FORMAL logic has been in all ages the bête noire of
the empirical schools. Bacon and Locke, no less
than Epicurus, express their contempt for the frivolous
discussions of deductive logic, for the cobwebs by
which reasoning attempts to master facts. Formal
reasoning, says Bacon, constrains the assent, but not
the realities. You may prove by demonstrative
syllogism that black is white, but the fact all the while
is otherwise. The nets of logic entrap the intellect,
but he who keeps in the open air of experience can
despise their sophistries. " Epicurus, the despiser
and mocker of all logic," says Cicero, ¹ "will not admit
that such an expression as ' Hermarchus will either
be alive to-morrow or not' is true, though the logi-
cians hold that every disjunctive proposition of this
shape, either yes or no, is not merely true but neces-
sary." "Epicurus," he says, in another place, ² Prof. Jevons seems
to agree with Epicurus on this point. "is
afraid that if he admits this he must further admit
that whatever happens is due to fate." To Epicurus,
indeed, the two things were probably not far apart.

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