The Principles of Science: A Treatise on Logic and Scientific Method — William Stanley Jevons
The Principles of Science | Project Gutenberg You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : The principles of science a treatise on logic and scientific method Author : William Stanley Jevons Release date : December 9, 2024 [eBook #74864] Language : English Original publication : London: Macmillan and Co., 1883 Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74864 Credits : Thiers Halliwell, Peter Becker and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) *** START OF However, the author used some unusual symbols, and I have taken the liberty of using Unicode characters with similar appearance (ꖌ ᔕ) as substitutes, disregarding their official meaning and aware that they might not display on all devices. An archaic symbol used by the author to indicate the mathematical ‘factorial’ function has been replaced by the modern equivalent, viz. ! Unusual placements of some sub- and superscripted symbols remain as in the original text. Inconsistencies of punctuation have been corrected silently, but inconsistent spellings such as Roemer, Römer, Rœmer have not been altered. A list of corrected spellings is appended at the end of the book. >Footnotes have been renumbered consecutively and relocated to the end of the book. A missing footnote marker has been inserted on p.751 after tracking down the original document. A missing negative symbol has been added to an exponent in a formula on p.327. There is a misleading calculation on p.194 and the table that follows, regarding progressive powers of two: ((2 2 ) 2 ) 2 is equivalent to (16) 2 which equals 256 not 65,356 as stated, but 2 16 does equal 65,356. [sic] has been inserted on p.179 alongside a statement that the alphabet contains 24 letters; however, the statement may well be correct given that it was written in 1704 by a Flemish author and the language is not specified. New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. THE PRINCIPLES OF SCIENCE. THE LOGICAL MACHINE. THE PRINCIPLES OF SCIENCE: A TREATISE ON LOGIC AND SCIENTIFIC METHOD. BY W. STANLEY JEVONS, LL.D. (EDINB.), M.A. (LOND.), F.R.S. London: MACMILLAN AND CO. 1883. The Right of Translation and Reproduction is Reserved. LONDON: R. Clay, Sons, & Taylor, Printers , BREAD STREET HILL. Stereotyped Edition. The Principles of Science | Project Gutenberg PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION . It may be truly asserted that the rapid progress of the physical sciences during the last three centuries has not been accompanied by a corresponding advance in the theory of reasoning. Physicists speak familiarly of Scientific Method, but they could not readily describe what they mean by that expression. Profoundly engaged in the study of particular classes of natural phenomena, they are usually too much engrossed in the immense and ever-accumulating details of their special sciences to generalise upon the methods of reasoning which they unconsciously employ. Yet few will deny that these methods of reasoning ought to be studied, especially by those who endeavour to introduce scientific order into less successful and methodical branches of knowledge. The application of Scientific Method cannot be restricted to the sphere of lifeless objects. We must sooner or later have strict sciences of those mental and social phenomena, which, if comparison be possible, are of more interest to us than purely material phenomena. But it is the proper course of reasoning to proceed from the known to the unknown—from the evident to the obscure—from the material and palpable to the subtle and refined. The physical sciences may therefore be properly made the practice-ground of the reasoning powers, because they furnish us with a great body-of precise and successful investigations. In these sciences we meet with happy instances of unquestionable deductive reasoning, of extensive generalisation, of happy prediction, of satisfactory verification, of nice calculation of probabilities. We can note how the slightest analogical clue has been followed up to a glorious discovery, how a rash generalisation has at length been exposed, or a conclusive experimentum crucis has decided the long-continued strife between two rival theories. In following out my design of detecting the general methods of inductive investigation, I have found that the more elaborate and interesting processes of quantitative induction have their necessary foundation in the simpler science of Formal Logic. The earlier, and probably by far the least attractive part of this work, consists, therefore, in a statement of the so-called Fundamental Laws of Thought, and of the all-important Principle of Substitution, of which, as I think, all reasoning is a development. The whole procedure of inductive inquiry, in its most complex cases, is foreshadowed in the combinational view of Logic, which arises directly from these fundamental principles. Incidentally I have described the mechanical arrangements by which the use of the important form called the Logical Alphabet, and the whole working of the combinational system of Formal Logic, may be rendered evident to the eye, and easy to the mind and hand. The study both of Formal Logic and of the Theory of Probabilities has led me to adopt the opinion that there is no such thing as a distinct method of induction as contrasted with deduction, but that induction is simply an inverse employment of deduction. Within the last century a reaction has been setting in against the purely empirical procedure of Francis Bacon, and physicists have learnt to advocate the use of hypotheses. I take the extreme view of holding that Francis Bacon, although he corre