158 NAMES AND PROPOSITIONS. 



valent ; but the one points the attention more directly 

 to what a proposition means, the latter to the manner 

 in which it is to be used. 



Now it is to be observed that Reasoning (the subject 

 to which we are next to proceed) is a process into 

 which propositions enter not as ultimate results, but 

 as means to the establishment of other propositions. 

 We may expect, therefore, that the mode of exhibiting 

 the import of a general propositition which shows it 

 in its application to practical use, will best express 

 the function which propositions perform in Reasoning. 

 And accordingly , in the theory of Reasoning, the mode 

 of viewing the subject which considers a Proposition 

 as asserting that one fact or phenomenon is a mark or 

 evidence of another fact or phenomenon, will be found 

 almost indispensable. For the purposes of that Theory, 

 the best mode of defining the import of a proposition 

 is not the mode which shows the most clearly what it 

 is in itself, but that which most distinctly suggests 

 the manner in which it may be made available for 

 advancing from it to other propositions. 



