Inductive reasoning constructs or evaluates general propositions derived from specific, real world examples. The premise of an inductive logical argument will indicate a level of support, or inductive probability, for a conclusion, however, it does not necessarily ensure or entail the truth value of that conclusion. In A System of Logic, John Stuart Mill proposes and outlines five principles of inductive reasoning which have come to be known as “Mill's methods.” He differentiates induction and his methods to the act of “colligation,” or “the mere summing up of details in a single proposition,” where he defines induction as “the operation of the mind by which we infer that what we know to be true in a particular case or cases will be true in all cases which resemble the former in certain assignable respects... induction always involves inference from the known to the unknown, from facts observed to facts unobserved” (224).
Mill's distinction here, and in fact, the entirety of his work on induction, serves as an outline for the empirical method. Mill used these principles or methods to justify his philosophical ideas on morality and politics. The empirical method; however is also a method traditionally used in the hard sciences, such as chemistry, biology, physics and astronomy. Specifically, Mill's methods aim to explain causation, which is a common goal shared by empirical scientists.
[...] In contention to his contemporary, William Whewell, who coined the term “colligation,” Mill criticized the characterization of Kepler's findings as being an inductive. Unlike Whewell, who viewed colligation and induction as one in the same, Mill argued that Kepler's discoveries to not be a form of induction but rather, an instance of colligation, which, for Mill, were two different processes. For Mill, Kepler's declaration that Mars' orbit was elliptical in nature did not satisfy the following definition of induction: process of inference from the known to the unknown; and any operation involving no inference, and any process in which what seems the conclusion is no wider than the premises from which it is drawn, does not fall within the meaning of the term” (288). [...]
[...] For Mill, Kepler commits the latter: he makes a set of observations that qualify as colligation, but not induction. There is no conclusion to Kepler's discoveries; he is simply stating fact. Mill, J. S. A System of Logic. Honolulu: University Press of the Pacific Print. Whewell, W. The Philosophy of Inductive Sciences. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd Print. [...]
[...] In Mill's A System of Logic, his views on induction and colligation are outlined. Specifically, he aims to explain the phenomenon of causation through a set of five principles that detail the process of inductive reasoning. Mill insists throughout his treatise that induction is the process by which philosophers and scientists can make generalizations about real world phenomenon through the act of observation. Entailed in inductive reasoning is some conclusion which is inferred or probabilistically true to some satisfiable degree as supported by a set of observable premises. [...]
[...] And which best characterizes Keplers analysis of planetary orbits? Inductive reasoning constructs or evaluates general propositions derived from specific, real world examples. The premise of an inductive logical argument will indicate a level of support, or inductive probability, for a conclusion, however, it does not necessarily ensure or entail the truth value of that conclusion. In A System of Logic, John Stuart Mill proposes and outlines five principles of inductive reasoning which have come to be known as “Mill's methods.” He differentiates induction and his methods to the act of “colligation,” or mere summing up of details in a single proposition,” where he defines induction as operation of the mind by which we infer that what we know to be true in a particular case or cases will be true in all cases which resemble the former in certain assignable respects . [...]
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