Page:The Distinction between Mind and Its Objects.djvu/75

 rule which prohibits the retrospective inference from truth of Conclusion to that of Premisses, or of Consequent to that of Antecedent.

2. Then we have the further contradiction. In supporting the Logical Priority of Ma over Me it is laid down that falsehood of Premisses—of what comes first in an "explicit deduction," here Ma—involves falsehood of Conclusion, Me—of what comes last in the deduction; in other words, that truth of Conclusion implies truth of Premisses. The ordinary rule of course is that falsehood of Antecedent or Premisses does not affect truth of Consequent or Conclusion either way; in other words, that truth of Consequent or Conclusion implies nothing either way about Antecedent or Premisses.