From the very beginnings of philosophical research, the methods and avenues to qualified knowledge have been the core subject of investigation. One of the most influential philosophers in this respect is Aristotle (384-322 bc), whose formulations of and investigations into philosophical problems constitute a Canon of Western philosophy. Induction, as Aristotle points out, is not the only, but one of at least two methods of qualified argumentation: a ca l l f o r s c i e n t i f i c p u r i t y 111 Induction: The Road to Object-knowledge “Now reasoning is an argument in which, certain things being laid down, something other than these necessarily comes about through them. (a) It is a ‘demonstration’, when the premisses from which the reasoning starts are true and primary, or are such that our knowledge of them has originally come through premisses which are primary and true: (b) reasoning, on the other hand, is ‘dialectical’, if it reasons from opinions that are generally accepted.Things are ‘true’ and ‘primary’ which are believed on the strength not of anything else but of themselves: for in regard to the first principles of science it is improper to ask any further for the why and wherefore of them; each of the first principles should command belief in and by itself.”236 “Having drawn these definitions, we must distinguish how many species there are of dialectical arguments. There is on the one hand Induction, on the other Reasoning. Now what reasoning is has been said before [see previous paragraph]: induction is a passage from individuals [particulars] to universals, e.g. the argument that supposing the skilled pilot is the most effective, and likewise the skilled charioteer, then in general the skilled man is the best at his particular task. Induction is the more convincing and clear: it is more readily learnt by the use of the senses, and is applicable generally to the mass of men, though Reasoning is more forcible and effective against contradictious people.”237 236 Aristotle, TheWorks of Aristotle, ed. Ross, Topica i. 1 (100a 25-31, 100b 17-21). 237 Ibid., Topica i. 12 (105a 10-19). Contents of square brackets added here. chap te r 4
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