John Wesley Powell

“ It is thus that perception is verified by apprehension.
In the human race, knowledge commences by the cognition of molar bodies; as culture advances knowledge is extended to stellar bodies in the direction of the vast, and to molecular bodies in the direction of the minute. On the other hand, knowledge has not only been extended into the vast and the minute, but it has also been extended into the compound and complex as exhibited in plants and animals. ”

“ In the deductive sciences there must be some reason why we first look for quantity—why we come to study the ether, the stars, and geography quantitatively, and geology, plants, and animals classifically or categorically. We know absolutely nothing of kinds of ether, but only of the properties of ether as belonging to one kind. We know of no method by which we can change the particles of ether into kinds. We know of but few kinds of stars, and we know of no method by which we can change the kinds of stars. ”

“ Apprehension is the process of forming a judgment about force, or its reciprocal, motion, and of verifying it so as to produce a cognition. The difference between a cognition of motion and of force inheres mainly in the method of verification. The various methods of verification are fundamentally dependent upon congruity of concepts. Again, apprehension as a process of intellection may be defined as the cognition of force. ”

“ Forms are not properly conceived until we know their function. We may have a vague concept of a form without knowing its function, but the elements of its structure are not fully grasped until we discover their relations to function. ”

“ Judgments of energy and work are primarily derived from muscular sensation or the sense of stress and strain. There is consciousness of stress when other bodies press upon us, and a consciousness of strain when our bodies press upon others. The consciousness is but a consciousness of change in self, but there is always an inference in a judgment. ”

“ A pressure on self is experienced. Here there must be a sense impression which produces a consciousness, a discrimination, a choice, a recollection, and a consciousness of a concept out of which arises a judgment of simple sensation. Then we consider the cause as a form, and judgment of it is a perception. Then we consider it as a force in a process, and it is a judgment of apprehension. Thus a judgment of apprehension is one of a series of judgments, the first of sensation, the second of perception, and the third of apprehension. ”

“ Induction is the discovery of a kind; deduction is the application of the laws of a kind to the individuals which are included in the kind. The quantitative sciences are deductive, for deduction predominates in their study. It is thus that the physical sciences, ethronomy, astronomy, and geography are quantitative and deductive, and that which interests us most in these realms of bodies is their quantities, for though it is impossible to change their kinds, it is possible to adjust ourselves advantageously to their quantities.
In geology, phytonomy, and zoönomy there are many kinds ”

“ All intellection is abstraction; he who cannot accomplish and hold firmly an abstraction cannot psychologize.
Apprehension is both presentative and representative, or inductive and deductive. If we look upon apprehension from the standpoint of its initial element, it is either presentative or representative; but if we look upon it from the standpoint of result as reason, it is inductive or deductive. The choice of a concept of deduction is always initiated by choice of another concept instead of a sense impression. ”

“ The real distinction between these sciences, however, is this: that the natural history sciences consider quantities or properties that can be measured. In ethronomy and astronomy we consider properties that can be measured, and ultimately arrive at classification; but in phytonomy and zoönomy we first consider properties that can be classified, and finally resort to their measurement. In geonomy the sciences are broadly grouped into two classes, namely, geography and geology; the geographic sciences are sciences of measurement, the geologic sciences are sciences of classification. ”

“ Thus in the geologic, phytonomic, and zoönomic realms, man is primarily interested in kinds and only secondarily in quantities; in the products of his cultural activities he is equally interested in kinds and quantities. It is here that induction and deduction meet on equal grounds, for the arts are equally inductive and deductive. ”

“ Thus there is always an emotion connected with an intellection and there is always an intellection with an emotion. But we are not now considering emotions; we are considering intellections only. We cannot consider intellection without positing emotion. ”

“ We cannot touch an object without employing our muscles by extending the organs of locomotion, as hands or feet, though the object may touch us independently of our self-activity. So pressure is apprehended by us as stress or strain; the muscles of the ear are strained when we intently listen; the eye is especially under the control of a system of muscles, so that it becomes the special organ for the cognition of motion. ”

“ Thus it is that the cognition of action and reaction between objects in the environment is a very complex process of reasoning, for cognition of the interactions of the objects of the environment are composed of a vast congeries of judgments.
Force must not be confounded with causation, although there can be no causation without force, nor can there be force without form, nor can there be form without kind; but abstractly causation and force are wholly disparate. A sledge impinges on a tree; the sledge strikes the tree and the tree strikes the sledge ”

“ Here again we must call attention to another very important fact, viz., that the individual mind is only one of many minds, and that it is only one of a still greater number of bodies that there is myself and the environment, and that there is yourself and the environment, and that you are a part of my environment, and that I am a part of your environment. ”

“ It has been shown that there is a faculty of the mind by which bodies are cognized as kinds, which has been called sensation. It has further been shown that there is a faculty of the cognition of bodies as forms, which has been called perception. It is now designed to demonstrate that there is a faculty of the mind by which bodies are cognized as forces, and this faculty I shall call apprehension. ”

“ We think of the force of a form rather than of the form of a force. All of the senses are under the control of and associated with muscles, so that we cannot taste an object without employing the muscles of the mouth, and when we designedly smell an object we must imbibe its vapor in the air through the action of our muscles by inhalation. ”

“ It has already been shown that man is primarily interested in the environment. The primitive man first becomes interested in what he supposes to be the environment of molar bodies by which he is surrounded. ”

“ An obscure stigma on the pistil of a plant might be wholly unobserved by the man who is not acquainted with the office of the pistil, but the botanist is sure to perceive it. The painter perceives muscles with certainty when he observes them in action. ”

“ So man tries to change the forces of nature into modes which he can control, and all of these changes which he brings about upon the face of nature depend upon his recognition of causes and the wisdom of his selection of the nature of the cause ”

“ We become expert in making judgments. Having made and verified them, cognition becomes recognition, and recognition seems to be a very simple process, for the pentalogic elements do not arise in the cortical consciousness. The fact is well known that judgments of intellection as well as judgments of action are made instantaneously with precision, when they have previously been made with halting labor, occupying much time ”

“ This choice of a concept may be the one made in a presentative or other judgment, for judgments may follow judgments in extended succession, all initiated by one sense impression, but connected in the succession by links of recollection. From one point of view these may be called discursive judgments, and from another associated judgments. In waking hours the mind cannot cease to make judgments. If sense impressions are neglected, recollected concepts take their place. The mind may be turned loose to make excursions by steps of judgments into a field where fancy leads ”

“ The blow on the sledge is vibration and crystallization; but there are two effects, but only one blow. When we consider the nature of the blow as action and reaction, we are considering force; but when we consider the effect we are considering causation. ”

“ There are but few kinds of air and of water, and these differences are only varietal, not specific, and the elements of mathematical geography are established mainly beyond the interference of man. We wish to adjust our conduct to these established facts, and hence we wish to know the facts. I do not propose to change the rising and setting of the sun, but I do wish to measure the times when they may be expected and the length of the day and the night. ”

“ A vast multitude of these bodies are molar, and stellar bodies are at first supposed to be molar, while molecular bodies are unknown, and the world is supposed to be composed of molar bodies. Then human concepts are all of molar bodies and their properties. ”

“ By a great variety of arts he makes many new forms, shaping the rocks, plants, and animal substances into a variety of tools, utensils, machines, and fabrics. In a vast multitude of ways he seeks to change the forms of bodies which he discovers in rocks, plants, and animals, and can accomplish his purpose only by changing the kinds. ”