The intellect, with an appendix on language

Thomas Cogswell Upham

Harper & brothers, 1869 - Psychology

Preview this book »

From inside the book

Selected pages

Title Page

Table of Contents

Section INTRODUCTION CHAP I PRIMARY TRUTHS 1 Importance of preliminary statements in Mental Philosophy	17

Nature of such preliminary statements	18

Of the name or designation given them	19

Primary truth of personal existence 5 Occasions of the origin of the idea or belief of personal existence	20

Primary truth of personal identity	22

Reasons for regarding this a preliminary truth 8 There are original and authoritative grounds of belief	25

CONSCIOUSNESS	26

Primary truths having relation to the reasoning power 10 No beginning or change of existence without a cause FA8888553R8	27

VII Of relations of cause and effect	301

Of complex terms involving the relation of cause and effect	302

Remarks on instituted or conventional relations	303

Connexion of relative suggestion or judgment with reasoning	304

Reasons for considering this subject here	305

Meaning of association and illustrations	306

Of the general laws of association	307

Resemblance the first general law of association	308

Occasions of the origin of the primary truth of effects and causes	28

Matter and mind have uniform and fixed laws	29

This primary truth not founded on reasoning	30

IMMATERIALITY OF THE MIND 32 14 On the meaning of the terms material and immaterial	32

Difference between mind and matter shown from language	33

Their different nature shown by their respective properties	34

The souls immateriality indicated by the feeling of identity	35

No exact correspondence between the mental and bodily state	36

Evidence of this want of exact correspondence	37

Comparative state of the mind and body in dreaming	39

The great works of genius an evidence of immateriality	40

The doctrine of materiality inconsistent with future existence	41

LAWS OF BELIEF 24 Of belief its degrees and its sources	43

Of suggestion consciousness and the senses as grounds of be lief	44

Memory and testimony considered as sources of belief	45

Objection to reliance on testimony 45	47

៩ កង 54 57 60 28 Of judgment or relative suggestion as a ground of belief 29 Of reasoning as a ground or law of belief CHAP IV GENERAL CLASSI...	51

Evidence of the same from the terms found in different lan guages 33 Evidence from incidental remarks in writers	54

Further proof from various writers on the mind	57

Classification of the intellectual states of the mind	60

Section	63

THE SENSE OF TOUCH	66

Further proof of the beginnings of knowledge from external	70

Of connatural or innate knowledge	77

THE POWER OF SENSATION	83

PERCEPTION OR THE PERCEPTIVE POWER	89

Of the connexion of the brain with sensation and perception	95

Nature of sonorous bodies and the medium of the communi	101

Section Page 69 Of the sense of touch and its sensations in general	107

Idea of externality suggested in connexion with the touch	108

Origin of the notion of extension and of form and figure	110

On the sensation of heat and cold	111

On the sensation of hardness and softness	113

Of certain indefinite feelings sometimes ascribed to the touch	114

Relation between the sensation and what is outwardly signi fied	115

THE SENSE OF SIGHT 76 Of the organ of sight and the uses or benefits of that sense	117

Statement of the mode or process in visual perception	118

Of the original and acquired perceptions of sight	119

Measurements of magnitude by the eye	121

Of objects seen in the mist and of the sun and moon in the horizon	124

Of the estimation of distances by sight	126

Estimation of distance when unaided by intermediate objects	128

Of objects seen on the ocean c	130

Explanatory remarks	131

OF RELIANCE ON THE SENSES AND IDEALISM 87 By means of sensations we have a knowledge of outward things	132

Objection to a reliance on the senses	133

Some alleged mistakes of the senses owing to want of care	135

Of mistakes in judging of the motion of objects	138

Of mistakes as to the distances and magnitude of objects	140

The senses liable to be diseased	141

On the real existence of a material world	142

Doctrine of the nonexistence of matter considered	143

The senses as much grounds of belief as other parts of our constitution	145

HABITS OF SENSATION AND PERCEPTION 98 General view of the law of habit and of its applications	147

Of habit in relation to the smell	149

Of habit in relation to the taste	150

Of habit in relation to the hearing	152

Of certain universal habits based or sounds	154

Application of habit to the touch	156

Other striking instances of habits of touch	159

Habits considered in relation to the sight	160

Sensations may possess a relative as well as positive increase of power	162

Of habits as modified by particular callings or arts	163

The law of habit considered in reference to the perception of the outlines and forms of objects	164

Notice of some facts which favour the above doctrine	165

Additional illustrations of Mr Stewarts doctrine	166

MUSCULAR HABITS Section Page 111 Instances in proof of the existence of muscular habits	167

Muscular habits regarded by some writers as involuntary	169

THE CONCEPTIVE POWER CONCEPTIONS 114 Conceptivity and characteristics of conceptions	172

Of conceptions of objects of sight	173

Of the influence of habit on our conceptions	175

Influence of habit on conceptions of sight	176

Of conceptions attended with a momentary belief	177

Conceptions which are joined with perceptions	180

Conceptions as connected with fictitious representations	182

SIMPLICITY AND COMPLEXNESS OF MENTAL STATES 122 Origin of the distinction of simple and complex	183

Nature and characteristics of simple mental states	184

Simple cognitive states representative of a reality	185

Origin of complex notions and their relation to simple	186

Supposed complexness without the antecedence of simple feelings	187

The precise sense in which complexness is to be understood	188

Illustrations of analysis as applied to the mind	190

Something more in external objects than mere attributes or qualities	193

Explanatory remarks on the true philosophical method	194

Section Page 196 Consciousness the second source of internal knowledge	196

ABSTRACTION THE ABSTRACTIVE POWER 134 Abstraction implied in the analysis of complex ideas	197

Instances of particular abstract ideas	198

Names and complexity in the power of abstraction	199

Of generalizations of particular abstract mental states	202

GENERAL ABSTRACT IDEAS 139 General abstract notions the same with genera and species	203

Process in classification or the forming of genera and species	204

Early classifications sometimes incorrect	205

Illustrations of our earliest classifications	206

Of the nature of general abstract ideas	207

Objection sometimes made to the existence of general notions	209

The power of general abstraction in connexion with num bers c	210

Of general abstract truths or principles	211

Of the speculations of philosophers and others	212

Of the opinions of the Nominalists	213

Of the opinions of the Conceptualists	214

Further remarks of Brown on general abstractions	216

OF THE POWER OF ATTENTION 152 Names given it and its result when in exercise	217

Section Page 154 Complexness of the power of attention	219

Dependence of memory on attention	220

Of exercising attention in reading	222

Alleged inability to command the attention	223

DREAMING AND SOMNAMBULISM 158 Definition of dreams and the prevalence of them	225

Connexion of dreams with our waking thoughts	226

Dreams are often caused by our sensations	227

Explanation of the incoherency of dreams 1st cause	229

Apparent reality of dreams 1st cause	230

Apparent reality of dreams 2d cause	231

Of our estimate of time in dreaming	232

Of the senses sinking to sleep in succession	235

General remarks on cases of somnambulism	236

Further illustrations of somnambulism	238

DIVISION FIRST THE INTELLECT OR UNDERSTANDING INTELLECTIVE OR INTELLECTUAL STATES OF THE MIND PART SECOND TH...	241

INTERNAL ORIGIN OF KNOWLEDGE 169 The soul has fountains of knowledge within	243

Declaration of Locke that the soul has knowledge in itself	244

Opinions of Cudworth on the subject of internal knowledge	245

Further remarks of the same writer on this subject	246

Writers who have objected to the doctrine of an internal source of knowledge	248

Knowledge begins in the senses but has internal accessions	250

Instances of notions which have an internal origin	252

Imperfections attendant on classifications in mental philoso phy	254

THE INTUITIONAL OR SUGGESTIONAL POWER 177 Place general objects and names of this power	255

Ideas of existence mind selfexistence and personal identity	257

Origin of the idea of externality	259

Idea of matter or material existence	260

Origin of the idea of motion	262

Nature of succession and origin of the idea of succession	264

Of time and its measurements and of eternity	267

The idea of space not of external origin	269

The idea of space has its origin in suggestion	271

Characteristic marks of the notion of space	272

Of the origin of the idea of power	273

Origin of the idea of the first or primitive	275

Of the ideas of right and wrong	276

Origin of the ideas of moral merit and demerit	277

Of other elements of knowledge developed in suggestion	278

Suggestion a source of principles as well as of ideas	279

nature	282

Further remarks on the proper objects of consciousness	283

Consciousness a ground or law of belief	285

Instances of knowledge developed in consciousness	286

RELATIVE SUGGESTION OR JUDGMENT 200 Of the susceptibility of perceiving or feeling relations	289

Occasions on which feelings of relation may arise	290

Of the use of correlative terms	291

Of the great number of our ideas of relation	292

Of axioms in connexion with relations of identity and diversity	293

II Relations of degree and names expressive of them	294

Relations of degree in adjectives of the positive form	295

V Of relations of time	299

VI Of relations of possession	300

Resemblance in every particular not necessary	309

Of resemblance in the effects produced	310

Contrast the second general or primary law	311

ASSOCIATION II SECONDARY LAWS 225 Secondary laws and their connexion with the primary	315

Of the influence of lapse of time	316

Secondary law of repetition or habit	318

Of the secondary law of coexistent emotion	319

Original difference in the mental constitution	320

The foregoing law as applicable to the sensibilities	321

Of associations caused by present objects of perception	323

Causes of increased vividness in these instances	325

CASUAL ASSOCIATIONS I INTELLECTUAL 233 Association sometimes misleads our judgments	326

Casual association in respect to the place of sensation	327

Connexion of our ideas of extension and time	328

Of high and low notes in music	330

Connexion of the ideas of extension and colour	331

Tendency of the mind to pass from the sign to the thing sig nified 220	332

Whether there be heat in fire c	334

Benefit of examining such connexions of thought	336

Section Page 242 Power of the will over mental associations	337

Association controlled by indirect voluntary power	338

Further illustrations of indirect voluntary power	339

MEMORY 245 Remarks on the general nature of memory	341

Of memory as a ground or law of belief	342

Of differences in the strength of memory	343

Of circumstantial memory or that species of memory which is based on the relations of contiguity in time and place	345

Illustrations of specific or circumstantial memory	347

Of philosophic memory or that species of memory which is based on other relations than those of contiguity	348

Further illustrations of philosophic memory	350

Of that species of memory called intentional recollection	351

Instance illustrative of the preceding	353

Remarks on the memory of the aged	354

On the compatibility of strong memory and good judgment	356

Marks of a good memory	357

Directions or rules for the improvement of the memory	358

Further directions for the improvement of the memory	361

Of observance of the truth in connexion with memory	363

Of mnemonics or systems of artificial memory	364

DURATION OF MEMORY 262 Restoration of thoughts and feelings supposed to be forgotten	365

Mental action quickened by influence on the physical system	367

Other instances of quickened mental action and of a restora tion of thoughts	368

Effect on the memory of a severe attack of fever	369

Approval and illustrations of these views from Coleridge	370

Application of the principles of this chapter to education	372

Connexion of this doctrine with the final judgment and a fu ture life	373

REASONING 269 Reasoning a source of ideas and knowledge	375

Illustrations of the value of the reasoning power	376

Definition of reasoning and of propositions	378

Process of the mind in all cases of reasoning	379

Grounds of the selection of propositions	381

Reasoning implies the existence of antecedent or assumed propositions	382

Of reasoning à priori	384

Of reasoning à posteriori	386

Of reasoning à fortiori	387

Of habits of reasoning	389

Of reasoning in connexion with language or expression	390

DEMONSTRATIVE REASONING 281 Of the subjects of demonstrative reasoning	392

Use of definitions and axioms in demonstrative reasoning	393

The opposites of demonstrative reasonings absurd	394

Demonstrations do not admit of different degrees of belief	395

Of the use of diagrams in demonstrations	396

Of signs in general as connected with reasoning	397

Section Page	399

Caution to be used in reasoning from analogy	406

Of being influenced in reasoning by a love of the truth	412

On the sophism of estimating actions and character from	419

Process of the mind in the creations of the imagination	425

Illustration of the statements of the preceding section	431

Of misconceptions by means of the imagination	437

Of the help afforded by names in the combination of numbers	443

PART THIRD IMPERFECT AND DISORDERED INTELLECTUAL ACTION	451

CONNEXION OF THE MIND AND BODY Section Page 328 Disordered intellectual action connected with the body	453

The mind constituted on the principle of a connexion with the body	454

Illustration of the subject from the effects of old age	455

The connexion of the bodily system with the mental shown from the effects resulting from diseases	456

Shown also from the effects of stimulating drugs and gases	457

Influence on the body of excited imagination and passion	458

This doctrine of use in explaining mental phenomena	460

EXCITED CONCEPTIONS OR APPARITIONS 335 Of excited conceptions and of apparitions in general	461

Of the less permanent excited conceptions of sight	462

Of the less permanent excited conceptions of sound	463

First cause of permanently vivid conceptions or apparitions Morbid sensibility of the retina of the eye	464

Second cause of permanently excited conceptions or appari tions Superabundance of blood in the system	467

Methods of relief adopted in this case	469

Third cause of excited conceptions Attacks of fever	470

Fourth cause of apparitions and other excited conceptions	471

Inflammation of the brain	473

PARTIAL INSANITY 345 Meaning of the term and kinds of insanity	474

Of disordered or alienated sensations	475

Of disordered or alienated external perception	476

Disordered state or insanity of intuition	477

Unsoundness or insanity of consciousness	479

Insanity of the judgment or relative suggestion	480

Disordered or alienated association Lightheadedness	481

Of partial insanity or alienation of the memory	482

Of the power of reasoning in the partially insane	484

Instance of the above form of disordered reasoning	485

Of readiness of reasoning in the partially insane	486

Partial mental alienation by means of the imagination	487

Insanity or alienation of the power of belief	488

TOTAL INSANITY OR DELIRIUM 359 Idea of total insanity or delirium	490

Of perception in cases of total or delirious insanity	491

Of association in delirious insanity	492

Of the memory in connexion with delirious insanity	494

Of the form of insanity called furor or madness	495

Of the causes of the different kinds of insanity	496

Of moral accountability in mental alienation	497

Section Page 368 Of the imputation of insanity to individuals	498

Of the treatment of the insane	499

APPENDIX ON LANGUAGE	501

NATURAL SIGNS 1 Of the natural and necessary communication of the mental states from one to another	503

Mental states first expressed by gesture and the countenance	504

Of the use made of natural signs by the deaf and dumb	505

Further illustrations of the great power of natural signs	507

Of the system of signs existing among the N A Savages	510

Of the symbolic exhibitions of the Hebrews	512

Of the instinctive interpretation of certain natural signs	513

Further evidence of the instinctive interpretation of natural signs	514

Considerations on the use of natural signs	516

ORAL SIGNS OR SPEECH 10 Remarks on the original formation of oral signs	518

Of the possibility of forming an oral language without Divine aid	520

Oral signs or words are in general arbitrary	522

Words at first few in number and limited to particular objects	523

Formation of appellatives implies the feeling of resemblance	525

On the increase in the number of nouns or appellatives	526

Of the formation of verbs	527

Formation of adjectives and other parts of speech	528

The foregoing principles confirmed from the deaf and dumb	529

Of the formation of prepositions	530

Of the origin and original import of conjunctions	531

Further remarks on the meaning of conjunctions etc	532

Principle of selection and significancy of proper names	533

Of the origin and significancy of the names of places	534

WRITTEN SIGNS 26 Of the causes which led to the formation of written signs	535

The first artificial signs addressed to the eye were pictures	536

Of hieroglyphical writing	538

Of the written characters of the Chinese	539

The Chinese character an improvement on the hieroglyphical	540

Artificial delineations employed as signs of sound	541

The preceding views confirmed by recent researches	542

On the recent formation of the Cherokee syllabic alphabet	543

Facts relative to the invention of the Cherokee alphabet	544

Conventional written signs as expressive of numbers etc	546

CHARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGES 37 All Languages have their characteristic traits	548

Characteristics of the languages of uncivilized nations	549

Characteristics of language in civilized and scientific nations	550

Characteristics of languages depend much on habits	551

Languages aid in forming correct ideas of national character	552

Of the correspondence between national intellect etc	553

Different languages suited to different minds and subjects	555

Such differences shown by attempts at translating	556

Of the study of the Greek and Latin languages	558

Of an universal language	560

Common terms and phrases

action antecedent apparent magnitude appear apply ascer ascribed association attention belief body called cause circumstances cognitive colour complex notion conceptions connexion consciousness consequence consideration considered constitution degree direct distance distinct doctrine dreams Dugald Stewart effect eral evidence exercise existence experience expressed external objects fact faculties give habit harpsichord hearing Hence illustrations imagination implies inquiry instance intel intellectual internal origin Intuitional James Mitchell jects knowledge language lustration material world means memory ment mental mental philosophy merely nature nexion notice occasion operations organ outward papillæ particular perceive person philosophical possess present principle propositions qualities reasoning reference relation remark resemblance result retina rience sense of touch sideration sight simple smell somnambulism somnambulist sophism soul sound speak suggested supposed susceptible taste term things tion train of thought true truth tympanum visual perception volition words writers

Popular passages

Page 221 - The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark, When neither is attended ; and, I think The nightingale, if she should sing by day, When every goose is cackling, would be thought No better a musician than the wren.‎

Appears in 768 books from 1733-2008

Page 439 - Must kings neglect that private men enjoy! And what have kings that privates have not too, Save ceremony— save general ceremony?‎

Appears in 576 books from 1709-2008

Page 433 - He meets with a secret refreshment in a description, and often feels a greater satisfaction in the prospect of fields and meadows than another does in the possession. It gives him, indeed, a kind of property in every thing he sees, and makes the most rude uncultivated parts of nature administer to his pleasures: so that he looks upon the world, as it were, in another light, and discovers in it a multitude of charms that conceal themselves from the generality of mankind.‎

Appears in 208 books from 1803-2008

Page 244 - ... bodies affecting our senses. This source of ideas every man has wholly in himself ; and though it be not sense, as having nothing to do with external objects, yet it is very like it, and might properly enough be called internal sense.‎

Appears in 222 books from 1722-2007

Page 366 - Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain, Our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain. Awake but one, and lo, what myriads rise! * Each stamps its image as the other flies.‎

Appears in 306 books from 1794-2007

Page 179 - Spit, fire! spout, rain! Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters: I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness; I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children, You owe me no subscription: then let fall Your horrible pleasure; here I stand, your slave, A poor, infirm, weak, and despis'd old man.‎

Appears in 449 books from 1390-2008

Page 472 - Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee : I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? or art thou but A dagger of the mind; a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?‎

Appears in 677 books from 1784-2008

Page 227 - IN Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree : Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground With walls and towers were girdled round : And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ; And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots...‎

Appears in 959 books from 1816-2008

Page 462 - The sooty films that play upon the bars Pendulous, and foreboding in the view Of superstition, prophesying still, Though still deceived, some stranger's near approach.‎

Appears in 118 books from 1806-2008

Page 244 - Secondly, the other fountain from which experience furnisheth the understanding with ideas is,— the perception of the operations of our own mind within us, as it is employed about the ideas it has got;— which operations, when the soul comes to reflect on and consider, do furnish the understanding with another set of ideas, which could not be had from things without. And such are perception, thinking, doubting...‎

Appears in 155 books from 1812-2008

Bibliographic information

Title	The intellect, with an appendix on language Volume 1 of Mental Philosophy: Embracing the Three Departments of the Intellect, Sensibilities, and Will, Thomas Cogswell Upham
Author	Thomas Cogswell Upham
Publisher	Harper & brothers, 1869
Original from	the New York Public Library
Digitized	20 Jun 2006

Export Citation	BiBTeX EndNote RefMan

About Google Books - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Information for Publishers - Report an issue - Help - Google Home