226 REASONING. 



7. We have thus obtained what we were seeking, an 

 universal type of the reasoning process. We find it resolv- 

 able in all cases into the following elements : Certain indi- 

 viduals have a given attribute ; an individual or individuals 

 resemble the former in certain other attributes ; therefore 

 they resemble them also in the given attribute. This type of 

 ratiocination does not claim, like the syllogism, to be con- 

 clusive, from the mere form of the expression ; nor can it 

 possibly be so. That one proposition does or does not 

 assert the very fact which was already asserted in another, 

 may appear from the form of the expression, that is, from a 

 comparison of the language ; but when the two propositions 

 assert facts which are bond fide different, whether the one 

 fact proves the other or not can never appear from the lan- 

 guage, but must depend on other considerations. Whether, 

 from the attributes in which Socrates resembles those men 

 who have heretofore died, it is allowable to infer that he 

 resembles them also in being mortal, is a question of Induc- 

 tion ; and is to be decided by the principles or canons which 

 we shall hereafter recognise as tests of the correct performance 

 of that great mental operation. 



Meanwhile, however, it is certain, as before remarked, 

 that if this inference can be drawn as to Socrates, it can be 

 drawn as to all others who resemble the observed individuals 

 in the same attributes in which he resembles them ; that is 

 (to express the thing concisely) of all mankind. If, therefore, 

 the argument be admissible in the case of Socrates, we 

 are at liberty, once for all, to treat the possession of the 

 attributes of man as a mark, or satisfactory evidence, of the 

 attribute of mortality. This we do by laying down the uni- 

 versal proposition, All men are mortal, and interpreting this, 

 as occasion arises, in its application to Socrates and others. 

 By this means we establish a very convenient division of the 

 entire logical operation into two steps ; first, that of ascer- 

 taining what attributes are marks of mortality ; and, secondly, 

 whether any given individuals possess those marks. And 

 ifc will generally be advisable, in our speculations on the 

 reasoning process, to consider this double operation as in 



