A system of logic, ratiocinative and inductive. Vol. 1 : being a connected view of the principles of evidence, and the methods of scientific investigation / by John Stuart Mill.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mill, John Stuart, 1806-1873, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Logic.

Science--Methodology.

Science.

Knowledge, Theory of.

Science--methods.

Medical Subjects:

Logic.

Science--methods.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

Ninth edition.

Other Title:

APA PsycBOOKS.

Place of Publication:

London : Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1875.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

"This book makes no pretence of giving to the world a new theory of the intellectual operations. Its claim to attention, if it possess any, is grounded on the fact that it is an attempt not to supersede, but to embody and systematize, the best ideas which have been either promulgated on its subject by speculative writers., or conformed to by accurate thinkers in their scientific inquiries. In the portion of the work which treats of Ratiocination, the author has not deemed it necessary to enter into technical details which may be obtained in so perfect a shape from the existing treatises on what is termed the Logic of the Schools. In the contempt entertained by many modern philosophers for the syllogistic art, it will be seen that he by no means participates; though the scientific theory on which its defence is usually rested appears to him erroneous: and the view which he has suggested of the nature and functions of the Syllogism may, perhaps, afford the means of conciliating the principles of the art with as much as is well grounded in the doctrines and objections of its assailants. On the subject of Induction, the task to be performed was that of generalizing the modes of investigating truth and estimating evidence, by which so many important and recondite laws of nature have, in the various sciences, been aggregated to the stock of human knowledge. Several criticisms, of a more or less controversial character, on this work, have appeared since the publication of the second edition; and Dr. Whewell has lately published a reply to those parts of it in which some of his opinions were controverted. I have carefully reconsidered all the points on which my conclusions have been assailed. But I have not to announce a change of opinion on any matter of importance. Even the criticisms from which I most dissent have been of great service to me, by showing in what places the exposition most needed to be improved, or the argument strengthened. And I should have been well pleased if the book had undergone a much greater amount of attack; as in that case I should probably have been enabled to improve it still more than I believe I have now done. In the subsequent editions, the attempt to improve the work by additions and corrections, suggested by criticism or by thought, has been continued. The additions and corrections in the present edition, which are not very considerable, are chiefly such as have been suggested by Professor Bain's "Logic," a book of great merit and value. The longest of the additions belongs to the chapter on Causation, and is a discussion of the question, how far, if at all, the ordinary mode of stating the law of Cause and Effect requires modification to adapt it to the new doctrine of the Conservation of Force: a point still more fully and elaborately treated in Mr. Bain's work"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Notes:

Electronic reproduction. Washington, D.C. : American Psychological Association, 2011. Available via World Wide Web. Access limited by licensing agreement. s2011 dcunns

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.