Introduction to Dialectics
What is Dialectics? Its definition as the science of correct thinking, its formal and material objects, its importance, and its three-part division.
Dialectics is defined as the practical science of correct thinking — not of true thinking (which belongs to Criteriology) but of formally valid thinking, illustrated by the miller who must master his machinery before judging the grain that goes into it. Its formal object is correctness or legitimacy of inference; its material object is the three mental operations: simple apprehension (the idea), judgment, and reasoning. Sciences are distinguished from one another by their formal object, not their material object, as Anatomy and Hygiene share a material object (the body) but differ in formal object. Natural Logic — one's native capacity for reasoning — is not sufficient for an educated mind any more than a natural ear for music makes one a trained musician; Dialectics perfects this native gift and equips the mind to locate exactly where and why a fallacious argument goes wrong. The treatise divides into three Books corresponding to the three operations of the mind: Book I (The Idea — its nature, classification, and expression in terms, definitions, and divisions), Book II (The Judgment — its nature and expression in propositions with their mutual relations), and Book III (Reasoning — the syllogism in all its forms, fallacies, and the appendix on reduction).
Introduction
1. Definition 2. Object 3. Importance 4. Division
1. Definition
Dialectics is the practical science of correct thinking.
a) Dialectics is a science. A science is a relatively complete and systematically arranged body of related facts (truths or laws) together with their hows and whys, their causes or reasons. Dialectics is a science because it sets forth, in an orderly, systematic, and complete manner, the laws which govern correct thinking, and it shows how knowledge of these laws is achieved, and why these laws must be accepted as valid.
b) Dialectics is a practical science. A science that presents facts which enrich knowledge, but which do not directly imply laws or norms for the guidance of thought or action, is called a speculative science. A science that presents facts from which directive norms or laws are immediately derived is called a practical science. The function of a speculative science is primarily cultural; that of a practical science is primarily directive. Dialectics is a practical science because the study of its data causes to emerge a body of laws by which the mind must be directed in order to think consistently and correctly. These laws are called the Laws of Thought; hence Dialectics is sometimes defined as the Science of the Laws of Thought.
c) Dialectics is a science of thinking. By thinking we mean reasoning, working out an implication, drawing a conclusion, inferring a consequence. Sometimes the word think is used in the sense of “have an opinion,” as when we say, “I think you are right.” Again, the word is often used in the sense of “remember” or “call up to pensive recollection,” as when we say, “To think the old days over is a luxury divine.” The word thinking is used in no such senses here. Nor do we confuse the word thinking with knowing. Thinking is only one of the processes by which knowing is achieved. We may know a thing by direct sensation (that is, by direct use of the senses), as, for instance, we know that it is raining, or that we have toothache. And we may know a thing by direct grasp of the understanding (that is, of the mind, or the intellect) without having to “think it out,” as, for example, we know that a totality is greater than any of its parts. But when we come to know a thing by thinking we have worked the thing out by studious and progressive steps of mental activity. When, for instance, one has worked out the demonstration of the theorem which states that the sum of the angles of any triangle is 180°, one has been thinking. Such thinking is called reasoning or discursive thought; it connects up data and moves from point to point in order to reach a final conclusion. It is of such reasoning or discursive thought that we speak when we use the term thinking in our definition of Dialectics.
d) Dialectics is the science of correct thinking. Correctness means right order, consistency, legitimacy of procedure, justifiability of inference. It does not mean truth. Take a piece of reasoning in illustration:
All animals are rational
A lion is an animal
Therefore a lion is rational.
At once you object: “The first statement is not true; as a matter of fact, all animals are not rational.” This is not the point of the matter for Dialectics. Take the statement as it stands; accept it as given. Ask only whether the last statement (the conclusion) is necessarily drawn from the first two statements (the premisses). Dialectics asks but a single question: “Is the conclusion necessarily inferred from the premisses as given?” If the answer to this question is affirmative, then the reasoning — the thinking — is correct. The sole function of Dialectics is to see that the thinking process is justifiably employed upon data supplied to it. Dialectics does not investigate the truth of such data nor the certainty with which such data are known.
Dialectics then is the science of correct thinking, not of true and certain thinking. The science of true and certain thinking is called Epistemology or, more accurately, Criteriology. We see at once that Dialectics (which looks to correctness in thinking) and Criteriology (which looks to truth and certainty in thinking) are supplementary: together they make up the Science of Logic. Sometimes Dialectics is called Formal Logic, and Criteriology is called Material Logic. In modern usage the simple term Logic ordinarily means Formal Logic or Dialectics.
The differences as well as the positive relations that exist between these two sub-sciences or parts of Logic (viz., Dialectics and Criteriology) may be made clear by an illustration: A man who is to operate a mill must first of all understand the milling machinery. He must know the action of each mechanical part of the mill; he must understand how the motor force is applied; he must see that the belts run true. Only after he has mastered the mechanical operation of the mill need he concern himself about the quality of grain that goes into its hoppers. Similarly — although it must always be remembered that the mind is no mere machine — a man who is to use his mind in complicated and involved thinking must first of all know how the mind operates. He must know how to make the mental process consistent, orderly, legitimate, justifiable — in a word, he must know how to make this process correct. Afterwards he will learn the tests for truth and certainty in the things about which he reasons, even as the miller will presently learn the tests for good grain. Ultimately, of course, Dialectics aims at achieving truth and certainty, just as the inexpert miller aims ultimately at good flour when he is studying the milling machinery and not thinking directly about flour. But the special and immediate aim of Dialectics is correctness in the process of thinking.
2. Object
Now the special and immediate aim of a science is called its Formal Object. The Formal Object of Dialectics is, therefore, correctness in thinking. The thing or things with which a science deals in order to achieve its Formal Object constitute the Material Object of that science. The Material Object of Dialectics is the various mental acts that go to make up the thinking process. Dialectics studies these (the Material Object) in order to achieve correctness (its Formal Object).
Several sciences may deal with the same subject-matter; in other words, several sciences may have the same Material Object. But no two sciences can have the same Formal Object. Anatomy and Hygiene, for example, have the same Material Object; each deals with the organs of the human body. But these two sciences have distinct Formal Objects, for Anatomy studies the bodily organs with the view of learning their structure, while Hygiene studies the same organs with the view of knowing their proper functions and the means by which proper functioning may be conserved. Similarly, Dialectics and Criteriology both study the mental operations. These sciences have, therefore, the same Material Object. But in studying the mental operations Dialectics looks to correctness therein, while Criteriology looks to truth and certainty to be achieved thereby. Thus these sciences have distinct Formal Objects.
We draw the line of demarcation between sciences that deal with the same subject-matter (Material Object) and discern the proper limits and scope of each in the light of the famous axiom: “Sciences are distinguished one from another by their Formal Objects.”
3. Importance
You may say: “This science of Dialectics appears useless to me. I am equipped by nature for thinking things out with clearness and consistency. Did I not use my reasoning powers correctly when I mastered my very first lessons in elementary arithmetic? Did I not perform with great exactness some very complicated pieces of reasoning when I worked out, step by step, the proofs of the various theorems of geometry? Why should I study Dialectics when I already possess what it proposes to give me?”
It is true that you do possess a natural power for reasoning things out, and your natural capacity and aptitude for such reasoning is called Natural Logic. But Natural Logic is not sufficient for all the requirements of an educated person. You have, doubtless, a taste for things beautiful; but you would not set yourself up for an art critic without some special study. You may have a fine ear for music, you may play admirably “by ear”; still, it would take a long term of study and diligent practice to entitle you to the name of musician. Similarly, you may have a keen and quick mind; your endowment of Natural Logic may be large; but you require, none the less, the training of Dialectics to enable you to make ready and just analyses of complicated argument, or to penetrate easily and surely to the exact point of fallacy in an unjustified inference. Dialectics tends to perfect your gift of Natural Logic, to make it more smooth, more orderly and consistent, more keen and penetrating, more graceful and artistic in its functioning.
Of course, a knowledge of the mere rules of Dialectics will not make a keen reasoner any more than a theoretical knowledge of the names and uses of tools will make a good mechanician. But Dialectics furnishes the technique of keen reasoning to anyone who will make use of it and diligently practise it. Dialectics may be said to offer its rules with the scriptural admonition, “He that can take it, let him take it.” Now any person of diligence and good will can “take it” and make the most splendid use of it.
How much harm is done in the world by faulty reasoning! How many are convinced by fallacies in matters of mind, of religion, of morals, of politics, of education values! A knowledge of Dialectics, made usable and useful by unfailing practice, will enable one to analyze such fallacies, and not only to declare them fallacies but to show where and how and why they are fallacious. Now any science that can equip a mind for such a service as this is a very important science indeed.
4. Division
Dialectics seeks correctness (Formal Object) in the mental operations (Material Object), and thus it must study the latter in order to achieve the former. The plan of study in this science is, therefore, determined by the mental operations themselves.
Throughout this manual the words “mental” and “intellectual” are used as synonyms. The three nouns, mind, intellect, and understanding, are also taken as perfectly synonymous.
The mental operations may be reduced to three major processes, viz., simple apprehension, judgment, and reasoning.
a) The first mental process is the act by which the mind grasps or apprehends a reality and knows it essentially. This operation is called Simple Apprehension, and its product is the Idea. Therefore the study of the first mental operation is the study of the idea in its formation and nature.
b) The second mental operation is the act by which the mind, comparing two ideas, notices their relation, and pronounces (judges) them in agreement or in disagreement. This operation of the mind is called Judgment.
c) The third mental operation is the act by which the mind infers or draws out an explicit judgment that is implicitly contained in other judgments. This act of the mind is called Inference or Reasoning.
These three mental operations make up the Material Object of Dialectics, and by studying them we learn the mode of the mind’s functioning, and are enabled to state the laws which must govern the mind if it is to act correctly.
Our study will deal with the Idea, Judgment, and Reasoning in three Books, as follows:
Book First — The Idea
- Chap. I. The Idea Itself
- Chap. II. The Idea Expressed
- Chap. III. The Idea Explained
Book Second — Judgment
- Chap. I. Judgment Itself
- Chap. II. Judgment Expressed
Book Third — Reasoning
- Chap. I. Reasoning Itself
- Chap. II. Reasoning Expressed
- Chap. III. Fallacies to Avoid