t by physical
philosophers, that only matter is the vehicle of energy; and that
_Either appearance is all, or there is substance beyond consciousness_,
is a doctrine which only metaphysical philosophers could be expected to
understand, and upon which they could not be expected to agree. However,
the chief danger is that a plausible disjunction may not be really such
as to exclude any middle ground: _Either the Tories or the Whigs win_,
is bad, if a tie be possible; though in the above argument this is
negligible, seeing that a tie cannot directly cause innovations. _Either
AEschines joined in the rejoicings, or he did not_, does not allow for a
decent conformity with the public movement where resistance would be
vain; yet such conformity as need not be inconsistent with subsequent
condemnation of the proceedings, nor incompatible with patriotic reserve
founded on a belief that the rejoicings are premature and ominous.

Another rhetorical consideration is, that the alternatives of the
disjunctive conclusion of a Complex Dilemma should both point the same
way, should be equally distasteful or paradoxical. 'Either inconsistent
or unpatriotic': horrid words to a politician! 'Either no reality or no
possible knowledge of it': very disappointing to an anxious inquirer!
Thus the disjunctive conclusion is as bad for an opponent as the
categorical one in a Simple Dilemma.

Logicians further speak of the Trilemma, with three Hypotheticals and a
corresponding triple Disjunction; and of a Polylemma, with any further
number of perplexities. But anyone who has a taste for logical forms may
have it amply gratified in numerous text-books.

CHAPTER XIII

TRANSITION TO INDUCTION

Sec. 1. Having now discussed Terms, Propositions, Immediate and Mediate
Inferences, and investigated the conditions of formal truth or
consistency, we have next to consider the conditions of material truth:
whether (or how far) it is possible to arrive at propositions that
accurately represent the course of nature or of human life. Hitherto we
have dealt with no sort of proof that gives any such assurance. A valid
syllogism guarantees the truth of its conclusion, provided the premises
be true: but what of the premises? The relation between the premises of
a valid syllogism and its conclusion is the same as the relation between
the antecedent and consequent of a hypothetical proposition. If A is B,
C is D: grant that A is B, and it follows that C is