Ol-XXXlV ADMINISTRATIVK KKIVKT [bth. ass. Ai 



aro boliovod; when its iiiconjiTuities are discovered aiul its 

 tropes are reeognized, mythology is often supposed to be a crude 

 poetr\ . Wlieu dialectic methods ot" reasoning prevail, equivo- 

 cal or duplicate meauing-s ot" words are conunon. At last myth- 

 ologic reasoning discovers the advantage to be derived from the 

 use of wonls with many meaning-s, and it becomes ai\ essential 

 and recognizeil element in such ivasoning. Tlegeh wlu» is a 

 master of dialectic, not only lapses into many equivocal mean- 

 ing-s, but purposelv uses them, and boasts of the advantage to 

 be derived from his native tongue by reason of the many mean- 

 ing's which its woiils jnvsent. His tirst great work. The Phe- 

 nomenologv of Mind, is esteemed by him and by his followei-s 

 as the etlbrt bv which the foundation of his philosophy was laid. 

 When this work is read paragraph by paragraph and the mean- 

 ings of wonls are oompaivd throuii'hout the eutiiv book, it will 

 be foui\d that the ai-gument depends on the equivocal use of 

 wonls. One can imagine the delight with which he hailed 

 the discovery that he could make an attiiictive argument and 

 a chain of seemiuiilv invim-ible reasoniuir in this manner. 

 His followers; have claimed for liim some profound secret, but 

 with this kev to the Heg:elian riddle it is easily i-ead. 



METAPHYSIC 



Metaphvsic is a svstem i>f e-xplainiug how the essentials of 

 boilies mv greuerateii one fi\»m another. 



Pythagoras taught that miity as number is the primoiilial 

 essential fi\^m which othei-s aiv deriveil. the conception being 

 in the spirit of tribal cosmology in which all things ;uv gener- 

 ated t»r beyx^tteu bv naivuts. 



Plato considei"ed extension as fonn to be the primordial 

 property. He exalteil mind perhaj>s moiv than any philoso- 

 pher Wfoiv liis time, and with transcendent literary skill 

 sounded its praises. But as he considei^ed form to be the 

 projHHtv fivm which it was derived, he translated mind into 

 tenus of form and thus sucve^ietl in imposing upon all coming 

 time the word form as the terra signifying notion or concept. 

 Thus idea, which primarily signitieil form, is now a term of 

 mind. 



