No physical difficulty," she confidently replied: "but I haven't
studied Logic much. Would you state the difficulty?"
"Well," said Arthur, "do you accept it as self-evident? Is it as
obvious, for instance, as that 'things that are greater than the same
are greater than one another'?"
"To my mind," she modestly replied, "it seems quite as obvious.
I grasp both truths by intuition. But other minds may need some
logical--I forget the technical terms."
"For a complete logical argument," Arthur began with admirable
solemnity, "we need two prim Misses--"
"Of course!" she interrupted. "I remember that word now.
And they produce--?"
"A Delusion," said Arthur.
"Ye--es?" she said dubiously. "I don't seem to remember that so well.
But what is the whole argument called?"
"A Sillygism?
"Ah, yes! I remember now. But I don't need a Sillygism, you know,
to prove that mathematical axiom you mentioned."
"Nor to prove that 'all angles are equal', I suppose?"
"Why, of course not! One takes such a simple truth as that for granted!"
Here I ventured to interpose, and to offer her a plate of strawberries
and cream. I felt really uneasy at the thought that she might detect
the trick: and I contrived, unperceived by her, to shake my head
reprovingly at the pseudo-philosopher. Equally unperceived by her,
Arthur slightly raised his shoulders, and spread his hands abroad,
as who should say "What else can I say to her?" and moved away, leaving
her to discuss her strawberries by 'involution,' or any other way she
preferred.
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