Previous posts: William Whewell's "Discoverer's Induction" (Part 1)
William Whewell's "Discoverer's Induction" (Part 2)
William Whewell's "Discoverer's Induction" (Part 3)
William Whewell's "Discoverer's Induction" (Part 2)
William Whewell's "Discoverer's Induction" (Part 3)
Induction as a True Colligation of Facts
Colligation and Induction
William Whewell’s theory of
induction and of scientific methodology centers on the explication of conceptions and on the colligation of facts. For Whewell, induction is mainly about what facts, propositions, definitions,
and ideas we can draw out of our conceptions, and about how to
find new and more productive ways to bind these elements up into a more exact,
more appropriate conception. The ancient and prevailing theory of
induction has been that it’s enumerative: a general statement or proposition
that is applied to a collection of instances.
