§ 34. Judgement, in the sense in which it is here used [Footnote: Sometimes the term 'judgement' is extended to the comparison of nameless sense-impressions, which underlies the formation of concepts. But this amounts to identifying judgement with thought in general.] may be resolved into putting two ideas together in the mind, and pronouncing as to their agreement or disagreement, e.g. we have in our minds the idea of a cup and the idea of a thing made of porcelain, and we combine them in the judgement—'This cup is made of porcelain.'
§ 35. Inference, or Reasoning, is the passage of the mind from one or more judgements to another, e.g. from the two judgements 'Whatever is made of porcelain is brittle,' and 'This cup is made of porcelain,' we elicit a third judgement, 'This cup is brittle.'
§ 36. Corresponding to these three processes there are three products of thought, viz.
(1) The Concept.
(2) The Judgement.
(3) The Inference.
§ 37. Since our language has a tendency to confuse the distinction between processes and products, [Footnote: E.g. We have to speak quite indiscriminately of Sensation, Imagination, Reflexion, Sight, Thought, Division, Definition, and so on, whether we mean in any case a process or a product.] it is the more necessary to keep them distinct in thought. Strictly we ought to speak of conceiving, judging and inferring on the one hand, and, on the other, of the concept, the judgement and the inference.
The direct object of logic is the study of the products rather than of the processes of thought. But, at the same time, in studying the products we are studying the processes in the only way in which it is possible to do so. For the human mind cannot be both actor and spectator at once; we must wait until a thought is formed in our minds before we can examine it. Thought must be already dead in order to be dissected: there is no vivisection of consciousness. Thus we can never know more of the processes of thought than what is revealed to us in their products.
§ 38. When the three products of thought are expressed in language, they are called respectively
(1) The Term.