Can Change the World Again.
| | Can Change the World Again. | |
A SYSTEM OF MENTAL PHILOSOPHY. 1882.
By
REV. ASA MAHAN, D. D. LL.D.
PREFACE.
THE object of the following treatise is to furnish, not only for College classes, but especially for our Academies and High Schools a complete system of Mental Science. Two facts render the treatises in common use unadapted, particularly to the two purposes last named. Such treatises, in the first place, are too large for common use. Then, with hardly any exceptions, they treat of but one department of the mind, the Intellect The object of the following treatise is to remedy both these defects—to furnish a work sufficiently ample for a clear elucidation of the whole subject, and, at the same time, so concise as not to over burden the mind of the pupil, on the one hand, and, on the other, to furnish a full knowledge of the entire system of Mental Science, the Philosophy, not of the Intellect merely, but also of the Sensibility and Will. It is fully believed by the Author, and he states this as the result of some thirty years' experience in teaching the science, that every pupil, not only in our College classes, but every advanced student in our Academies and High Schools, is capable of fully mastering this treatise, and that when he has done so, he will have attained not only to a distinct understanding of the different faculties of the mind, but also of the varied functions of each of those faculties.
An important suggestion, to teachers of this work, might not be out of place. The success of the pupil in mastering the science, will depend mainly upon the attainment of a clear understanding of the preliminary definitions and elucidations. Short lessons, and careful explanations, should be given here. When the pupil has fully comprehended the work, as far as to the close of the discussions of the Primary Intellectual faculties, he will pass through the remaining portions with increasing interest and delight. With these suggestions, the work is commended to the candid judgment of all who are qualified to understand and appreciate the subject.
THE AUTHOR.