Best of
Education

1802

Logic: The Right Use of Reason in the Inquiry After Truth


Isaac Watts - 1802
    Whether a man was studying for the ministry or any other of the sciences, the ability to reason rightly was of utmost importance. Watts’s work on logic and reason became a standard textbook for nearly 200 years, being used in such schools as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and Yale.In Logic, Watts address proper thinking under the four basic functions of the human mind: perception, judgment, reasoning, and disposition. In part one, Watts addresses human perception, the cultivation of ideas, and how we associate them with words. In part two, Watts treats human judgment and its ability to construct various kinds of propositions, while giving guidance for avoiding the formation of bad judgments. Part three covers our ability to reason, giving instruction on the use of syllogisms for constructing a good argument. Part four discusses the mind’s disposition as a method of arranging our thoughts for better understanding and memory.This book will help discipline the mind and train the reader to discern proper thinking and argumentation in seeking truth.Table of Contents:First Part: Of Perception and Ideas1. Of the Nature of Ideas2. Of the Objects of Perception3. Of the Several Sorts of Perceptions or Ideas4. Of Words, and their Several Divisions, Together with the Advantage and Danger of Them5. General Directions Relating to our Ideas6. Special Rules to Direct our Conception of ThingsSecond Part: Of Judgment and Proposition1. Of the Nature of a Proposition, and its Several parts2. Of the various Kinds of Propositions3. The Springs of False Judgment, or the Doctrine of Prejudices4. General Directions to Assist us in Judging Aright5. Special Rules to Direct us in Judging of ParticularThird Part: Of Reason and Syllogism1. Of the Nature of a Syllogism, and the parts of Which it is Composed2. Of the Various Kinds of Syllogisms, with Particular Rules Relating to Them3. The Doctrine of Syllogisms4. Some General Rules to Direct our ReasoningFourth Part: Of Disposition and Method1. The Nature and Kinds of Method, viz. Natural and Arbitrary, Synthetic and Analytic2. General and Special Rules of Method