The Scientific Art of Logic by E. D. Simmons (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 565 certain that regarding the actual and valid matter and form now it is a magisterial and infallible definition of a dogmatic fact. In discussing the opinions taught before this Constitution he feels that, although the texts of St. Thomas mention the handing of the instruments and not the imposition of hands as essential matter, the Angelic Doctor's mind did not seem to be closed to the special importance of the latter in the conferral of this sacrament. Moreover St. Thomas is not validly invoked in support by those who hold for a merely generic institution of the sacraments and Orders in particular. The author also holds that the Church has the power to lay down invalidating conditions for the sacraments not as regards the sacramental rite but only regarding the minister or the subject. Thus the comprehensive conclusion of Fr. Doronzo is that by the specific institution of Christ the imposition of hands is the sole matter of the episcopacy, priesthood and diaconate not only now and in the future, but more probably was always so held in the past. It has never been changed nor could be changed hy the Church by subtraction or addition. It is not necessary to agree with an. author in his every opinion and interpretation to recognize the quality of his scholarship, his method of development and the value of his argumentation. But it is necessary, I think, to recognize that in these volumes Fr. Doronzo has continued the impressive work which has made his dogmatic tr~ts so highly respected and valued in the field of sacramental theology. St. Stephen's Priory DoviYI, Mass. NICHOLAS IIALLIGAN, 0. P. The Scientific Art of Logic. By E. D. SIMMoNS. Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co., 1961. Pp. Stn. $4.80. It is a paradox of our time that curriculum studies tend to eliminate logic from the liberal arts program when the quality of scholastic logic in our country has attained a level never before enjoyed. Dr. Simmons' book is another witness to the happy blending of sound scholarship and practical pedagogical experience which has characterized .logic courses in Catholic colleges and universities in recent years. The book opens with an introduction on the notion of logic. The logic course itself is divided on the basis of the three operations of the mind: simple apprehension, judgment, and reasoning. The first part, concerning simple apprehension, contains seven chapters which consider: simple apprehension and signs, comprehension and extension, the universal, the predicables, the categories, definition, and division. The second part has five chapters: the nature of judgment, the supposition of terms, the 566 BOOK REVIEWS categorical proposition, the compound proposition, and the relations between propositions. The final part, treating of the third act of the mind, is divided into nine chapters: the nature of reasoning, the categorical syllogism, the rules for the categorical syllogism, the hypothetical syllogism, the complex syllogism, demonstration and dialectical discourse, indqction, fallacies, and the nature of logic. This last chapter of the third part serves as a conclusion to the whole work. Scattered throughout the book are twenty-two exercises. Finally, there is a fine index. To this reviewer the chief attraction of Dr. Simmons' book is the manner in which the entire course gradually unfolds the precise nature of logic as a science without the neglect of its artistic role. The reader, to some extent at least, is able to see for himself that logic is the science of second intentions -the last chapter merely makes explicit what is already contained in the body of the book. This methodology is in the finest philosophical tradition , and does not make of logic a matter merely of memory and application . Teachers of logic can use this book as an instrument to develop scientific inquiry and method. It has become the practice in scholastic circles to abandon the division of logic into formal and material as a pedagogical device, even though most modem text-books are based on the Ar., Logica of John of St. Thomas. Dr. Simmons' book is no exception. He divides his work according to the three operations of the mind, not according to matter and form. To some logicians, this...