150 NAMES AND PROPOSITIONS. 



without the aid of any other premises ; whether the definition 

 expresses them in two or three words, or in a larger number. 

 It is, therefore, not without reason that Condillac and other 

 writers have affirmed a definition to be an analysis. To resolve 

 any complex whole into the elements of which it is com- 

 pounded, is the meaning of analysis : and this we do when we 

 replace one word which connotes a set of attributes collectively, 

 by two or more which connote the same attributes singly, or 

 in smaller groups. 



2. From this, however, the question naturally arises, in 

 what manner are we to define a name which connotes only a 

 single attribute : for instance, "white," which connotes nothing 

 but whiteness ; " rational," which connotes nothing but the 

 possession of reason. It might seem that the meaning of 

 such names could only be declared in two ways ; by a synony- 

 mous term, if any such can be found ; or in the direct way 

 already alluded to : " White is a name connoting the attribute 

 whiteness." Let us see, however, whether the analysis of the 

 meaning of the name, that is, the breaking down of that 

 meaning into several parts, admits of being carried farther. 

 Without at present deciding this question as to the word white, 

 it is obvious that in the case of rational some further explana- 

 tion may be given of its meaning than is contained in the pro- 

 position, "Rational is that which possesses the attribute of 

 reason ;" since the attribute reason itself admits of being de- 

 fined. And here we must turn our attention to the definitions 

 of attributes, or rather of the names of attributes, that is, of 

 abstract names. 



In regard to such names of attributes as are connotative, 

 and express attributes of those attributes, there is no diffi- 

 culty : like other connotative names they are defined by 

 declaring their connotation. Thus, the word fault may be 

 defined, "a quality productive of evil or inconvenience." 

 Sometimes, again, the attribute to be defined is not one 

 attribute, but an union of several : we have only, therefore, 

 to put together the names of all the attributes taken sepa- 

 rately, and we obtain the definition of the name which belongs 



