118 NAMES AND PROPOSITIONS. 



exceeding the approbation which would he due to the pru- 

 dence. Neither the substance, therefore, (viz. the person,) nor 

 the phenomenon, (the conduct,) is an antecedent on which the 

 other term of the sequence is universally consequent. But the 

 proposition, " Prudence is a virtue," is an universal proposi- 

 tion. What is it, then, upon which the proposition affirms the 

 effects in question to be universally consequent ? Upon that 

 in the person, and in the conduct, which causes them to be 

 called prudent, and which is equally in them when the action, 

 though prudent, is wicked ; namely, a correct foresight of 

 consequences, a just estimation of their importance to the 

 object in view, and repression of any unreflecting impulse at 

 variance with the deliberate purpose. These, which are states 

 of the person's mind, are the real antecedent in the sequence, 

 the real cause in the causation, asserted by the proposition. 

 But these are also the real ground, or foundation, of the attri- 

 bute Prudence ; since wherever these states of mind exist we 

 may predicate prudence, even before we know whether any 

 conduct has followed. And in this manner every assertion 

 respecting an attribute, may be transformed into an assertion 

 exactly equivalent respecting the fact or phenomenon which 

 is the ground of the attribute. And no case can be assigned, 

 where that which is predicated of the fact or phenomenon, does 

 not belong to one or other of the five species formerly enume- 

 rated : it is either simple Existence, or it is some Sequence, 

 Coexistence, Causation, or Resemblance. 



And as these five are the only things which can be affirmed, 

 so are they the only things which can be denied. " No horses 

 are web-footed" denies that the attributes of a horse ever co- 

 exist with web-feet. It is scarcely necessary to apply the same 

 analysis to Particular affirmations and negations. " Some 

 birds are web-footed," affirms that, with the attributes con- 

 noted by bird, the phenomenon web-feet is sometimes co-exis- 

 tent : " Some birds are not web-footed," asserts that there are 

 other instances in which this coexistence does not have place. 

 Any further explanation of a thing which, if the previous ex- 

 position has been assented to, is so obvious, may here be spared. 



