect sense of itself, that it is expressed in clear and natural language, and that it is a full exposition of the author's meaning.

Such a study as this ought not to be recited by mere question and answer. Whenever the subject will allow, it is better for the teacher to give out a subject or topic, on which the pupil may express the sentiments of the writer. This is altogether the pleasantest, as well as the most useful mode of recitation. Those unaccustomed to it will, of course, find a little difficulty at first. But the very effort to surmount this difficulty will be as useful in developing and strengthening the intellectual powers, as any other effort which the study requires.

Connections of the lesson. Fifth direction. Learning to recite. What implied in this. Common •xcuse. Preparation — how to be mide. Mode of questioning.

You should go over the lesson, then, for the purpose of reciting it by yourself as it were, by looking at the marginal titles, one by one, and distinctly stating to yourself the substance of the author's views upon each. If this preparation is made, and if the recitation is conducted on the same principles, the pupils will soon find themselves making very perceptible and rapid progress in that most important art, viz. expressing their sentiments with fluency, distinctness, and promptitude.

It will be evident, from what is said above, that the pupil ought not to commit to memory the language of the author. This practice may indeed be useful in strengthening the memory, and in some other ways, but very far higher objects ought to be in view in studying such a work as this, which will be far better attained by the pupils depending entirely on themselves for the language in which they express their ideas. To illustrate distinctly the mode of recitation intended, I will give a specimen. The following passage will serve as text.

" Memory is very much influenced by Attention, or a full and distinct perception of the fact or object, with a view to its being remembered ; and by the perception being kept before the mind, in this distinct manner, for a certain time. The distinct recollection of the fact, in such cases, is generally in proportion to the intensity with which it has been contemplated ; and this is also very much strengthened by its being repeatedly brought before the mind. Most people, accordingly, have experienced that a statement is more strongly impressed upon the memory by being several times repeated to others. It is on the same principle that memory is greatly assisted by writing down the object of our knowledge, especially if this be done in a distinct and systematic manner. A subject also is more distinctly conceived, and more correctly remembered, after we have instructed another person in it. Such exercises are not strictly to be considered as helps to the memory, but as excitements to attention; and as thus leading to that clear and full corn- Advantage of this mode. Committing to memory.