William Atkinson - The Essential Works of William Walker Atkinson - 50+ Books in One Edition

Hyslop says of the above classification: "Relative Terms suggest the thought of other individuals with the relation involved as a part of the term's meaning, while Absolute Terms suggest only the qualities in the subject without a relation to others being necessarily involved."

Some authorities also classify terms as higher and lower ; also as broad and narrow . This classification is meant to indicate the content and extent of the term. For instance, when we classify, we begin with the individuals which we then group into a small class. These classes we then group into a larger class, according to their resemblances. These larger classes then go to form a part of still larger classes, and so on. As these classes advance they form broader terms; and as we retreat from the general class into the less general and more particular, the term becomes narrower . By some, the broader term which includes the narrower is called the higher term , and the narrower are called the lower terms . Thus animal would be a higher and broader term than dog, cat or tiger because it includes the latter. Brooks says: "Since a concept is formed by the union of the common attributes of individuals, it thus embraces both attributes and individuals. The attributes of a concept constitute what is called its content ; the individuals it embraces constitute its extent ."

Accordingly, the feature of including objects in a concept or term is called its extension ; while the feature of including attributes or qualities is called its intension. It follows as a natural consequence that the greater the extension of a term, the less its intension ; the greater its intension , the less its extension . We will understand this more clearly when we consider that the more individuals contained in a term, the fewer common properties or qualities it can contain; and the more common properties, the fewer individuals. As Brooks says: "The concept man has more extension than poet , orator or statesman , since it embraces more individuals; and less intension , since we must lay aside the distinctive attributes of poet, orator and statesman in order to unite them in a common class man ." In the same way the general term animal is quite extended for it includes a large number of individual varieties of very different and varied characteristics and qualities; as for instance, the lion, camel, dog, oyster, elephant, snail, worm, snake, etc. Accordingly its intension must be small for it can include only the qualities common to all animals, which are very few indeed. The definition of the term shows how small is its intension , as: " Animal. An organic being, rising above a vegetable in various respects, especially in possessing sensibility, will and the power of voluntary motion." Another narrows the intension still further when he defines animal as: "a creature which possesses, or has possessed, life." Halleck says: " Animal is very narrow in intension, very broad in extension. There are few qualities common to all animals, but there is a vast number of animals. To give the full meaning of the term in extension , we should have to name every animal, from the microscopic infusoria to the tiger, from the angleworm to the whale. When we decrease the extension to one species of animal, horse , the individuals are fewer, the qualities more numerous."

The importance of forming clear and distinct concepts and of grouping, classifying and generalizing these into larger and broader concepts and terms is recognized by all authorities and is generally regarded as forming the real basis of all constructive thought. As Brooks says: "Generalization lies at the basis of language: only as man can form general conceptions is it possible for him to form a language.... Nearly all the ordinary words in our language are general rather than particular.... This power of generalization lies also at the basis of science. Had we no power of forming general ideas, each particular object would be a study by itself, and we should thus never pass beyond the very alphabet of knowledge. Judgments, except in the simplest form, would be impossible; and it is difficult to see how even the simplest form of the syllogism could be constructed. No general conclusion could be drawn from particulars, nor particular conclusions from generals; and thus neither inductive nor deductive reasoning would be possible. The classifications of science could not be made; and knowledge would end at the very threshold of science."

Table of Content

Every term has its meaning , or content , as some authorities prefer to call it. The word or words of which the term is composed are merely vocal sounds, serving as a symbol for the real meaning of the term, which meaning exists only in the mind of the person understanding it. To one not understanding the meaning of the term, the latter is but as a meaningless sound, but to one understanding it the sound awakens mental associations and representation and thus serves its purpose as a symbol of thought.

Each concrete general term has two meanings , (1) the actual concrete thing, person or object to which the term is applied; and (2) the qualities, attributes or properties of those objects, persons or things in consequence of which the term is applied. For instance, in the case of the concrete term book , the first meaning consists of the general idea of the thing which we think of as a book , and the second meaning consists of the various qualities which go to make that thing a book, as the printed pages, the binding, the form, the cover, etc. Not only is that particular thing a book , but every other thing having the same or similar properties also must be a book . And so, whenever I call a thing a book it must possess the said qualities. And, whenever I combine the ideas of these qualities in thought, I must think of a book . As Jevons says: "In reality, every ordinary general term has a double meaning: it means the things to which it is applied, ... it also means, in a totally different way, the qualities and peculiarities implied as being in the things. Logicians say that the number of things to which a term applies is the extension of the term; while the number of qualities or peculiarities implied is the intension ."

The extension and intension of terms has been referred to in the previous chapter. The general classification of the degrees of extension of a general term is expressed by the two terms, Genus and Species , respectively. The classification of the character of the intension of a term is expressed by the term, Difference , Property and Accident , respectively.

Genus is a term indicating: "a class of objects containing several species; a class more extensive than a species; a universal which is predicable of several things of different species."

Species is a term denoting: "a smaller class of objects than a genus, and of two or more of which a genus is composed; a predicable that expresses the whole essence of its subject in so far as any common term can express it."

An authority says: "The names species and genus are merely relative and the same common term may, in one case, be the species which is predicated of an individual, and in another case the individual of which a species is predicated. Thus the individual, George, belongs to the logical species Man, while Man is an individual of the logical species Animal." Jevons says: "It is desirable to have names by which to show that one class is contained in another, and accordingly we call the class which is divided into two or more smaller ones, the genus , and the smaller ones into which it is divided, the species ." Animal is a genus of which man is a species ; while man , in turn, is a genus of which Caucasian is a species ; and Caucasian , in turn, becomes a genus of which Socrates becomes a species. The student must avoid confusing the logical meaning of the terms genus and species with the use of the same terms in Natural History. Each class is a "genus" to the class below it in extension; and each class is a "species" to the class above it in extension. At the lowest extreme of the scale we reach what is called the infima species , which cannot be further subdivided, as for instance "Socrates"—this lowest species must always be an individual object, person or thing. At the highest extreme of the scale we reach what is summum genus , or highest genus, which is never a species of anything, for there is no class higher than it, as for instance, "being, existence, reality, truth, the absolute, the infinite, the ultimate," etc. Hyslop says: "In reality there is but one summum genus , while there may be an indefinite number of infimae species . All intermediate terms between these extremes are sometimes called subalterns , as being either genera or species, according to the relation in which they are viewed."