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Show LVIII BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY a house, and it may be large if we wish to throw it as a missile; but the property remains the same. An hour seems a short time when I am thinking about a journey to California, but seems a long time to endure pain; yet the property remains the same. The fall of a spark from a passing engine seems but a trivial cause when I consider the soiling of my garment, but it seems to be an important cause when I consider it as igniting a forest fire; yet the property remains the same. An earthquake seems to produce but a slight effect when I observe it simply as a tremor, but when I consider it in the ruin of a city it appears to have a stupendous effect, though the property remains the same. I see a man slyly approaching a wall, and believe him to be a thief, and I have a judgment of evil; if I know that he intends to scale the wall in defense of his country I believe him to be patriotic and brave; thus the same act may be cowardly and vile or patriotic and brave from different points of view. Properties belong to things in themselves, but qualities exist in the mind as properties are viewed in relation to human designs. Qualities are relations, and the terms of the relation are properties on the one hand and purposes on the other. Now, we can not expunge either of these terms without expunging the relation. We may not overtly consider the terms, but consider only the relation as an abstraction. Then the terms must be implied, for there is no quality unless there is an external property and an internal purpose. When properties are considered as qualities in their relation to human purposes the judgments formed are judgments of good and evil. The judgments which men form of good and evil' give rise to a multitude of human activities which are known as the arts. Those activities which are put forth to secure pleasure and to avoid pain are esthetic arts, and the science of the esthetic arts is esthetology. We discover the properties of things as causes through our senses, and we discover the effect of these properties on ourselves through our feelings. One term of the relation, therefore, is discovered by making intellectual judgments; the other term is discovered by making emotional judgments. |