Note 20: — ACADEMICAL DIALECTIC

'In the first of these premises,' he says, 'we find it assumed universally of the class of "things which exhibit marks of design," that they had an intelligent author; and in the other premise, "the world" is referred to that class as comprehended in it: now it is evident that whatever is said of the whole of a class, may be said of anything comprehended in that class: so that we are thus authorised to say of the world, that "it had an intelligent author." Again, if we examine a syllogism with a negative conclusion, as, e.g. "nothing which exhibits marks of design could have been produced by chance; the world exhibits, &c.; therefore the world could not have been produced by chance:" the process of Reasoning will be found to be the same; since it is evident, that whatever is denied universally of any class may be denied of anything that is comprehended in that class. On further examination it will be found, that all valid arguments whatever may be easily reduced to such a form as that of the foregoing syllogisms; and that consequently the principle on which they are constructed is the Universal Principle of Reasoning.'20