Menu History Laws |
Sometimes our reasonings are erroneous Post Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 1:08:15 +0000 Our idea of a good banker's clerk implies that he writes a good hand, that he is correct in accounts, that he is quick in performing his operations, that he can readily pass from one employment to another, and can analyse his accounts, and clearly exhibit a full statement of any account that may be required of him. A complete idea would also include certain moral ideas, as punctuality of attendance in the morning, application, perseverance, prompt obedience to the instructions of his superiors, and propriety of conduct towards all his colleagues and the public. Sometimes our reasonings are erroneous from omitting some ideas which are parts of the whole. Autor of the post: Undefined They seem to forget Post Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 0:53:46 +0000 The idea of a shareholder in a joint-stock bank, in the minds of some persons, includes the idea of a man who gets shares at par, goes every half year to receive his dividends and bonuses, and attends the general meeting of share- holders for the purpose of censuring the directors and managers for not making larger profits; but it does not include the idea of keeping his own account at the bank, or the doing of anything towards making those profits he is so anxious to receive. Shareholders are not sufficiently impressed with the idea that by being also customers they increase the profits of the bank. They seem to forget that the whole is made \\p of parts, and that every part, however small, contributes to the whole. Autor of the post: Undefined The standard gold Post Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 0:35:48 +0000 While in the examination of a complex idea we endea- vour to ascertain what are the simple ideas which are implied or included in it, we should at the same time notice what are the simple ideas which are excluded from it. Thus, if I examine a piece of gold from Australia, and I find that it consists of five parts of pure gold and one part of alloy, then I say this is not standard gold. The standard gold from which our sovereigns are coined consists of eleven parts of pure gold and one part of alloy. Autor of the post: Undefined We sometimes include in our Post Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 0:21:55 +0000 The presence, therefore, of a larger pro- portion of alloy in the gold before me shows that it is not standard gold. So in regard to moral ideas. We sometimes include in our idea of the whole more than all its parts. Autor of the post: Undefined We may thus observe Post Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 0:11:53 +0000 Thus, a short time ago, some of our public writers always included inefficient managers and fraudu- lent directors in the idea of a joint -stock bank, and they very naturally wrote vehemently against all such banks. At the present time the idea of a London joint-stock bank includes, in the minds of some people, the ideas of high dividends and large bonuses; whereas in Scotland, where the system has most flourished, the banks have never paid high dividends. We may thus observe that we may adopt three modes of erroneous reasoning from the relation of a whole and its parts. Autor of the post: Undefined As an error Post Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 23:54:06 +0000 We may take a part, and reason from it as though it were the whole. We may exclude from the whole some important idea that should be included in it, or we may include in the whole some idea that ought to be excluded. As an error of the first kind we may refer to a London joint-stock bank, that announces that it conducts its business upon the " Scotch system of banking," by which it means merely that it grants cash credits. Autor of the post: Undefined So one of the joint-stock Post Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 23:42:35 +0000 Now, the granting of cash credits is only one part of the business of banking in Scotland. And were any party to infer from the above advertisement that the bank in question re- sembled the Scotch banks in every other particular, or that the other joint-stock banks in London did in no respect resemble the joint-stock banks in Scotland, he might arrive at erroneous conclusions. So one of the joint-stock banks in London calls itself "The London Joint-Stock Bank. Autor of the post: Undefined Several private bankers stated Post Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 23:23:56 +0000 " If any one were to infer from this title that this bank is the only joint-stock bank in London, or that it was the first established in the order of time, he would be led into an erroneous conclusion. The second fallacy is that of excluding or omitting from a complex Or compound idea some idea which ought to be included. Several private bankers stated to the Parliamentary Committee of 1832 that a joint- stock bank could not be so well managed as a private bank, because the directors, who had businesses of their own, could not pay so much attention to their bank as a private banker who devoted his whole time to the business. Autor of the post: Undefined A third error is adding Post Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 23:07:14 +0000 Now, the administration of a joint-stock bank includes not only a board of directors but also a manager, whose whole time is as constantly devoted to the business as that of a private banker. But the above witnesses omitted this very important idea from the idea of bank-management, and hence arrived at apparently very natural, but at the same time very erroneous conclusions. A third error is adding to the complex idea some idea which does not belong to it. Autor of the post: Undefined " A public writer, commenting upon Post Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 22:52:37 +0000 All the joint-stock banks formed since the year 1844 are compelled to take charters from the crown. A London bank placed at the head of its prospectus the words, " Empowered by Royal Charter." A public writer, commenting upon some proceedings of this bank, stated that it had a charter which limited the liability of the shareholders. Autor of the post: Undefined 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104 | 105 | 106 | 107 | 108 | 109 | 110 | 111 | 112 | 113 | 114 | 115 | 116 | 117 | 118 | 119 | 120 | 121 | 122 | 123 | 124 | 125 | 126 | 127 | 128 | 129 | 130 | 131 | 132 | 133 | 134 | 135 | 136 | 137 | 138 | 139 | 140 | 141 | 142 | 143 | 144 | 145 | 146 | 147 | 148 | 149 | 150 | 151 | 152 | 153 | 154 | 155 | 156 | 157 | 158 | 159 | 160 | 161 | 162 | 163 | 164 | 165 | 166 | 167 | 168 | 169 | 170 | 171 | 172 | 173 | 174 | 175 | 176 | 177 | 178 | 179 | 180 | 181 | 182 | 183 | 184 | 185 | 186 | 187 | 188 | 189 | 190 | 191 | 192 | 193 | 194 | 195 | 196 | 197 | 198 | 199 | 200 | 201 | 202 | 203 | 204 | 205 | 206 | 207 | 208 | 209 | 210 | 211 | 212 | 213 | 214 | 215 | 216 | 217 | 218 | 219 | 220 | 221 | 222 | 223 | 224 | 225 | 226 | 227 | 228 | 229 | 230 | 231 | 232 | 233 | 234 | 235 | 236 | 237 | 238 | 239 | 240 | 241 | 242 | 243 | 244 | 245 | 246 | 247 | 248 | 249 | 250 | 251 | 252 | 253 | 254 | 255 | 256 | 257 | 258 | 259 | 260 | 261 | 262 | 263 | 264 | 265 | 266 | 267 | 268 | 269 | 270 | 271 | 272 | 273 | 274 |