But it is analogy which Welton considers "the chief source from which
new hypotheses are drawn." In the second tendency mentioned under
enumerative induction, that is, the tendency to analysis of content or
intension, we are naturally led to analogy, for in our search for the
characteristic feature which determines classification among the
concrete particulars our first step will be an inference by analogy. In
analogy attention is turned from the number of observed instances to
their character, and, because particulars have some feature in common,
they are supposed to be the same in still other respects. While the best
we can reach in analogy is probability, the arguments may be such as to
result in a high degree of certainty. The form of the argument is
valuable in so far as we are able to distinguish between essential and
nonessential characteristics on which to base our analogy. What is
essential and what nonessential depends upon the particular end we have
in view.
In addition to enumerative induction, which Welton has mentioned, it is
to be noted that there are a number of other processes which are very
similar to it in that a number of particulars appear to furnish a basis
for a general principle or method. Such instances are common in
induction, in instruction, and in methods of proof.
If one is to be instructed in some new kind of labor, he is supposed to
acquire a grasp of the method after having been shown in a few instances
how this particular work is to be done; and, if he performs the
manipulations himself, so much the better. It is not asked why the
experience of a few cases should be of any assistance, for it seems
self-evident that an experienced man, a man who has acquired the skill,
or knack, of doing things, should deal better with all other cases of
similar nature.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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