MEMOIR OF ARISTOTLE. 87 



Rhetoric and Poetics, with their accessory and colla- 

 teral sciences. Dialectic, or the art of reasoning, 

 taken in its widest sense, is the method of deducing 

 the probabilities on either side of a question, so framed 

 as to involve one of two contradictory propositions 

 in the answer, according as the affirmative or nega- 

 tive side is adopted. No part of scholastic science 

 stood more in need of amendment than this ; and 

 accordingly his treatise on the subject is the refor- 

 mation of the irregular and confused system in use 

 before his time. Not only does he explain the ge- 

 neral notion of the science, as the art of defending or 

 impugning an opinion ; he takes a wider and more 

 philosophical view, by investigating the grounds both 

 in the structure of language and the connexion of 

 thought, on which all arguments must rest. 



This art presented a field for the display of singular 

 acuteness, and it was carried by Aristotle to a degree 

 of perfection beyond what any before him had con- 

 ceived. He pointed out the method by which the 

 defender of a thesis might be invincible, and taught 

 the opponent to shew no less insuperable skill in his 

 attacks ; so that every question could easily be per- 

 plexed with endless disputation, and all reasoning 

 made to revolve in a circle. To excel in the ma- 

 nagement of the syllogism was the pride and glory 

 of the schools in the dark ages ; but the extravagant 

 height to which it was carried, was an impediment 

 to knowledge, and a burlesque on moral science. 

 This, however, was an abuse of the system, and 



