Thought-Culture; or, Practical Mental Training

...arranging thousands of objects into one general class, and other thousands into other general classes, and then sub-dividing these classes, until finally we have found mental pigeon-holes The author uses "pigeon-holes" as a metaphor for a system of mental categorization and organization. for every conceivable idea or impression. We then begin to make inferences and deductions regarding these ideas or impressions, working from the known to the unknown, from specific details original: "particulars" to general concepts original: "generalities", or from general concepts to specific details, as the case may be.

It is this faculty or power of thought—this use of the intellect—that has brought humanity to its present high position in the world of living things. In our early days, humankind was a much weaker animal than those with whom we were brought into contact. The tigers, lions, bears, mammoths, and other ferocious beasts were much stronger, fiercer, and faster original: "fleeter" than humans.

Humanity was placed in a position so lacking an apparent equal chance of survival that an observer would have unhesitatingly offered the opinion that this weak, feeble, and slow animal must surely perish in the struggle for existence. Such an observer would have believed that the "survival of the fittest" A phrase associated with evolutionary theory, suggesting that only the organisms best adapted to their environment will survive. would soon cause us to vanish...