This is the more apt to be the case if one's
previous ideas have been weak and undecided. In the interaction
between the old and new the latter then become the apperceiving forces.
Upon the untrained or poorly-equipped mind a strong argument has a more
decisive effect than it may justly deserve. As we noticed above, new
ideas, especially those coming directly through the senses, are often
more vivid and attractive than similar old ones. For this reason they
usually occupy greater attention and prominence at first than later,
when the old ideas have begun to revive and reassert themselves. Old
ideas usually have the advantage over the new in being better
organized, more closely connected in series and groups; and having been
often repeated, they acquire a certain permanent ascendency in the
thoughts. In this interaction between similar notions, old and new,
the differences at first arrest attention, then gradually sink into the
background, while the stronger points of resemblance begin to
monopolize the thought and bind the notions into a unity.
The use of familiar notions in acquiring an insight into new things is
a _natural tendency_ or drift of the mind.
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