FALLACIES OF CONFUSION. 565 



quence of this ambiguity is, that as soon as scarcity of money in the latter 

 of these senses begins to be felt — as soon as there is difficulty of obtaining 

 loans, and the rate of interest is high — it is concluded that this must arise 

 from causes acting upon the quantity of money in the other and more pop- 

 ular sense ; that the circulating medium must have diminished in quantity, 

 or ought to be increased. I am aware that, independently of the double 

 meaning of the term, there are in the facts themselves some peculiarities, 

 giving an apparent support to this error ; but the ambiguity of the lan- 

 guage stands on the very threshold of the subject, and intercepts all at- 

 tempts to throw light upon it. 



Another ambiguous expression which continually meets us in the polit- 

 ical controversies of the present time, especially in those which relate to 

 organic changes, is the phrase " influence of property" — which is sometimes 

 used for the intluence of respect for superior intelhgence or gratitude for 

 the kind offices which persons of large property have it so much in their 

 power to bestow; at other times for the influence of fear; fear of the 

 worst sort of power, which large property also gi\'es to its possessor, the 

 power of doing mischief to dependents. To confound these two, is the 

 standing fallacy of ambiguity brought against those who seek to purify 

 the electoral system from corruption and intimidation. Persuasive influ- 

 ence, acting through the conscience of the voter, and carrying his heart 

 and mind with it, is beneficial — therefore (it is pretended) coercive influ- 

 ence, which compels him to forget that he is a moral agent, or to act in 

 opposition to his moral convictions, ought not to be placed under restraint. 



Another word which is often turned into an instrument of the fallacy of 

 ambiguity, is Theory. In its most proper acceptation, theory means the 

 completed result of philosophical induction from experience. In that 

 sense, there are erroneous as well as true theories, for induction may be 

 incorrectly performed, but theory of some sort is the necessary result of 

 knowing any thing of a subject, and having put one's knowledge into the 

 form of general propositions for the guidance of practice. In this, the 

 proper sense of the word, Theory is the explanation of practice. In an- 

 other and a more vulgar sense, theory means any mere fiction of the im- 

 agination, endeavoring to conceive how a thing may possibly have been 

 produced, instead of examining how it was produced. In this sense only 

 are theory and theorists unsafe guides; but because of this, ridicule or 

 discredit is attempted to be attached to theory in its proper sense, that is, 

 to legitimate generalization, the end and aim of all philosophy; and a con- 

 clusion is represented as worthless, just because that has been done which, 

 if done correctly, constitutes the highest worth that a principle for the 

 guidance of practice can possess, namely, to comprehend in a few words 

 the real law on which a phenomenon depends, or some property or relation 

 which is universally true of it. 



" The Church" is sometimes understood to mean the clergy alone, some- 

 times the whole body of believers, or at least of communicants. The dec- 

 lamations respecting the inviolability of church property are indebted for 

 the greater part of their apparent force to this ambiguity. The clergy, 

 being called the church, are supposed to be the real owners of what is 

 called church property ; whereas they are in truth only the managing mem- 

 bers of a much larger body of proprietors, ami enjoy on their own part a 

 mere usufruct, not extending beyond a life interest. 



The following is a Stoical argument taken from Cicero, De Finibus, book 

 the third : " Quod est bonum, orane laudabile est. Quod autem laudabile 



