Factor

[Lat., from facere, to form; Fr. facteur.] ( Math. ) The term applied to each of the quantities which we multiply into one another to form a product.The multiplicand and multiplier. The term is also used in the same sense as divisor, so that any quantity which will divide another is a F. of it. Thus, the entire fac " (Phil.) A term applied to those active powers of the mind which are original and natural, and which make part of the constitution of the mind. Capacity, on the other hand, is applied to those manifestations of mind in which it is generally regarded as pa ive, as affected or acted upon by something external to itself. "Powers natural and active," says Sir William Hamilton, are called faculties . Powers natural and pa ive, capacities or receptivities. Powers acquired are habits, and habit is used both in an active and pa ive sense. The power again of acquiring a habit is called a disposition ." When philosophers thus cla ify the different operations of the mind, and a ign them to different powers, it is not to be supposed that they regard the mind as made up of so many distinct parts. The mind manifests itself in different ways, and it is only these manifestations that they arrange and cla ify; when, therefore, they speak of a power or faculty of the mind, they mean only that certain operations of the mind have been observed and cla ified, according to the conditions and circumstances under which they manifest themselves. "This way of speaking of faculties," says Locke, "has misled many into a confused notion of so many distinct agents in us, which had their several provinces and authorities, and did command, obey, and perform several actions, as so many distinct beings; which has been no small occasion of wrangling, obscurity, and uncertainty, in questions relating to them."