New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-09


the little book Of Professor Bosanauet b"t
they will look for much else In vain and find
much that they never expected to see Logic is
about the last science 1t might be supposed 70
foe, the touch of Darwinism. But 1t has felt IL
and has gained what would have grieved OAR
win himself to the heart--a headlong impetus
toward final cause At least that is the view oi
the case given by DR.. SiGwart
The first result Of the Darwinian theory was
apparently merely destructive. 1t swept away
the very foundations Of logic that were iaid oy
Aristotle by denying the validity OF the opinion
that 1.-THE whole organic world was constructed
according to forms which could be fixed IN oehhi-
tions and in such a way that each indVlouai
could be attributed 10 this or that species accoro-
ing to unlnistakable characteristics IL drew at
tention TO the pecuiarites of the indivduai which
the older science and particularly the oider logic
ignored: 10 the differences of varleues WHICH
had before received scant recognition as the ac-
cidental product Of external causes, cli'nate' si'
uation and the like and 1t emphasized the srao-
ual transition by which these minor dlherehces
rose In importance to the level OF those whlch
were known as specific and were accepted as
determining the limits Of species. 1t showed
how impossible II was TO carry out any classih-
cation in such way as to make the species 10
which an individual should be assigned easy
10 fix.
Thus in place of the old sharply marked dl-
vision or discretion" among concepts. 1t pre-
sented an unbroken series of small differences.
one shading imperceptibly into another. 1t de-
stroved utterly the old doctrine that organic
forms were invariable and by it's most charac-
teristic assertion that the innumerable living
creatures in the world came into being as the
result of gradual trihing deviations from carrier
forms it demolished the Aristotelian and scho-
lastic doctrine of the concept. Manifesty the
concept of the genus horse must have peen very
different in the minds of men famlllar Win the
creatures Of remote geological times from the
one accepted now. To the old logic concept
was independent of time. 1t was changeless'
The things TO which it answered were always
the same. But with Darwinism II is just mat
ter of the present moment that the living or
canisms of the world separated into groups
by the disappearance of intermediate forms.
It might easily have happened that every
member in the infinite series of life should still
be represented. and in that case there would be
no distinctions worthy the name of genera and
species; land If We should try to estaoilsh
sharply limited concepts the restless activity OF
model Them like coins that have been withdrawn
from the currency 1t is easy to see what it
must mean for logic II Darwinism in the organic
world and chemistry in the inorganic should
substitute something fortuitous in place OF the
orderly though artificial notions of the past
Darwin" says Dr. Sigwart. frequently speaks
of variation as something quite capricious, as
tendency which strives, so TO speak, In all olrec-
tons at once. thus making the basis OF his edi-
hce an absolutely irrational element; ana ne
adds "just as irrational as the plurality OF Inc
hundreds Of thousands of species OF plants ana
animals registered in descriptive botany ana
zoology is the plurality Of elements enumerated
by chemistry" AS matter Of fact, no phllos-
ophers are more eagerly searching Tor trust
worthy unity in the midst Of plurality than the
thoughtful investigators In chemistry. But uh-
Ill they discover this unity the multitude OF
facts with which they have to deal is as fatal as
variation under Darwinism to the craving VI
logic for general propositions
But the suggestion of Darwinism is neither
fortuitous nor capricious It's denial OF the pre-
suppositions of induction and of subordination
OF the particular to the universal merely SHOWS
The inadeauacy Of the traditional doctrine OF the
.oncent and of induction, that even though IL
were refuted as a theory of natural science II
will still have served an important purpose in
logic Formerly differences were neglected, ana
those particulars which did not admit OF classi-
ncation were ignored But Darwin by showing
that the determinations and differences or the
Individual need scientific explanation no less
than common attributes" has given right d.
-ection TO the induction upon which our forma-
ton of concepts IL based. Moreover the old logic
took for granted the existence of genera and spe-
cies in such a way az to imply that these could
not be otherwise. In theory 1t might have seemed
oossible to start from a given universal and dls-
tinguish under it all those divisions which were
realized in nature. And yet says DR.. SigWart.
ironically mo one seriously tried TO develop
TO- cally from the concept man the different
races nor its various species from the concept
rodent" To all this Darwnsm responded with
the simple query. Why these divisions rather
than others in the infinite range OF possibilities?
Logic Is asked TO explain why individuals that
are similar and yet unlike should be compre-
hended in specific concepts and these again in
generic concepts and why lust these forms and
no others no more and no fewer. are forthcom-
ing as species Of a generic concept" This is not
q question asked merely to puzzle the old logi-
clans. Darwinism has its own answer for the
problem
Meanwhile the problem itself interests Dr
sigwart 1t furnishes IL anything does, the key