William James
411 citations

We [may] answer the question: Why is snow white? by saying, For the same reason that soap-suds or whipped eggs are white-in other words, instead of giving the reason for a fact, we give another example of the same fact. This offering a similar instance, instead of a reason, has often been criticised as one of the forms of logical depravity in men. But manifestly it is not a perverse act of thought, but only an incomplete one. Furnishing parallel cases is the necessary first step towards abstracting the reason imbedded in them all.

353

ThoughtTruth

32