A Lecture on the Origin and Development of the First Constituents of Civilisation

Excerpt from A Lecture on the Origin and Development of the First Constituents of Civilisation

We cannot stop to inquire into the cause of this error so extensively dif fused, but the student will be aided in finding it, if he will re?ect on another very common mistake, akin to the mentioned one. It consists in allowing our selves to be deceived by a distinct word for an indistinct idea, as if the latter were as concise and definite in our minds, as the sound of the first is distinct and definite in our ears. Languages in which it is grammatically easy to ah stract, such as the Greek and German, are peculiarly apt to mislead the philo sopher into this very serious error.