Contents
- [Preface To The First Edition.]
- [Preface To The Third And Fourth Editions.]
- [Introduction.]
- [Book I. Of Names And Propositions.]
- [Chapter I. Of The Necessity Of Commencing With An Analysis Of Language.]
- [Chapter II. Of Names.]
- [Chapter III. Of The Things Denoted By Names.]
- [Chapter IV. Of Propositions.]
- [Chapter V. Of The Import Of Propositions.]
- [Chapter VI. Of Propositions Merely Verbal.]
- [Chapter VII. Of The Nature Of Classification, And The Five Predicables.]
- [Chapter VIII. Of Definition.]
- [Book II. On Reasoning.]
- [Chapter I. Of Inference, Or Reasoning, In General.]
- [Chapter II. Of Ratiocination, Or Syllogism.]
- [Chapter III. Of The Functions And Logical Value Of The Syllogism.]
- [Chapter IV. Of Trains Of Reasoning, And Deductive Sciences.]
- [Chapter V. Of Demonstration, And Necessary Truths.]
- [Chapter VI. The Same Subject Continued.]
- [Chapter VII. Examination Of Some Opinions Opposed To The Preceding Doctrines.]
- [Book III. Of Induction.]
- [Chapter I. Preliminary Observations On Induction In General.]
- [Chapter II. Of Inductions Improperly So Called.]
- [Chapter III. Of The Ground Of Induction.]
- [Chapter IV. Of Laws Of Nature.]
- [Chapter V. Of The Law Of Universal Causation.]
- [Chapter VI. On The Composition Of Causes.]
- [Chapter VII. On Observation And Experiment.]
- [Chapter VIII. Of The Four Methods Of Experimental Inquiry.]
- [Chapter IX. Miscellaneous Examples Of The Four Methods.]
- [Chapter X. Of Plurality Of Causes, And Of The Intermixture Of Effects.]
- [Chapter XI. Of The Deductive Method.]
- [Chapter XII. Of The Explanation Of Laws Of Nature.]
- [Chapter XIII. Miscellaneous Examples Of The Explanation Of Laws Of Nature.]
- [Chapter XIV. Of The Limits To The Explanation Of Laws Of Nature; And Of Hypotheses.]
- [Chapter XV. Of Progressive Effects; And Of The Continued Action Of Causes.]
- [Chapter XVI. Of Empirical Laws.]
- [Chapter XVII. Of Chance And Its Elimination.]
- [Chapter XVIII. Of The Calculation Of Chances.]
- [Chapter XIX. Of The Extension Of Derivative Laws To Adjacent Cases.]
- [Chapter XX. Of Analogy.]
- [Chapter XXI. Of The Evidence Of The Law Of Universal Causation.]
- [Chapter XXII. Of Uniformities Of Co-Existence Not Dependent On Causation.]
- [Chapter XXIII. Of Approximate Generalizations, And Probable Evidence.]
- [a]
- [Chapter XXIV. Of The Remaining Laws Of Nature.]
- [Chapter XXV. Of The Grounds Of Disbelief.]
- [Book IV. Of Operations Subsidiary To Induction.]
- [Chapter I. Of Observation And Description.]
- [Chapter II. Of Abstraction, Or The Formation Of Conceptions.]
- [Chapter III. Of Naming, As Subsidiary To Induction.]
- [Chapter IV. Of The Requisites Of A Philosophical Language, And The Principles Of Definition.]
- [Chapter V. On The Natural History Of The Variations In The Meaning Of Terms.]
- [Chapter VI. The Principles Of A Philosophical Language Further Considered.]
- [Chapter VII. Of Classification, As Subsidiary To Induction.]
- [Chapter VIII. Of Classification By Series.]
- [Book V. On Fallacies.]
- [Chapter I. Of Fallacies In General.]
- [Chapter II. Classification Of Fallacies.]
- [Chapter III. Fallacies Of Simple Inspection; Or A Priori Fallacies.]
- [Chapter IV. Fallacies Of Observation.]
- [Chapter V. Fallacies Of Generalization.]
- [Chapter VI. Fallacies Of Ratiocination.]
- [Chapter VII. Fallacies Of Confusion.]
- [Book VI. On The Logic Of The Moral Sciences.]
- [Chapter I. Introductory Remarks.]
- [Chapter II. Of Liberty And Necessity.]
- [Chapter III. That There Is, Or May Be, A Science Of Human Nature.]
- [Chapter IV. Of The Laws Of Mind.]
- [Chapter V. Of Ethology, Or The Science Of The Formation Of Character.]
- [Chapter VI. General Considerations On The Social Science.]
- [Chapter VII. Of The Chemical, Or Experimental, Method In The Social Science.]
- [Chapter VIII. Of The Geometrical, Or Abstract, Method.]
- [Chapter IX. Of The Physical, Or Concrete Deductive, Method.]
- [Chapter X. Of The Inverse Deductive, Or Historical, Method.]
- [Chapter XI. Additional Elucidations Of The Science Of History.]
- [Chapter XII. Of The Logic Of Practice, Or Art; Including Morality And Policy.]
- [Footnotes]
Preface To The First Edition.
This book makes no pretense 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.
To cement together the detached fragments of a subject, never yet treated as a whole; to harmonize the true portions of discordant theories, by supplying the links of thought necessary to connect them, and by disentangling them from the errors with which they are always more or less interwoven, must necessarily require a considerable amount of original speculation. To other originality than this, the present work lays no claim. In the existing state of the cultivation of the sciences, there would be a very strong presumption against any one who should imagine that he had effected a revolution in the theory of the investigation of truth, or added any fundamentally new process to the practice of it. The improvement which remains to be effected in the methods of philosophizing (and the author believes that they have much need of improvement) can only consist in performing more systematically and accurately operations with which, at least in their elementary form, the human intellect, in some one or other of its employments, is already familiar.
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 defense 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.
The same abstinence from details could not be observed in the First Book, on Names and Propositions; because many useful principles and distinctions [pg 004] which were contained in the old Logic have been gradually omitted from the writings of its later teachers; and it appeared desirable both to revive these, and to reform and rationalize the philosophical foundation on which they stood. The earlier chapters of this preliminary Book will consequently appear, to some readers, needlessly elementary and scholastic. But those who know in what darkness the nature of our knowledge, and of the processes by which it is obtained, is often involved by a confused apprehension of the import of the different classes of Words and Assertions, will not regard these discussions as either frivolous, or irrelevant to the topics considered in the later Books.