Owen—Interrogative Thought—Means of Its Expression. 449 
single aspect of truth, while in the other the single aspect of 
untruth is elected. Accordingly the only course available is to 
reopen for you the choice between belief and disbelief. That 
is, I must violate what I have striven to establish as a funda¬ 
mental law of assertive thinking—a violation into which I seem 
to have been led by the very impulsiveness of my effort to con¬ 
form. 
Accordingly, in asking you a question of the present order, 
it must be that I invite you to form for me a mental structure 
consisting of a thought like mine, presented like my own in the 
aspect of truth (or it may be untruth), and augmented by belief 
or disbelief therein. What this augment will be, belief or dis¬ 
belief, I do not know’; but, whichever it be, it is what I partic¬ 
ularly wish to learn. Accordingly my desideratum, if once 
obtained in the form requested, would prove to be your belief 
or else your disbelief. 
Meantime the desideratum stands to me for whatever is meant 
by belief and also' whatever is meant; by disbelief, being merely 
an indefinite of no extraordinary type. Thus, proposing to 
settle by a thesis, whether strikes are advantageous or the con¬ 
trary, I present both attributes by a single indefinite word, in 
the title “The Advantageousness of Strikes.” That an equally 
effective symbol for both belief and disbelief, will offer at the 
proper moment, I do not doubt. Meantime I content myself 
with expressing the desideratum of the interrogative sentence 
by the phrase “belief-or-disbelief.” 
Description of desideratum. 
That the desideratum, needs to be described, may be argued, 
in a general way, essentially as on pages 415-416. More 
specially, I note that, in addressing you a question of the present 
kind, I am not moved by any curiosity about your mental at¬ 
titude as such, be it present, past or future. That you did or 
do or will believe, disbelieve or doubt—hope or fear—like, de¬ 
sire, purpose or the contrary—is nothing, of itself, to me. 
Otherwise I might ask you such a question as this: “How do 
you feel about your thought of this moment?”—or, more rele¬ 
vantly to the present case, “Which of the two, belief or disbelief 
are you experiencing at this moment ?”—or “did you experience 
at half past three yesterday afternoon ?” To me it plainly 
makes the utmost difference what it is that you believe or dis- 
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