The Substitution of Similars - The True Principle of Reasoning, Derived From a Modification of Aristotle’s Dictum #249145

IN this small treatise I wish to submit to the judgment of those interested in the progress of logical science a notion which has often forced itself upon my mind during the last few years. All acts of reasoning seem to me to be different cases of one uniform process, which may perhaps be best described as the substitution of simz'lars. This phrase clearly expresses that familiar mode in which we continually argue by analogy from like to like, and take one thing as a representative of another. The chief difficulty consists in showing that all the forms of the old logic, as well as the fundamental rules of mathematical reasoning, may be explained upon the same principle; and it is to this difficult task I have devoted the most attention.