Philosophy of Scientific Method

by John Stuart Mill, Ernest Nagel (Introduction)

The dominant figure of mid-nineteenth-century British political economics, John Stuart Mill exercised a lasting influence on philosophical thought. This compact statement of Mill's doctrines offers the essentials for understanding his scientific methods of reasoning.
Starting with an informative Introduction by editor Ernest Nagel, the text proceeds with extracts from A System of Logic that clarify Mill's processes of reasoning. The following five-part treatment draws upon the philosopher's major works to consider names and propositions; reasoning; induction; operations subsidiary to induction; and the logic of the moral sciences. Selections from An Examination of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy conclude the text, along with an essay on the definition of political economy and its methods of investigation.

Genres: Philosophy

512 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1950

About the author

John Stuart Mill, English philosopher, political economist, civil servant and Member of Parliament, was an influential liberal thinker of the 19th century. He was an exponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham, although his conception of it was very different from Bentham's.