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Apprehension; 2nd, Judgment; 3rd, Discourse of Reasoning' (Archbishop
Whately).
Simple Apprehension refers to the act of the mind which receives a
notion of an object. Such apprehension may be incomplex, as of 'a book' or
'a shelf' or complex, as of 'a book on a shelf'.
Judgment compares together two notions, and pronounces whether they
agree or disagree. Judgment either affirms or denies.
Reasoning or inference proceeds from certain judgments to others
founded upon them. If the process of reasoning is from particulars to
generals, it is called induction. If from generals to particulars it is
called ratiocination.
Modern science is largely inductive. The scientist observes some
phenomenon. He gathers data, examples and parallels, until he arrives at a
general principle. Such a general principle becomes one of the so -called
'laws of nature'. The 'laws' may or may not be true. There can of necessity
be no finality about the process by which they are obtained, and at any
moment some added discovery may upset the whole preceding calculation.
We do not, in our study of Scripture, use the inductive process so much
as the deductive. We start with revealed truth, and descend from the general
to the particular. The Scripture does not set out to prove the existence of
God by induction. It says: 'He that cometh to God must believe that He is'
(Heb. 11:6).
The syllogistic form of argument is one that can be used successfully
by the student of Scripture, and we propose
to give this form further examination. The Greek word sullogizomai that
gives us the word 'syllogism' is found in Luke 20:5,6:
'And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From
heaven; He will say, Why then believed ye him not? But and if we say,
Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John
was a prophet'.
Every argument consists of two parts: that which is proved, and the
means whereby it is proved. If the conclusion is stated last, which is the
strict logical form, then the means used are called the premisses, and the
conclusion is introduced by the word 'therefore'. Every syllogism has three
and only three terms. The conclusion is called the minor term; the
predicate, the major term; and that with which each is separately compared,
in order to judge whether each agrees or not, the middle term.
Every syllogism has three, and only three, propositions. The first
proposition is the major premiss, in which the major term is compared with
the middle term; the second proposition is the minor premiss, in which the
minor is compared, again with the middle term. And in the third proposition,
the minor term is compared with the major. An example will perhaps make the
syllogistic form of reasoning clearer:
Light is contrary to darkness.
Sunshine is light; therefore
Sunshine is contrary to darkness.