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O.53

Now every step of argumentation walks on two legs. The leg that is put forward I call the "copulate premiss" for the reason that if there be two premisses, the reasoning cannot proceed until the reasoner has consciously copulated them together. Thus, "Enoch and Elijah were men, and all men die" is the "copulate premiss" of a syllogism. The copulate premiss contains all that the reasoner must consciously judge to be true before he can take the argumentative step. The other leg, which, though behind and unnoticed, alone gives propulsion to the step, is its governing logical principle. Whether [it] intrudes among the premisses or not, it must be active as a habit or disposition in the reasoner's mind.

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