In most cases the auditory type is not clear. For very general terms the heard word alone exists, but in proportion as the concrete is approached, the sound is accompanied by an image; thus returning upon our former type.
It is worth while to note that the term flatus vocis “nomina,” first employed in the Middle Ages and which has since become the formula of Nominalism, seems by its nature to indicate that it was originally invented by persons who belonged to the auditory type, and I may even hazard an hypothesis. The typographical visual type did not exist (printing not being invented); it is true that a substitute might have existed in the graphic visual type (reading of manuscripts). But considering that in the Middle Ages instruction was essentially oral, that learning came rather through listening than by reading, that the oratorical jousts and arguments were daily and interminable, it is undeniable that the conditions for developing the auditory type were highly favorable here.
I need hardly say that the three types described above are rarely met with in the pure and complete form. As a rule a mixed type prevails: a concrete image for certain words, and typographical vision, or auditory images, for others. To sum up: all cases seem to be capable of reduction to the following: (1) The word heard; beyond this, nil (we shall subsequently have to examine this “nothing”); (2) typographical vision alone; (3) the same, accompanied by a concrete image; (4) the word heard, accompanied invariably by a concrete image.
4. Prior to the commencement of this inquiry I felt much hesitation on one point: should one in questioning use general words or general propositions? I decided in favor of words because these are brief, simple, isolated, and undisguised, and have the advantage of being understood directly, while they in no way suggest to the subject what line he is to follow.
I still however felt scruples in the matter. Was not the investigation as conducted on these lines a little artificial? In point of fact, general terms most frequently occur as members of a phrase, co-operating with others, and connected with them by certain relations. I therefore recommenced my inquiry, using the same method, but replacing words by phrases. The general propositions employed are purposely trite, to avoid contradiction, and to ascertain the immediate mental state. They were as follows:
Cause invariably precedes effect.—Infinity has several meanings.—Is Space infinite?—Has Time any limits?—Law is a necessary relation.—I need not enlarge upon the results: they are precisely the same as for words. In every case, and for each person, there is one predominating word which absorbs all the content of the phrase, and is a substitute for it. On this the instantaneous mental operation is concentrated.
If of the concrete type, the subject sees images. In the second phrase, e. g., everything converges on the word infinity. Replies: Sensation of obscurity and depth, vague luminous circles, a sort of cupola, a never-receding horizon, etc. If a typographic visualist, the printed sentence is seen less clearly than the simple words: “in minute characters; no capitals”; some persons glimpse it rapidly: others see only “the principal word printed.”
For the pure auditory type, the answer is always very simple. “I hear the sentence, I see absolutely nothing.”
The new method therefore simply confirms the previous observations, with no variations. This identity of result seems to me to militate against a distinction admitted by many authors. In the classical treatises a distinction is made between “necessary ideas” and “necessary truths” (I use their terms uncritically), i. e., general concepts and general propositions. Example: cause, principle of causality. In my opinion there is merely a difference of form between the two positions, the one psychological, the other logical. A concept is a judgment in a state of envelopment, or of result. The proposition is a word in the state of development. The difference is not material, but formal; it is the passage from synthesis to analysis.