Principles of Political EconomyPerry, Arthur Latham
General
Principles of Political Economy
Perry, Arthur Latham
Economics
(1) _Induction._ This is the logical and universal process, by which
the mind naturally passes up from a certain number of observed cases,
in which a certain quality appears, to a Generalization, which is a
conception of the mind followed by a statement in words to the effect,
that _all possible cases_ of that kind will exhibit the quality
already observed in _the few cases_. It has as its basis a confidence
in the resemblances and uniformities of Nature; it proceeds upon the
axiom that Nature throughout is consistent with herself; and this
confidence has been ten thousand times justified in the issue, when it
is found that Nature preordained the Sciences by causing grand
analogies to run through each department of her works, including man
and his works. The structure of the human mind corresponds with these
objective resemblances; it seizes upon them, and delights in them, and
naturally and joyfully infers and concludes that what has been
observed of _a part_ may be safely affirmed of _the whole_ of that
kind; accordingly, the world over, when certain things are found to be
true in a considerable number of cases, the mind leaps over space and
time to a whole class, and frames for itself a general rule or
principle, which binds all the cases into one bundle, and thereafter
confidently affirms what is known to be true of some to be probably
true of all. This is inductive Generalization; and the strength and
the joy of it is well expressed by Descartes: "_I have thought that I
could take as a just generalization that which I very clearly and
vividly conceived to be true._"
Experience in Economics corresponds to Experiment in the Physical
Sciences, and furnishes to Induction all the fuel it can ask for to
feed its logical furnace and to forge the chains that bind the Cases
to the Classes. Personal experience in buying and selling, local
experience in buying and selling, and national experience in buying
and selling, with all that belongs to these, the records of which are
full to overflowing, afford to the inductive inquirer in Economics an
inexhaustible supply of material. Instances abound. Particulars may be
gathered up one by one on every hand and linked into the inductive
chain. If any doubt be felt about the strength of any one of these
chains, another one may at once be linked in terms drawn from another
field of Experience with a view to test the strength of the first.
Most fortunate from this point of view is the United States, because
here there are States with substantive powers of control over most
matters of trade within their borders, as well as a Nation with
sovereign powers of control over some points of trade within the
country as a whole. This feature has given birth to commercial
experiments as well as commercial experience of all kinds; and
Induction rejoices in all these abundant materials for generalization
thus furnished free of cost to Science, though unfortunately not free
of cost to the People.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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