zed by the intelligence alone, in virtue
of which it can be retained as an object of thought, and compared with
other objects, he proposes to _compare, analyze, define,_ and _classify_
the primary cognitions, and thus evoke into energy, and clearly present
those principles or forms of the intelligence which he denominate
"universals." As yet, however, he has only attained to "general
notions," which are purely subjective, that is, to logical definitions,
and these logical definitions are subsequently elevated to the dignity
of "universal principles and causes" by a species of philosophic
legerdemain. Philosophy is thus stripped of its metaphysical character,
and assumes a strictly _logical_ aspect. The key of the Aristotelian
method is therefore the

ARISTOTELIAN LOGIC.

Pure Logic is the science of the formal laws of thought. Its office is
to ascertain the rules or conditions under which the mind, by its own
constitution, reasons and discourses. The office of Applied Logic--of
logic as an art--is "to form and judge of conclusions, and, through
conclusions, to establish proof. The conclusions, however, arise from
propositions, and the propositions from conceptions." It is chiefly
under the latter aspect that logic is treated by Aristotle. According to
this natural point of view he has divided the contents of the logical
and dialectic teaching in the different treatises of the _Organon_.

[Footnote 691: "Ethics," bk. vi. ch. vi.]

[Footnote 692: "Post. Analytic," bk. i. ch. xxxi.]

The first treatise is the "_Categories_" or "Predicaments"--a work which
treats of the universal determinations of Being. It is a classification
of all our mental conceptions. As a matter of fact, the mind forms
notions or conceptions about those natures and essences of things which
present an outward image to the senses, or those, equally real, which
utter themselves to the mind. These may be defined and classified; there
may be general conceptions to which all particular conceptions are
referable. This classification has been attempted by Aristotle, and as
the result we have the ten "Categories" of _Substance, Quantity,
Quality, Relation, Time, Place, Position, Possession, Action, Passion_.
He does not pretend that this classification is complete, but he held
these "Predicaments" to be the most universal expressions for the
various relations of things, under some one of which every thing might
be reduced.

The second treatise, "_On In