The Art of Teaching and Studying Languages

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1892 edition. Excerpt: ...our two facts are of the same nature. From this it results that they are comparable together, so that, in a given case, the one may logically serve as symbol for the other. By the light of this theory upon abstract ideas it is easy to determine the essential elements of every metaphorical expression. Let us analyse, for instance, the locution, "to uproot an error." We find therein--1. An abstract idea represented by the word "error." 2. A symbol unexpressed (that of a "weed"), but clearly indicated by the verb " to uproot." 3. A secret comparison between the abstract idea and the symbol. 4. The tacit identification of the idea with the symbol. Such a simple conclusion at the end of an almost laborious investigation may perhaps recall to the reader the mona parturiens of the fable. But this disproportion between the end and the means is inherent in the solution of every psychological problem. In the intellectual field the slightest fact cannot be thoroughly established without relatively considerable developments. 2. Ordinary symbolism--Construction of the metaphorical themes. The principle which we need to set in order the material of the figurative language should, and in fact does, spring from the preceding study or analysis. This principle may be formulated thus:--"The abstract ideas of mankind are not embodied in forms proper to themselves; they are manifested by the means of symbols taken from the external world, and therefore borrow their expression from the objective language." From this principle it is easy to deduce the process to be followed for distributing in natural groups the general material of the figurative language. First, the list of the abstract ideas of mankind will be...