THEORY OF KNOWING.
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PROP. VI.————
and all existences contain both a universal
Is the Platonic analysis of cognition and existence a division into elements or into kinds?and particular element; it is quite a different thing to say that every cognition and every existence is either a particular or a universal cognition—a particular or a universal existence. These two affirmations, although apparently akin, and very liable to be mistaken for each other, are so far from being the same that each is the direct denial of the other. For if the analysis be a division into elements, and if every cognition and every existence must be both particular and universal, there cannot be one kind of cognition which is particular, and another kind which is universal, or one kind of existence which is particular, and another kind which is universal. The elements of cognition, and the elements of existence, cannot be themselves cognitions or existences, any more than the elements of salt can be themselves salts. To suppose the elements of cognition to be themselves cognitions, or the elements of existence to be themselves existences, would be to mistake the division into elements for the division into kinds. Again, if the analysis be a division into kinds, and if every cognition and every existence must be either particular or universal, there can be no cognitions and no existences which are both particular and universal. Kinds of cognition, and kinds of existence, can never be mere elements of cognition, or elements of existence, any more than the different kinds of salts can be mere elements of salt; and to suppose them