having sensation; for sensation has to do with particulars."
It is easy to show that Aristotle uses the term _Induction_, as we use
it, to express the process of collecting a general proposition from
particular cases in which it is exemplified. Thus in a passage which
we have already quoted[15], he says, "Induction, and Syllogism from
Induction, is when we attribute one extreme term to the middle by means
of the other." The import of this technical phraseology will further
appear by the example which he gives: "We find that several animals
which are deficient in bile are long-lived, as man, the horse, the
mule; hence we infer that _all_ animals which are deficient in bile are
long-lived."
We may observe, however, that both Aristotle's notion of induction,
and many other parts of his philosophy, are obscure and imperfect, in
consequence of his refusing to contemplate ideas as something distinct
from sensation. It thus happens that he always assumes the ideas
which enter into his proposition as _given_; and considers it as the
philosopher's business to determine whether such propositions are true
or not: whereas the most important feature in induction is, as we have
said, the _introduction_ of a new idea, and not its employment when
once introduced. That the mind in this manner gives unity to that which
is manifold,--that we are thus led to speculative principles which have
an evidence higher than any others,--and that a peculiar sagacity in
some men seizes upon the conceptions by which the facts may be bound
into true propositions,--are doctrines which form no essential part
of the philosophy of the Stagirite, although such views are sometimes
recognized, more or less clearly, in his expressions. Thus he says[16],
"There can be no knowledge when the sensation does not continue in
the mind. For this purpose, it is necessary both to perceive, and to
have some _unity_ in the mind (αἰσθανομένοις εχειν ἔν τι[17] ἐν τῇ
ψυχῇ); and many such perceptions having taken place, some difference
is then perceived: and from the remembrance of these arises Reason.
Thus from Sensation comes Memory, and from Memory of the same thing
often repeated comes Experience: for many acts of Memory make up one
Experience. And from Experience, or from any Universal Notion which
takes a permanent place in the mind,--from the _unity in the manifold_,
the same some one thing being found in many facts,--springs the first
principle of Art and of Science; of Art, if it be employed about
production; of Science, if about existence."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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