These were so many propositions. Now
reasoning can be defined as the act or process of the brain by which,
from propositions known or assumed, new propositions are reached.
Out of the propositions which I have shown were Glen's, and which had
become his through the medium of his own observation of the phenomena
of life, he made the new proposition that when the horn tooted it was
time for him to get on board.
But on the morning I have described, the chauffeur fooled Glen.
Somehow and much to his own disgust, his reasoning was erroneous.
The machine did not start after all. But to reason incorrectly is
very human. The great trouble in all acts of reasoning is to include
all the propositions in the problem. Glen had included every
proposition but one, namely, the human proposition, the joke in the
brain of the chauffeur. For a number of times Glen was fooled. Then
he performed another mental act. In his problem he included the
human proposition (the joke in the brain of the chauffeur), and he
reached the new conclusion that when the horn tooted the automobile
was NOT going to start.
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