So far from being a cause, conception is not even a condition of all
judgments; a sensation of hot is sufficient evidence that hot exists,
before the idea of hot is either present or wanted. Conception is,
however, a condition of a memorial judgment: in order to remember
being hot, we require an idea of hot. Memory, however, is not that
idea, but involves a judgment that there previously existed the hot
now represented by the idea, which is about the sensible thing beyond
the conceived idea; and the cause of this memorial judgment is past
sense and present memory. So sense, memory and experience, the sum of
sense and memory, though requiring conception, are the causes of the
experiential judgment that there exist and have existed many similar,
sensible things, and these sensory, memorial and experiential
judgments about the existence of past and present sensible things
beyond conceived ideas become the particular premises of primary
inference. Starting from them, inference is enabled to draw
conclusions which are inferential judgments about the existence of
things similar to sensible things beyond conceived ideas. In rising,
however, from particular to universal inference, induction, as we have
seen, adds to its particular premise, S is P, a universal premise,
every M is similar to S, in order to infer the universal conclusion,
every M is P. This universal premise requires a universal conception
of a class or whole number of similar particulars, as a condition. But
the premise is not that conception; it is a belief that there is a
whole number of particulars similar to those already experienced. The
generalization of a class is not, as the conceptual logic assumes, the
abstraction of a general idea, but an inference from the analogy of a
whole individual thing, e.g. a whole man, to a whole number of similar
individuals, e.g. the whole of men. The general idea of all men or the
combination that the idea of all men is similar to the idea of
particular men would not be enough; the universal premise that all men
in fact are similar to those who have died is required to induce the
universal conclusion that all men in fact die. Universal inference
thus requires particular and universal conceptions as its condition;
but, so far as it arises from sense, memory, experience, and involves
generalization, it consists of judgments which do not consist of
conceptions, but are beliefs in things existing beyond conception.
Inference then, so far as it starts from categorical and existential
premises, causes conclusions, or inferential judgments, which require
conceptions, but are categorical and existential judgments beyond
conception. Moreover, as it becomes more deductive, and causes
conclusions further from sensory experience, these inferential
judgments become causes of inferential conceptions. For example, from
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account