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ALEXANDER BAIN, M.A.,

PROFESSOR OF LOGIC IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN.

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1868.

(The right of Translation is reserved.)

PRE FACE.

THE present treatise contains a Systematic Exposition of MIND, a History of the leading QUESTIONS in Mental Philosophy, and a copious Dissertation on ETHICS.

The Exposition of MIND, occupying nearly half the work, is, for the most part, an abridgement of my two volumes on the subject. I have singled out, and put in conspicuous type, the leading positions; and have given a sufficient number of examples to make them understood. It is not to be expected that the full effect of the larger exposition can be produced in the shorter; still, there may be an occasional advantage in the more succinct presentation of complicated doctrines.

As regards the Controverted QUESTIONS, I have entered fully into the history of opinion, so as to exhibit the different views, both formerly, and at present, entertained on each. Nominalism and Realism, the Origin of Knowledge in the mind, External Perception, Beauty, and Freewill, are the chief subjects thus treated.

The Dissertation on ETHICS is divided into two parts.

Part First-The Theory of Ethics-gives an account of the questions or points brought into discussion; and handles at length the two of greatest prominence, the Ethical Standard, and the Moral Faculty.

Part Second-The Ethical Systems-is a full detail of all the systems, ancient and modern, by conjoined Abstract

and Summary. With few exceptions, an abstract is made of each author's exposition of his own theory, the fulness being measured by relative importance; while, for better comparing and remembering the several theories, they are summarized at the end, on a uniform plan.

It is not solely with the view of furnishing a complete manual of Mental and Moral Philosophy, that I have included in the same volume, a System of Psychology, and an exhaustive Dissertation on Ethics. The connexion of the two subjects is of the most intimate kind; all the leading Ethical controversies involve a reference to the mind, and can be settled only by a more thorough understanding of mental processes.

ABERDEEN, April, 1868.

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