Logic is the systematic study of the order to be observed; in judging, reasoning, and other processes of thought in order to arrive at knowledge of truth. This definition shows us: (1) the materials (material cause) of the logical order; (2) their elaboration (formal cause); (3) the purpose of this elaboration (final cause). Logic is divided into formal and real logic. This little book will lay out a scholastic method of the study of logic

This letter was written to set straight the activities of the Church in Belgium during World War I, which had been misrepresented.

This is a two volume set, this is volume 2. This work prepared by Cardinal Mercier and and the Professors of the Higher Institutes of Philosophy at Louvain prior to World War I is just as valuable today, when truth is attacked from all quarters, including the philosophical. Volume 1 contains Cosmology, Psychology, Epistemology, Criteriology, General Metaphysics and Ontology Volume 2 contains Natural Theology, Logic, Ethics and a History of Philosophy This work begins: "General View of Philosophy at the Present Day.-Has philosophy the right to be named among human sciences? What is its legitimate place among them? According to one opinion which is seldom expressly formulated but which we may say is none the less 'in the air', the special sciences have nowadays monopolized everything that can be the object of such knowledge as is certain and can be subjected to verification. In proportion as our instruments of observation have become more perfect, the number of special sciences has increased; and as each special science maps out for itself a definite field of research, it would seem that there is no room for any science other than the positive sciences. If then philosophy has a claim to exist, it can only be as a science outside positive science, busying itself with shadowy speculations and contenting itself with fictions for its conclusions or, at least, with conjectures that cannot be verified. "Such an opinion arises from a failure to understand the role philosophy thinks it right to assume and, in consequence, the scope of its claims. Philosophy does not profess to be a particularized science, with a place alongside other such sciences and a restricted domain of its own for investigation; it comes after the particular sciences and ranks above them, dealing in an ultimate fashion with their respective objects, inquiring into their connexions and the relations of these connexions, until finally it arrives at notions so simple that they defy analysis and so general that there is no limit to their application. So understood, philosophy will exist as long as there are men endowed with the ability and energy to push the inquiry of reason to its furthest limit. So understood, it is a living fact, and it has a history of more than two thousand years."

This is a two volume set, this is volume 1. This work prepared by Cardinal Mercier and and the Professors of the Higher Institutes of Philosophy at Louvain prior to World War I is just as valuable today, when truth is attacked from all quarters, including the philosophical. Volume 1 contains Cosmology, Psychology, Epistemology, Criteriology, General Metaphysics and Ontology Volume 2 contains Natural Theology, Logic, Ethics and a History of Philosophy This work begins: "General View of Philosophy at the Present Day.-Has philosophy the right to be named among human sciences? What is its legitimate place among them? According to one opinion which is seldom expressly formulated but which we may say is none the less 'in the air', the special sciences have nowadays monopolized everything that can be the object of such knowledge as is certain and can be subjected to verification. In proportion as our instruments of observation have become more perfect, the number of special sciences has increased; and as each special science maps out for itself a definite field of research, it would seem that there is no room for any science other than the positive sciences. If then philosophy has a claim to exist, it can only be as a science outside positive science, busying itself with shadowy speculations and contenting itself with fictions for its conclusions or, at least, with conjectures that cannot be verified. "Such an opinion arises from a failure to understand the role philosophy thinks it right to assume and, in consequence, the scope of its claims. Philosophy does not profess to be a particularized science, with a place alongside other such sciences and a restricted domain of its own for investigation; it comes after the particular sciences and ranks above them, dealing in an ultimate fashion with their respective objects, inquiring into their connexions and the relations of these connexions, until finally it arrives at notions so simple that they defy analysis and so general that there is no limit to their application. So understood, philosophy will exist as long as there are men endowed with the ability and energy to push the inquiry of reason to its furthest limit. So understood, it is a living fact, and it has a history of more than two thousand years."

Excerpt: On July 3rd, 1907, the Holy Father prepared a list of errors which, later, were grouped together under the name of Modernism, and condemned. On the 8th of September following he addressed to the Catholic world an Encyclical of incomparable fulness, vigour, and clearness, in which he sets forth his reasons for condemning Modernism. Thank God these errors, which have so far invaded France and Italy, attract few followers in Belgium. You have been preserved by the vigilance of your pastors, by an impartial scientific spirit, and by the Christian submission that animates the representatives of higher learning in your country. Nevertheless, beloved brethren, I consider it a pastoral duty to bring to your knowledge this Pontifical Encyclical, which henceforth will be known in ecclesiastical history by its introductory Latin words: "Pascendi Domini gregis," or, more briefly, "Pascendi." Since the Holy Father addresses his letter to each Church in particular, that is, to the Bishops, priests, and Catholic laity, it is his intention that each one should individually profit by the Encyclical. The importance of this document, moreover, gives it an historic value: hence, those who are interested in our Mother, the Church, should know, at least in substance, its meaning. It is a well-known fact that scarcely had the Pope spoken, or rather before he had spoken, and from the moment that the telegraphic agents heralded his coming announcement, the unbelieving press began to misrepresent it, and the newspapers and reviews hostile to the Church in our country neither published the text nor the general tenour of the Encyclical with fulness or frankness. But with an eagerness and a harmony of opinion that altogether explain their attitude, they quibbled over the word Modernism in the endeavour to convince their confiding readers that the Pope condemns modern thought, which in their ambiguous language signifies modern science and its methods. This offensive and false impression of the Pope and his faithful followers has perhaps been shared by some amongst you, hence it is our earnest wish to remove this impression by explaining Modernism, and, in so doing, enlighten you as to the reasons that led to its condemnation by the Supreme Authority of the Church. WHAT IS THE FUNDAMENTAL IDEA OF MODERNISM? Modernism is not the modern expression of science, and consequently its condemnation is not the condemnation of science, of which we are so justly proud, nor the disapproval of its methods, which all Catholic scientists hold, and consider it an honour to teach and to practice. Modernism consists essentially in affirming that the religious soul must draw from itself, from nothing but itself, the object and motive of its faith. It rejects all revelation imposed upon the conscience, and thus, as a necessary consequence, becomes the negation of the doctrinal authority of the Church established by Jesus Christ, and it denies, moreover, to the divinely constituted hierarchy the right to govern Christian society. The better to understand the significance of this fundamental error, let us recall the teaching of the Catechism on the constitution and mission of the Catholic Church. Christ did not represent Himself to the world as the head of a philosophy and uncertain of His teaching He did not leave a modifiable system of opinions to the discussion of His disciples. On the contrary, strong in His divine wisdom and sovereign power, He pronounced, and imposed upon men the revealed word that assures eternal salvation, and indicated to them the unique way to attain it. He promulgated for them a code of morals, giving them certain helps without which it is impossible to put these precepts into practice. Grace, and the Sacraments which confer it upon us, or restore it to us, when, having sinned, we again find it through repentance, form together these helps, this economy of salvation. He instituted a Church, and as He had only a few years to dwell...

I THINK I owe the public a word of explanation as to how this book has seen the light. During the war, and more frequently after the armistice, I was asked would I write a narrative of my war experiences. I had taken many notes of events as they had occurred, and my memory was full of incidents in which I was concerned. Much as I would have wished to write such a story, from some points of view, if only to vindicate my country against its detractors, the libels circulated by its enemies, yet I felt, more and more inevitably as the weeks rolled by, that I would never have time to write this book. I then thought of my correspondence with the German authorities right through the war. Here are my war experiences in their most tense and vivid reality; all the issues I fought with the occupying power, their methods and mine clearly defined, undeniably fixed in black and white. So I asked a friend of mine, Professor Mayence, of Louvain University, to take my notes and material, and to edit my correspondence with short explanatory remarks about the letters and the events they referred or led up to. I also gave him some personal reminiscences for this purpose, and with him revised the whole book. I could not let his work go to press without publicly thanking him for having helped me as he has done.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1920 Edition.

Our standpoint is that of the Aristotelian and Scholastic Philosophy; but, being imbued with a thoroughly peripatetic spirit, we desire to keep in constant touch with contemporary science and thought. The Middle Ages excelled in reflecting upon general truths. Modern inquirers are wonderfully equipped for the work of analysis, and bring thereto as much patience as sagacity. Is it not evidently the proper task of a time-honoured philosophy desirous of renewing its youth in the world of to-day to bring the wisdom of past ages to bear upon the latest triumphs of science and doctrines now accepted? And if this task is faithfully discharged, may not a real advance be legitimately anticipated? Among the various reviews of what we have already published is one which we desire to quote, because it bears witness to the fact that the NeoThomist aim has been correctly appreciated in the scientific circles from which it comes. It appeared in M. Richet's Revue scientifique. "This work"-our treatise on Psychology-" is well worth pointing out to those who have given up official Spiritualism and who are looking for a philosophy which may be reconciled with science. " The Neo-Thomist school has renewed the youth of Scholastic teaching by becoming thoroughly imbued with the peripatetic spirit. It abandons all the doctrines that were founded upon a too scanty knowledge of nature, and it takes full advantage of modern discoveries, studying them according to the method of Aristotle. "So great is the vitality of this philosophy that it finds a place in its scheme for the contemporary researches of physiology and psychophysics without compromising any principle, and without ever misrepresenting science, as is constantly done in standard books. Far from dreading physiological investigation it regrets that its studies on the nervous system, mental localization, and the senses, have not been carried further, for in them it recognizes indispensable auxiliaries. M. Mercier congratulates the pioneers of physiological psychology on restoring traditions which had been broken by an interval of many centuries." The present treatise is specially addressed to those who are no longer satisfied with the standard spiritualism, and if amidst the swarm of systems and growing crowd of facts that are around them they are in search of some guiding principle of thought, they may perhaps be able to take advantage of the comparison we shall endeavour to make between the psychology of Descartes, the chief founder of the official spiritualism, and the anthropology of Aristotle and the Middle Ages. Chapter I is devoted to an examination of the psychology of the great French innovator. In it we shall deal first with his exaggerated spiritualistic theory, and then with his mechanical theory as applied to the study of man. Chapter II aims at determining the historical evolution of the Cartesian psychology, and we do this according to the scheme laid down in Chapter I, examining, first, the evolution of spiritualism (Art. I), which gives rise to Occasionalism, Spinozism, Ontologism (Sect. I), and Idealism (Sect. II); next, the evolution of the mechanical theory (Art. II).

1920. With a Prefatory letter by His Eminence James Cardinal Gibbons. From the Foreword: During the war, and more frequently after the armistice, I was asked would I write a narrative of my war experiences. I had taken many notes of events as they had occurred, and my memory was full of incidents in which I was concerned. Much as I would have wished to write such a story, from some points of view, if only to vindicate my country against its detractors, the libels circulated by its enemies, yet I felt, more and more inevitably as the weeks rolled by, that I would never have time to write this book. I then thought of my correspondence with the German authorities right through the war. Here are my war experiences in their most tense and vivid reality; all the issues I fought with the occupying power, their methods and mine clearly defined, undeniably fixed in black and white.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

1920. With a Prefatory letter by His Eminence James Cardinal Gibbons. From the Foreword: During the war, and more frequently after the armistice, I was asked would I write a narrative of my war experiences. I had taken many notes of events as they had occurred, and my memory was full of incidents in which I was concerned. Much as I would have wished to write such a story, from some points of view, if only to vindicate my country against its detractors, the libels circulated by its enemies, yet I felt, more and more inevitably as the weeks rolled by, that I would never have time to write this book. I then thought of my correspondence with the German authorities right through the war. Here are my war experiences in their most tense and vivid reality; all the issues I fought with the occupying power, their methods and mine clearly defined, undeniably fixed in black and white.