Page:An Investigation of the Laws of Thought (1854, Boole, investigationofl00boolrich).djvu/166

150 CHAPTER X. OF THE CONDITIONS OF A PERFECT METHOD. HE subject of Primary Propositions has been discussed at length, and we are about to enter upon the consideration of Secondary Propositions. The interval of transition between these two great divisions of the science of Logic may afford a fit occasion for us to pause, and while reviewing some of the past steps of our progress, to inquire what it is that in a subject like that with which we have been occupied constitutes perfection of method. I do not here speak of that perfection only which consists in power, but of that also which is founded in the conception of what is fit and beautiful. It is probable that a careful analysis of this question would conduct us to some such conclusion as the following, viz., that a perfect method should not only be an efficient one, as respects the accomplishment of the objects for which it is designed, but should in all its parts and processes manifest a certain unity and harmony. This conception would be most fully realized if even the very forms of the method were suggestive of the fundamental principles, and if possible of the one fundamental principle, upon which they are founded. In applying these considerations to the science of Reasoning, it may be well to extend our view beyond the mere analytical processes, and to inquire what is best as respects not only the mode or form of deduction, but also the system of data or premises from which the deduction is to be made. As respects mere power, there is no doubt that the first of the methods developed in Chapter . is, within its proper sphere, a perfect one. The introduction of arbitrary constants makes us independent of the forms of the premises, as well as of any conditions among the equations by which they are represented. But it seems to introduce a foreign element, and while it is a more laborious, it is also a less elegant form of solution than the second method of reduction demonstrated in the same