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butinordertoansweritwerequireawholelogicalandpsychologicalapparatus。
Benthamshowsthisapparatusatwork，butdoesnotexpounditsorigininanyseparatetreatise。Enoughinformation，however，isgivenastohismethodinthecuriouscollectionofthefragmentsconnectedwiththeChrestomathia。
Alogicalmethoduponwhichheconstantlyinsistedisthatof’bipartition，’(16*)
calledalsothe’dichotomous’or’bifurcate’method，andexemplifiedbythestalled’PorphyrianTree。’Theprincipleis，ofcourse，simple。Takeanygenus：divideitintotwoclasses，oneofwhichhasandtheotherhasnotacertainmark。Thetwoclassesmustbemutuallyexclusiveandtogetherexhaustive。
Repeattheoperationuponeachoftheclassesandcontinuetheprocessaslongasdesired。(17*)Ateverystepyouthushaveacompleteenumerationofallthespecies，varieties，andsoon，eachofwhichexcludesalltheothers。Nomerelogic，indeed，cansecuretheaccuracyandstilllesstheutilityoftheprocedure。Thedifferencesmaybeinthemselvesambiguousorirrelevant。IfIclassifyplantsas’trees’and’nottrees，’thelogicalformissatisfied：butIhavestilltoaskwhether’tree’conveysadeterminatemeaning，andwhetherthedistinctioncorrespondstoadifferenceofanyimportance。
Aperfectclassification，however，couldalwaysbestatedinthisform。Eachspecies，thatis，canbemarkedbythepresenceorabsenceofagivendifference，whetherwearedealingwithclassesofplantsoractions：andBenthamaimsatthatconsummationthoughheadmitsthatcenturiesmayberequiredfortheconstructionofanaccurateclassificationinethicalspeculations。(18*)
Heexaggeratestheefficiencyofhismethod，andoverlooksthetendencyoftacitassumptionstosmugglethemselvesintowhataffectstobeamereenumerationofclasses。Butinanycase，noonecouldlabourmoreindustriouslytogeteveryobjectofhisthoughtarrangedandlabelledandputintotherightpigeon-holeofhismentalmuseum。Tocodify(19*)istoclassify，andBenthammightbedefinedasacodifyinganimal。
ThingsthuspresentthemselvestoBentham’smindasalreadypreparedtofitintopigeon-holes。Thisisacharacteristicpoint，anditappearsinwhatwemustcallhismetaphysicalsystem。’Metaphysics，’indeed，accordingtohim，issimply’asprig，’andthatasmallone，ofthe’branchtermedLogic。’(20*)Itismerelytheexplanationofcertaingeneraltermssuchas’existence，’’necessity，’andsoforth。(21*)Underthiswouldapparentlyfalltheexplanationof’reality’whichleadstoadoctrineuponwhichheofteninsists，andwhichismostimplicitlygiveninthefragmentcalledOntology。Hetheredistinguishes’real’from’fictitiousentities，’adistinctionwhich，ashetellsus，(22*)hefirstlearnedfromd’Alembert’sphraseÊ；tresfictifs，andwhichheappliesinhisMoralsandLegislation。’Realentities，’
accordingtohim，(23*)are’individualperceptions，’’impressions，’and’ideas。’
Inthis，ofcourse，heisfollowingHume，thoughheappliestheJohnsonianargumenttoBerkeley’simmaterialism。(24*)A’fictitiousentity’isanamewhichdoesnot’raiseupinthemindanycorrespondentimages。’(25*)Suchnamesowetheirexistencetothenecessitiesoflanguage。Withoutemployingsuchfictions，however，’thelanguageofmancouldnothaverisenabovethelanguageofbrutes’；(26*)andheemphaticallydistinguishesthemfrom’unreal’
or’fabulousentities。’A’fictitiousentity’isnota’nonentity。’(27*)
HeincludesamongsuchentitiesallAristotle’s’predicaments’exceptthefirst：’substance。’(28*)Quantity，quality，relation，time，placeareall’physicalfictitiousentities。’Thisisapparentlyequivalenttosayingthattheonly’physicalentities’areconcretethings——sticks，stones，bodies，andsoforth——the’reality’ofwhichhetakesforgrantedintheordi
