YOUR MIND AND HOW TO USE IT/PART 21
CHAPTER XXI.
Conception.
THE
process of conception has been well defined by Gordy as "that act of mind
by which it forms an idea of a class; or that act of the mind that enables us
to use general names intelligently." He adds: "It is, of course,
understood that I am using the word 'class' to denote an indefinite number of
individuals that resemble each other in certain particulars."
Perception.
The
first step in conception, as we have seen, is that of perception. It is readily
perceived that the character of our intellectual processes depends materially
upon the variety, clearness, and accuracy of our perceptions. Therefore, again,
we would refer our students to the chapter in which we have stated the importance
of clear perception.
Memory.
The
future steps of conception depend materially upon the clearness of the memory,
as we can classify objects only by remembering their qualities beyond the
immediate moment of actual, original perception. Therefore, the memory should
be strengthened for this as well as other objects.
Abstraction.
The
second step in conception is that of the mental abstraction of qualities from
the observed thing. That is, we must perceive and then mentally set
aside the observed qualities of the thing. For instance, man first
perceived the existence of certain qualities in things. He found that a certain
number of things possessed some of these qualities in common, while others
possessed other qualities in the same way, and thus arose classification from
comparison. But both comparison and classification are possible only by
abstraction, or the perception of the quality as a "thing";
thus, the abstraction of the idea of the quality of sweetness from
the idea of sugar. Sweetness is a quality rather than a thing
itself. It is something possessed by sugar which helps to make sugar what it
is.
Color,
shape, size, mental qualities, habits of action—these are some of the qualities
first observed in things and abstracted from them in thought. Redness,
sweetness, hardness, softness, largeness, smallness, fragrance, swiftness,
slowness, fierceness, gentleness, warmness, coldness, etc.—these are
abstracted qualities of things. Of course these qualities are really never
divorced from things, but the mind divorces them in order to make thinking
easier. An authority says: "Animals are incapable of making abstractions,
and that is the reason why they cannot develop formal thought. * * * Abstract
thought is identical with rational thought, which is the characteristic feature
of the thought of speaking beings. This is the reason why abstract thought is
upon earth the exclusive property of man, and why brutes are incapable of
abstract thought. The process of naming is the mechanism of abstraction, for
names establish the mental independence of the objects named."
The
processes of abstraction depend upon attention—concentrated attention.
Attention directed to the qualities of a thing tends to abstract the qualities
in thought from the thing itself. Mill says: "Abstraction is primarily the
result of attention." Hamilton says: "Attention and abstraction are
only the same process viewed in different relations." Cultivation of the
power of abstraction means principally cultivation of attention. Any mental activity
which tends toward analysis or separation of a thing into its
parts, qualities, or elements will serve to cultivate and develop the power of
abstraction.
The
habit of converting qualities into concepts is acquired
by transforming adjective terms into their corresponding noun terms.
For instance, a piece of colored candy possesses the qualities of
being round, hard, red, sweet, etc. Transforming these adjective qualities into
noun terms we have the concepts of roundness, hardness,
redness, and sweetness, respectively.
Comparison.
The
third step in conception is that of comparison, in which the
qualities of several things are compared or examined for likenesses and
differences. We find many qualities in which the several things differ, and a
few in which there is a likeness. Classes are formed from resemblances or
likenesses, while individuals are separated from apparent classes by detection
of differences. Finally, it is found that separate things, while having many
points of difference which indicate their individuality, nevertheless have a
few points of likeness which indicate that they belong to the same general
family or class. The detection of likenesses and differences in the qualities
of various things is an important mental process. Many of the higher thought
processes depend largely upon the ability to compare things properly. The
development of attention and perception tends to develop the power of
comparison.
Classification
or Generalization.
The
fourth step in conception is that of classification or generalization, whereby
we place individual things in a mental bundle or class, and then this bundle in
company with other bundles into a higher class, and so on. Thus we group all
the individual small birds having certain characteristics into a species, then
several related species into a larger family, and this into a still larger,
until finally we group all the bird families into the great family which we
call "birds" and of which the simple term "bird" expresses
the general concept.
Jevons
says: "We classify things together whenever we observe that they are like
each other in any respect, and therefore think of them together. In classifying
a collection of objects, we do not merely put together into groups those which
resemble each other, but we also divide each class into smaller ones in which
the resemblance is more complete. Thus the class of white substances may
be divided into those which are solid, and those which are fluid, so that we
get the two minor classes of solid-white and fluid-white substances. 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."
Every species is
a small family of the individuals composing it, and at the same time is an
individual species of the genus just above it; the genus, in turn,
is a family of several species, and at the same time an individual genus in the
greater family or genus above it.
The
student may familiarize himself with the idea of generalization by considering
himself as an individual, John Smith. John represents that unit of
generalization. The next step is to combine John with the other Smiths of his
immediate family. Then this family may be grouped with his near blood
relations, and so on, until finally all the related Smiths, near and remote,
are grouped together in a great Smith family.
Or,
in the same way, the family group may be enlarged until it takes in all the
white people in a county, then all the white people in the state, then all in
the United States; then all the white races, then all the white and other
light-skinned races, then all mankind. Then, if one is inclined, the process
may be continued until it embraces every living creature from moneron to man.
Reversing the process, living creatures may be divided and subdivided until all
mankind is seen to stand as a class. Then the race of man may be divided into
sub-races according to color; then the white race may be subdivided into
Americans and non-Americans. Then the Americans may be divided into inhabitants
of the several states, or into Indianans and non-Indianans; then into the
inhabitants of the several counties of Indiana, and thus the Posey Countians
are reached. Then the Posey County people are divided into Smiths and
non-Smiths; then the Smith family into its constituent family groups, and then
into the smaller families, and so on, until the classification reaches one
particular John Smith, who at last is found to be an individual—in a class by
himself. This is the story of the ascending and descending processes of
generalization.
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