Experiments and Theory in the Arousing of Thought

INTRODUCTION This paper brings together an account of experimental work in the development of reasoning powers with a theoretical description of thinking derived from both abstract and psychological material. The general model of the mind which is ad-opted here is derived from the descriptions given in J. G. Bennett’s Dramatic Universe, Vol. III. The “forms of thought” employed are derived from the discipline of Systematics. My main concern has been to construct a description of thinking which is more realistic than those at hand. The most important parts of this description concern thought as an operator and thought as an ordering activity. In the course of the description, the term “mental image” may be found to be used inconsistently. However, attention to the context should render the meaning clear. The mental image is not an object to which we can ascribe a fixed role in our thinking.