general is tic (jen"eralistik)

[ In proof of my general is tic qualities, the rolling down of the water-jar upon the heads of the Maghribi pilgrims in the "Golden Thread" was quoted, and all offered to fight for me à l'outrance. R. F. Burton , El-Medinah, p. 272. generality (jen-e-ral'i-ti), n.; pl. generalities (-tiz). [F. généralité = Pr. general it at = Sp. general i dad = Pg. generalidade = It. general ità, generality, = D. genera lite it = G. general ität, generality, body of generals, = Dan. Sw. gene ralitet, war-office, It is noticeable that concepts on the same level of gene rality are framed with greater and greater facility. J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 384. 2. Something that is general, as a general statement or principle; especially, a saying of a general and vague nature. New Comedy came in place, more ciuill and pleasant a great deale and not touching any man by name, but in a certaine general i tie glancing at euery abuse. Putten ham , Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 26. Let us descend from generalities to particulars. Landor . The glittering and sounding generalities of natural right which make up the Declaration of Independence. R. Choate , quoted in Bartlett. 3. The main body; the bulk; the greatest part; specifically, the majority of people; the multitude; the commons. If this action had not beene thus cro ed, the General i tie of England had by this time beene wonne and encouraged therein. Quoted in Capt . John Smith's Works, II. 267. From whence it comes, that those tyrants who have the generality to friend, and the great ones their enemyes, are in the more safetie. E. Dacres, Machiavel on Livy, i. 40. Excellent persons who delighted in being retired, and abstracted from the pleasures that enchant the generality of the world. Steele , Spectator, No. 264. 4. Formerly, in France, a territorial division for the collection of taxes; a taxing district. The Huguenots established a system of generalities or districts. Encyc. Brit., XII. 338. generalizable (jen'e-ral-i-za-bl), a. [ Extreme cases are, ipso nomine, not generalizable . Cole ridge. [F. generalization (jen"e-ral-i-zā'shon), n. généralisation = Sp. genera liz a cion; as gener alize + -ation.] 1. The act of generalizing; recognition of a character as being common to two or more objects; also, the proce of forming a general notion. Although, for example, we had never seen but one rose, we might still have been able to attend to its colour, without thinking of its other properties. This has led some philosophers to suppose that another faculty besides ab str action, to which they have given the name of general i zati on, is nece ary to account for the formation of genera and species. D. Stewart, Elements, iv. § 1. 2. Induction; an inference from the po e ion of a character by each individual or by some of the individuals of a cla to its po e ion by all the individuals of that cla ; the observation that the known individuals of a species, or the known species of a genus, have a character in common, and the consequent attribution of that character to the whole cla ; also, a conclusion so reached. In our inquiries into the nature of the inductive proce , we must not confine our notice to such genera liz a tions from experience as profe to be universally true. J. S. Mill, Logie, III. xxiii. § 1. When we have proved with respect to the circle that a straight line cannot meet it in more than two points, and when the same thing has been succe ively proved of the ellipse, the parabola, and the hyperbola, it may be laid down as a universal property of the sections of the cone. It would be difficult to refuse to the proposition arrived at, the name of a generalization. But there is not induction. J. S. Mill, Logic, III. ii. § 2. I not going to attempt a definition of the Anglo 2483 3. In math., the proce or result of modifying a proposition so as to obtain another having wider subject and predicate, but such that a limitation which, if applied to the new subject, gives the old subject, will reproduce the old predicate when applied to the new. For example, Fermat's theorem is that if p is any positive prime number and a any number not divisible by p, then the division of ap -1 by p leaves 1 as the remainder. A generalization of this is, that if k is any positive integer, and ok the number of numbers as small as k and prime to it, and a is any number relatively prime to k, then the division of ak by k leaves 1 as the remainder; for when k is a prime number, $ k = k -1, and every number not divisible by k is prime to it. The language of mathematics differs from that of logic in that from every generalization of a proposition the proposition itself is immediately deducible, which is not true in the logicians' sense of the word. The distinction between generalization and extension in mathematical language is not very clear, but the latter term applies primarily to a conception or function which has received a new and wider definition; also, the modi fication of a proposition concerning two dimensions so as to make it apply to three is called an extension. Also spelled generalisation . generation Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude. 2 Sam. xvii. 11. You must, as we do, gratify this gentleman, To whom we all rest generally beholden. Shak., T. of the S., i. 2. 3. In general; commonly though not universally; most frequently; in most cases. That the holy Scriptures are one of the greatest ble ings which God bestows upon the sons of men is generally acknowledged by all who know anything of the value and worth of them. Locke . Mr. Mill complains that those who maintain the affirmative generally beg the question. Macaulay , Mill on Government. 4. In the main; without detail; upon the whole. IMG:content-2192.png:[blocks in formation] =Syn. 3. Usually, ordinarily, mainly, principally, chiefly. generalne (jen'e-ral-nes), n. The character of being general. [Rare.] They had, with a general consent, rather springing by the generalne of the cause than of any artificial practice, set themselves in arms. Sir P. Sidney , Arcadia, i. generalize (jen e-ral-iz), v .; pret. and pp. gen- eralized , ppr. generalizing . [= D. generalise ren = G. general i siren = Dan. general is ere = Sw. generaliser a , généraliser = Sp. Pg. gene--ship.] 1. The office of a general. ralizar = It. generalizzare ; as general + -ize .] I. trans. 1. To render general; make more general; bring under a general description or notion; treat or apply generically. The mind makes its utmost endeavors to generalize its ideas. Bolingbroke, Human Knowledge, § 5. We have already observed the following remarkable things in the proce of naming: 1, a igning names of those clusters of ideas called objects; 2, generalizing those names, so as to make them represent a cla ; 3, framing adjectives by which minor cla es are cut out of larger. James Mill, Analysis, ix. The existence of a man with such mighty powers of discovery and demonstration as Newton, and the recognition of his doctrines among his contemporaries, depend upon causes which do not admit of being generalized . Sir G. C. Lewis , Authority in Matters of Opinion, ix. § 1. 2. To infer inductively, as a general rule from a particular case or set of facts. A mere conclusion generalized from a great multitude of facts. IMG:content-2193.png:[ocr errors] 3. In math., to modify, as a proposition, so as to obtain a wider proposition from which the former can be immediately deduced. See general i zati on, 3.- Generalized coördinates. See coördinate. II. in trans. 1. To recognize that two or more objects have a common character; to form a general notion. [Brought into use by Reid.] We are next to consider the operations of the understanding, by which we are enabled to form general conceptions. These appear to me to have three: - First, The resolving or analyzing a subject into its known attributes, and giving a name to each attribute, which name shall signify that attribute, and nothing more. Secondly, The observing one or more such attributes to be common to many subjects. The first is by philosophers called abstraction; the second may be called generalizing ; but both are commonly included under the name of abstraction. Reid , Intellectual Powers (1785), p. 445. 2. To reason inductively, from particular cases to general rules comprehending those cases. The reviewer holds that we pa from special experiences to universal truths in virtue of "the inductive pro pensity - the irresistible impulse of the mind to generalize ad infinitum." Whewell, Hist. Scientific Ideas, x., note. He continually meets with facts which prove that he had generalized on insufficient data. II. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 514. Also spelled generalise . generalized (jen'e-ral-izd), p . a. Specifically, in biol ., common or primitive, as a structure or organism; representing or held to represent a broad or general type of form; synthetic; undifferentiated: the opposite of specialized : as, a lucernarian is or represents a generalized type of hydrozoans; some fo il mammals had a gen eralized dental formula. generalizer (jen'e-ral-i-zèr), n. One who generalizes. Also spelled generaliser . Emerson is not a colourist, but a generaliser and abstract thinker. Quarterly Rev. , CXLV. 156. generally (jen'e-ral-i), adv. [ the individuals of a cla . I curse and blame generally Alle hem that loven villanye. Rom , of the Rose , 1. 2179. are apt to be as dangerous as they are tempting. And so all of them general lie have power towards some Lowell, Study Windows, p. 246. good by the direction of reason. Sir P. Sidney .