Definition by initial predication definition
Definition by initial predication means the defining of any idea, fact, or thing by the circumstances of its first manifestation to our cognition. Thus my first cognition of gravity might be the experience of seeing an organic object, such as an apple, fall from a tree. If then I defined gravitation in such terms that being an organic object was essential to the notion, I would have defined by initial predication. There is an obvious error in such a definition, since other than organic objects are clearly subject to gravitation, and the valid statement of the law must be such as will account for all instances and exclude all that is not essential to the conception. In the case of Idealism this criticism is applied in the sense that the appearance of the existent in consciousness is only the accident of the first appearance, and may not validly be made a determinant of the Existent as such. Therefore, it is not proved that the Existent is an Existent for consciousness and only for consciousness. The force of this argument may well be granted, but all that it has achieved is disproof of proof in the logical sense; it has not disproved the fact that the Idealist maintains it. Further, there is a fundamental weakness in the argument in that there is no second or other subsequent appearance or experience of the Existent which contrasts with the initial experience in this respect. In the illustration of the falling organic object the case is different, since we do have subsequent experiences of falling inorganic objects. This fact makes a very important difference. The error made by the Idealist in this case was the attempting logical proof where his real ground lies in immediacy, just as the greenness of a green object subsists in immediacy and cannot be proved.