INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 



JKall confufe his unjerftandlng, and really prevent that ef- 

 Sbft which would othervvife have readily followed. 



Single afls only of re<ifoning fhould be cxercifed in the 

 carly-periodi of education. We do not mean that one in- 

 firence fiiotild never be made to folU)w another, after the 

 underllauding had previoufly acquired fome ftrcngth and 

 clearnefs : but that, if ever a u-ain of roafoning be em- 

 ployed, it fliould, in faft, be made to confUl of fingle un- 

 connciSted reafonings in the (irit place. The links Illiquid be 

 all comprehended feparately before they are fallened to- 

 gether. Wiieii a child is fo far advanced as to be able to 

 purine a train of premiies and concUifions, there can be no 

 lofs for fubjefts on whieh to exercife the reafoning fa- 

 culty : the iields of mathematical fcience will by that time 

 be opening, and they will exercife it, and, at the fame time, 

 guide it. 



' It appears that, in general, the true method of teaching 

 to roafon accurately, is to acculom children to accurate 

 reafoning. Long before they can form inferences tor tliem- 

 felves, they can underftand the inferences of others ; and the 

 grand point is, that the reafonings which we employ to th.em 

 ?iiall be fully intelligible and thoroughly juft. If we are 

 rophillicLd with them, it is too much to expeift that they 

 will groiv up in habits of clear and correct reafoning. If 

 we make a point of going no farther in our conclufion than 

 om- premifes will warrant, they will gradually acquire a 

 kind of tail, which may be coniidered as forming a part of 

 good fenfe, whicli wi'l cfFedually prev;-nt them from feel- 

 ing fatisiied with falf.' reafoning, even though they could not 

 detedl the grounds of the fopliillry. 



Parents muft often require the afllnt of their children on 

 the fcore of authority. They will naturally believe im- 

 plicitly, if the truth is always fpoken to them ; and it is 

 fometimes impoilible to give them any reafon which would 

 be intelligible and fatisfadory to themfelves in reply to 

 their quelliun, Why ? or, Why not i We prefer that chil- 

 dren fliould be trojblefome fomjtimes with thefe enquiries, 

 rather than that they (liould not themfelves be accultomed 

 to think ; and if a parent has, by judicious management, ac- 

 quired the confidence of his children, it will generally be 

 iufficient for him to fay, " It is not always neceffary that 

 I fhould tell you the reafon of what I defire you to do ; I 

 widi vou to do it :" and in fome cafes, indeed, not imfre- 

 quently, it may be expedient to Rate what is often the 

 matter of fa£l, '• You are not old enough to under.Tand 

 the reafon, if I were to tell it to you : when you have more 

 knowledge and underllanding, I .'hall be able to tell you the 

 reafOns of thofe things better than I can now.'' But after 

 all, if affent, or obedience, be required on the ground of 

 authority and confidence, let the ground of reafoning he 

 kept out of view. If we once make any thiug depend up.m 

 our reafoning being underllood, let it be kept to that point. 

 We may often affent to the conclufion as an infidated truth ; 

 but we never can afient to it as an inference, unlefs the rea- 

 foning is properly umlerllood. 



It may be doubted whether it is defirable to give fpeci- 

 mcns of fbphiftry to children, before they are really ca- 

 pable of entering into the ground of the fophillry. But if 

 ever we find them drawing falfe conclufions, then is the 

 time to fhew them, if poflible, how and why tliey are falfe. 

 And it is highly defirable that we fliould accullom them to 

 caution in their inferences. It is better tiiat they fliould 

 fometimes reafon very erroneoufiy, and draw very erroneous 

 conchifions, than that they fliould never realon at all ; and 

 it is by no means to be expetled, or even wifiied, that their 

 in fcrences fliould be always accurate : it is not to be wiflied, 

 te ^-aufe we ihould then have reafon to apprehend, that the 



inference was an aft of memory rather than of the under- 

 iUnding ; and it cannot reafonably be expet\ed, becaufe the 

 power of reafoning juftly depends upon the degree in 

 which the terms of the premifes are clearly and fully under- 

 llood, and alfo requires, for the acquifition of it, a long 

 courfe of exercife. Neverlhelefs, tlie habit fliould be early 

 produced of caution in receiving »r in drawing inferences. 

 We would never ha>'e children fufpedl the accuracy of their 

 parents; but we fliould fhvw them in what they hear (if it 

 can be done with prudence), and ftill more in their own 

 little reafonings, thole defects which their minds are fuffi- 

 ciently cultivated to perceiw. And without giving rife to 

 a habit of indecifion, (which fometimes is as injurious as 

 a habit of prefumption,) v/e ftiould aim to lead them to 

 take as many circumllancas as podible into account, and not 

 to be too decided with refpect to inferences which may be 

 drawn from them. If a child once fees that he has inferred 

 too much, it will effcftualiy keep him, for a time at leaft, 

 from prefumption, efpecially in oppofition to the inferences 

 of others. 



In order to acquire that freedom from the influence of 

 authority which is often neceilary to fueecfs in the purfuit 

 after truth, it is requifite th:it chddren be accuflom=d, and 

 encouraged, to Hate their dif&.ulties and objedlions againlt 

 any reafoning or afTertion which they hear or meet with in 

 books. We ha/e no wifli to fee the habit of objeftlr:g for 

 the fake of obje£ling : but thofe are the mod likely to 

 acquire it, who have been accultomed to think but littlr 

 when young, and to take every thing upou trull. Having 

 believed every thing upon authority, when their minds ac- 

 quire fome d-^gree of independence and aftivity, they ufually 

 fiiid, or think they find, that many of thofe things which 

 they have believed are inconfiilent with truth, and tliey lev] 

 a kind of general fufpicion, with refped to all which they 

 have been aocullomed to believe ; and the confequences often 

 are high.ly injurious both with refpeft to the underllanding 

 and the conduft. Though we wifh to fee an unbounded con- 

 fidence in parental declaiations, a^'.d unlimited fubmiflion 

 to parental authority, yet a parent fliould employ each only 

 for the good of his children. It wdl not excite fufpicion, 

 if he fometimes lead them to perceive, that he is not equally 

 fure of every thing that he tells thorn ; that when they grow 

 older they will perhaps underltand fome things better even 

 than himfelf ; and that at any rate they mult learn to think 

 for themfelves, fince he fliall not always be at hand to in- 

 ftruft and guide them. He will always point out, or, what 

 is better, lead them to find out, errors in reafoning, &c. in 

 the books which they read, efpecially though the writers 

 were men of great eminence. He will accullom them to 

 think for themfelves ; but at the fame time he will make 

 them undcrlland that they are not to reject every thing 

 becaule they lee that fome things are erroneous. If the 

 mind have been rightly trained, while its education is prin- 

 cipally conducled by others, things will go on well when 

 the individual has, as it were, to educate himfelf. If by- 

 early difcipline, followed up by the well regulated pur- 

 fuit of uftful knowledge, he have been brought into that 

 invaluable date of mind, in whieh freedom of thought i« 

 united with caution, and a tendency to fufpeft one's own 

 conchifions, at leal! as much as thole of others, it may 

 reafonably be e.xpcclcd that the acquifition of truth will be 

 an eafy talk, and that the judgment will have that clearnefs, 

 adlivity, and correiilnefs, which will enable the poiTefForto 

 choofe important objedls, and topurfue them by luitableand 

 judicious means. 



X. After all, perhaps, the moft important objeft in early 



intelledlual education, next to the cultirat'en of the p-i- 



Kk ■>. cep-.vn. 



