f different questions, moral, religious, political. Many different
answers to the questions will be received, in some cases as many answers
to the questions as there are pupils. Ask whether it is ever right to
steal, whether it is ever right to lie, whether it is ever right to
fight, whether it is ever right to disobey a parent or teacher, whether
oak is stronger than maple, whether iron expands more when heated than
does copper, whether one should always feed beggars, etc. The answers
received, in each case, depend on the previous experience of the pupils.
The more nearly alike the experiences of the pupils, the more nearly
alike will be the answers. The more divergent the experiences, the more
different will be the answers.

The basis of reasoning is ultimately the same sort of thing as the basis
of habit. We have repeated experiences of the same kind. The ideas of
these experiences become welded together in a definite way. Association
between certain groups of ideas becomes well fixed. Later situations
involving these groups of ideas set up definite trains of association.
We come always to definite conclusions from the same situations
provided that we are in the same mental set and the factors involved are
the same.

Throughout early life we have definite moral and religious ideas
presented to us. We come to think in definite ways about them or with
them. It therefore comes about that every day we live, we are
determining the way we shall in the future reason about things. We are
each day getting the material for the solution of the problems that will
be presented to us by future situations. And the reason that one of us
will solve those problems in a different way from another is because of
having somewhat different experiences, and of organizing them in a
different way.

=Meaning and the Organization of Ideas.= In the preceding paragraphs we
have several times spoken of the organization of ideas. Let us now see
just what is meant by this expression. Intimately connected with the
organization of ideas is _meaning_. What is the meaning of an idea? The
meaning of an idea is another idea or group of ideas that are very
closely associated with it. When there comes to mind an idea that has
arisen out of repeated experience, there come almost immediately with it
other ideas, perhaps vivid images which have been connected with the
same experience. Suppose the idea is of a horse. If one were asked,
"What is a horse?" ide