Franciscan Studies

SYNTHESIS: THE EXISTENCE OF THE ILLATIVE SENSE THE METHOD, hitherto followed in these articles on Newman's illative sense, has been but that of a minute analysis of his terms and principles. The object, however, in view, was to prepare the way to proving that the kernel of the Grammar of Assent lies in the statement: 'We possess an illative faculty.' Having finished the analysis of at least the more important Newman terms, we can now give a synthesis showing how Newman wrote this whole book just to prove this one statement, and to explain the nature of this illative sense. i. Introduction: Newman's Method of Proof Before considering the evidence which Newman puts forward for the existence of the illative sense it would be instructive to study his method of proof.* This method might be summarized in a principle which from his early Anglican period he repeats time and again and applies to all the circumstances of his life: "We ought to take things as they are."1 Newman then asks himself: What is actually the constitution of the human mind? What is the process which takes place when we argue from the known to the unknown? He is convinced that in these matters we must not follow preconceived theories or assumptions, but we should simply accept the promptings of our nature. He evidently gives a prominent place to the method of induction, which finally makes him reach this conclusion: Logic is overrated in our day since the ordinary means by which we attain assent and certitude is the right use of our illative sense. "Non in dialéctica complacuit Deo salvum faceré populum suum" *The writings of John Henry Cardinal Newman referred to in the following footnotes are those found in the standard edition of his works by Longmans, Green and Co., London, viz., Fifteen Sermons Preached before the University of Oxford (1871) (= Univ. Serm.); The Idea of a University (1912) (= Idea); Loss and Gain, The Story of a Convert (1903) (= Loss); Callista. A Tale of the Third Century (1890) (= Call.); Discussions and Arguments on Various Subjects (1891) (= Disc, and Arg.); An Essay in Aid of a Grammer of Assent (1891) (= Gramm.); An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1890) (= Ess. on Dev.) ; Apologia pro Vita Sua (1890) (= Apol.); Wilfrid Ward, The Life of John Henry Cardinal Newman, vols. I and II (New impression; London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1913) is quoted as Ward, Life. The present periodical is referred to as Franc. Stud. 1Cf. Univ. Serm. no, 143, 153, 231; Idea 7, 232; Loss 161; Call. 117; Disc, and Arg. 141; Gramm. 306, 348, etc. etc. 196 Dr. Zeno, O.FM. Cap.197 has been printed on the title-page of the Grammar of Assent, and by this motto—'It has not pleased God to save his people by means of logic'— Newman meant to convey to his readers that he was not going to defend his thesis on the strength of clear-cut syllogisms. He was sure that human beings could not be reached by means of logic. Although he highly extols the value of logic in some of his pages,2 he prefers to transform a truth into a reality by depicting it in an infinite variety of aspects so that it lives before his readers' eyes. He turns it into images, taken in the Newman sense, i.e. living experiences, apprehended as something real and concrete. By various means, he says, the practiced and experienced mind is able to anticipate the inevitability of any conclusion. "It is by the strength, variety, or multiplicity of premisses, which are only probable, not by invincible syllogisms, by objections overcome, by adverse theories neutralized, by difficulties gradually clearing up, by exceptions proving the rule, by unlooked-for correlations found with received truths, by suspense and delay in the process issuing in triumphant reactions—"3 this is how he describes his method. He compares it to the method of proof used by Newton in the beginning of his Principia. When we inscribe a regular polygon in a circle and continually diminish its sides, the polygon tends to become that circle, as its limit. But the polygon vanishes...