I.

THE METHOD OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT, PHYSICAL AND MORAL. 8vo. $2.50.

"It is refreshing to read a work so distinguished for originality and soundness of thinking, especially as coming from an author of our own country.”—Sir William Hamilton.

II.

TYPICAL FORMS AND SPECIAL ENDS IN CREATION. By JAMES MCCоsн, LL.D., and DR. DICKIE. 8vo. $2.50.

III.

THE INTUITIONS OF THE MIND.

edition. 8vo. $3.00.

New and improved

"Never was such a work so much needed as in the present day. It is the only scientific work adapted to counteract the school of Mill, Bain, and Herbert Spencer which is so steadily prevailing among the students of the present generation."-London Quarterly Review, April, 1865.

IV.

A DEFENCE OF FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH. Being an examination of MR. J. S. MILL'S Philosophy. 8vo. $3.00.

"The spirit of these discussions is admirable. Fearless and courteous, McCosh never hesitates to bestow praise when merited, nor to attack a heresy wherever found."-Cong. Review.

V.

ACADEMIC TEACHING IN EUROPE: Being DR. McCOSH's Address at his Inauguration as President of the College of New Jersey. 50 cents.

VI.

LAWS OF DISCURSIVE THOUGHT: Being a Text-book of Formal Logic. 12mo. $1.50.

"The book is admirably adapted to the use of classes in schools and colleges, where it will readily and rapidly find its way."-N. Y. Observer.

VII.

[FOURTH THOUSAND.]

CHRISTIANITY AND POSITIVISM. A Series of Lectures to the Times on Natural Theology and Apologetics. 12mo. $1.75.

(2)

THE

INTUITIONS OF THE MIND

INDUCTIVELY INVESTIGATED,

BY THE

REV. JAMES MCCOSH, LL.D.,

PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY, PRINCETON; AUTHOR OF "THE METHOD
OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT PHYSICAL AND MORAL," ETO.

THIRD EDITION, REVISED.

NEW YORK:

ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS.

530 BROADWAY.

1874.

BE 1/13

I

DRAR

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.

ONSIN

THERE is a constant reference in the present day to intuition. It is surely desirable to have it ascertained what intuition is. But if this is to be done satisfactorily, it must be done carefully, it must be done elaborately.

It is the aim of this work to determine the precise nature of intuition, by which I mean the capacity which the mind has of perceiving objects and truths at once without a process. But in accomplishing this end, I have had to find out the mode in which intuition operates, and the laws which it obeys, to distinguish between it and associated exercises, and to settle what it can do and what it cannot do; and this could be done only by a painstaking study of the human mind.

In forming my opinions, I have had before me the speculations of eminent philosophers, both in ancient and modern times. These I have subjected to a sifting, but, I trust, candid examination. I have so constructed the work as to put collateral criticisms in Preliminary and Supplementary Chapters and Sections, printed in smaller type.

I claim to have so far caught the spirit of those who have gone before, and whom I might be disposed to copy, that I am resolute to maintain my independence, and I have not scrupled to state wherein I differ from those whose writings have yielded me the most valuable suggestions. While attending, as in duty bound, to the views of others, my appeal is ever to the operations of the human mind as alone fitted and entitled to settle disputed

questions; and I do not profess to follow the teachings of any doctor of the past or present time, nor to belong to any school except that which looks to the facts of our mental nature.

In several points I have received much benefit from the high erudition, the unsurpassed logical power, and the (often) profound observation of the late Sir William Hamilton. I am the more bound to make this acknowledgment from the circumstance, that I have often felt myself constrained to criticise some of his favourite doctrines-more particulary those which he has adopted from Kant-as fitted (so I think) to unsettle the foundations of knowledge, and as being actually employed by able and influential thinkers to establish a deadly theory of nescience.

The First Edition of this work, while the result of long reflection, was written out for the press rather hurriedly. I am grateful to the public for calling me to issue a Second Edition, in which I have corrected the errors which crept into the first, expounded my views more clearly and fully, and supported them by further critical Notes and Sections.