The object of the following treatise is to give an intelligible
account of the principal facts of Mind, with a method for the right
expression and criticism of Reasoning. It is based on principles not
before applied to such a purpose. The current systems of Metaphysic
are obscure and difficult simply because they start from false
premises, not because the nature and operations of Mind cannot, if
properly understood, be made as comprehensible to beginners as other
branches of knowledge. The rules of Dialectic are quite within the
capacity of any intelligent schoolboy, and should be an essential part
of early education, like Arithmetic.
Let not the student be repelled at finding a philosophy reputed to
be one of the most difficult taken as the basis of this work. It is
Berkeleyism considerably modified. Also it is to be borne in mind that
a philosophy is not to be judged by its _primâ facie_ probability, but
by its power of explaining many facts in a coherent and lucid way. A
theory that does this should not be rejected for a seeming paradox at
the outset.
Most of the theoretical and all the dialectical parts of this work can
be adapted to Realistic thinking, by treating the judgments of the two
Berkeleyan categories as intuitions instead of inferences.