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GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

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SOVEREIGNTY AND &ATURAL RIGHTS 559<br />

general principles deductions can be made and applied to<br />

particular cases, and in logic and m<strong>at</strong>hem<strong>at</strong>ics the<br />

deductions will be both absolutely true and universally<br />

applicable. Thus from the principle th<strong>at</strong> the double of<br />

any number will be an even number, we can deduce th<strong>at</strong><br />

twice the number 189637 will be an even number without<br />

multiplying it by<br />

2 in order to find out whether it is so<br />

or not. But the process of deducing from general principles<br />

is not the only method of obtaining knowledge. There is<br />

also the method of induction, th<strong>at</strong> is to say, of generaliz<strong>at</strong>ion<br />

from instances. Proceeding by induction, the theorist first<br />

observes a number of particular cases which have certain<br />

fe<strong>at</strong>ures in common, and then frames a general law which<br />

seeks to embrace all the cases by reason of their common<br />

fe<strong>at</strong>ures. This is pre-eminently the method of science.<br />

The scientist observes th<strong>at</strong> on a number of occasions the<br />

sun has been seen to rise in the east, and th<strong>at</strong> the com-<br />

bin<strong>at</strong>ion of two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen<br />

has resulted in w<strong>at</strong>er. In consequence, he frames general<br />

laws which purport to explain and predict the movements<br />

of the sun on occasions not yet observed, and to st<strong>at</strong>e the<br />

chemical constitution of w<strong>at</strong>er which has not yet been<br />

tested. Unlike the laws reached by a prim reasoning, the<br />

empirical generaliz<strong>at</strong>ions of science are neither absolute<br />

nor universal in their applic<strong>at</strong>ion. It is always possible<br />

to imagine occurrences which are other than those which<br />

the law requires, and it is always possible th<strong>at</strong> an instance<br />

will turn up which fails to follow the law.<br />

Now politics and ethics are concerned with human<br />

beings, their desires, tneir motives and their behaviour,<br />

all of which it is possible to imagine to be different from<br />

wh<strong>at</strong> they are. The field of politics and ethics is, then,<br />

primafacie, unsuited for the applic<strong>at</strong>ion of a priori principles.<br />

I do not by this wish to suggest th<strong>at</strong> politics and ethics<br />

belong to the same realm as th<strong>at</strong> in which the subject<br />

m<strong>at</strong>ter of the sciences lies, and th<strong>at</strong> the methods of the<br />

sciences are those by means of which they should be<br />

studied. It is sufficient to emphasize the fact th<strong>at</strong> both as

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