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The principles of science : a treatise on logic and scientific method

William Stanley Jevons · Public domain text

291,752 words · about 20 h 26 min to read

Period artwork: Interior of the Bodleian Library, 1845

Text only · 7 illustrations omitted. Illustrated source.

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About this edition

The text of The principles of science : a treatise on logic and scientific method comes from Project Gutenberg e-text #74864. It is in English and public domain in the United States. Project Gutenberg’s header and license text are removed, and RedLectern sets the text out for reading on screen; no words of the book are rewritten or summarized. More formats (EPUB, Kindle) · How RedLectern is built

This text-only edition leaves out 7 illustrations. See the illustrated edition at Project Gutenberg.

This book is long enough to be split into 10 parts, so each one loads quickly on its own.

Contents (65)
  1. Opening about 1 min
  2. Preface about 6 min
  3. Preface about 29 min
  4. I. INTRODUCTION under 1 min
  5. II. TERMS under 1 min
  6. III. PROPOSITIONS under 1 min
  7. IV. DEDUCTIVE REASONING under 1 min
  8. V. DISJUNCTIVE PROPOSITIONS under 1 min
  9. VI. THE INDIRECT METHOD OF INFERENCE under 1 min
  10. VII. INDUCTION under 1 min
  11. VIII. PRINCIPLES OF NUMBER under 1 min
  12. Chapter IX under 1 min
  13. X. THEORY OF PROBABILITY under 1 min
  14. XI. PHILOSOPHY OF INDUCTIVE INFERENCE under 1 min
  15. Chapter XII under 1 min
  16. XIII. THE EXACT MEASUREMENT OF PHENOMENA under 1 min
  17. XIV. UNITS AND STANDARDS OF MEASUREMENT under 1 min
  18. XV. ANALYSIS OF QUANTITATIVE PHENOMENA under 1 min
  19. XVI. THE METHOD OF MEANS under 1 min
  20. XVII. THE LAW OF ERROR under 1 min
  21. XVIII. OBSERVATION under 1 min
  22. XIX. EXPERIMENT under 1 min
  23. XX. METHOD OF VARIATIONS under 1 min
  24. XXI. THEORY OF APPROXIMATION under 1 min
  25. XXII. QUANTITATIVE INDUCTION under 1 min
  26. XXIII. THE USE OF HYPOTHESIS under 1 min
  27. XXIV. EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE, EXPLANATION AND PREDICTION under 1 min
  28. XXV. ACCORDANCE OF QUANTITATIVE THEORIES under 1 min
  29. XXVI. CHARACTER OF THE EXPERIMENTALIST under 1 min
  30. XXVII. GENERALISATION under 1 min
  31. XXVIII. ANALOGY under 1 min
  32. XXIX. EXCEPTIONAL PHENOMENA under 1 min
  33. XXX. CLASSIFICATION about 1 min
  34. XXXI. REFLECTIONS ON THE RESULTS AND LIMITS OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD under 1 min
  35. I. INTRODUCTION about 35 min
  36. II. TERMS about 18 min
  37. III. PROPOSITIONS about 19 min
  38. IV. DEDUCTIVE REASONING about 22 min
  39. V. DISJUNCTIVE PROPOSITIONS about 20 min
  40. VI. THE INDIRECT METHOD OF INFERENCE about 54 min
  41. VII. INDUCTION about 50 min
  42. VIII. PRINCIPLES OF NUMBER about 29 min
  43. Chapter IX about 36 min
  44. X. THE THEORY OF PROBABILITY about 33 min
  45. XI. PHILOSOPHY OF INDUCTIVE INFERENCE about 33 min
  46. Chapter XII about 46 min
  47. XIII. THE EXACT MEASUREMENT OF PHENOMENA about 53 min
  48. XIV. UNITS AND STANDARDS OF MEASUREMENT about 45 min
  49. XV. ANALYSIS OF QUANTITATIVE PHENOMENA about 34 min
  50. XVI. THE METHOD OF MEANS about 26 min
  51. XVII. THE LAW OF ERROR about 37 min
  52. XVIII. OBSERVATION about 25 min
  53. XIX. EXPERIMENT about 35 min
  54. XX. METHOD OF VARIATIONS about 26 min
  55. XXI. THEORY OF APPROXIMATION about 42 min
  56. XXII. QUANTITATIVE INDUCTION about 30 min
  57. XXIII. THE USE OF HYPOTHESIS about 32 min
  58. XXIV. EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE, EXPLANATION, AND PREDICTION about 39 min
  59. XXV. ACCORDANCE OF QUANTITATIVE THEORIES about 34 min
  60. XXVI. CHARACTER OF THE EXPERIMENTALIST about 30 min
  61. XXVII. GENERALISATION about 50 min
  62. XXVIII. ANALOGY about 25 min
  63. XXIX. EXCEPTIONAL PHENOMENA about 45 min
  64. XXX. CLASSIFICATION about 1 h 35 min
  65. XXXI. REFLECTIONS ON THE RESULTS AND LIMITS OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD about 1 h 24 min

The opening of Preface

*TO THE FIRST EDITION*.

It may be truly asserted that the rapid progress of the physical sciences during the last three centuries has not been accompanied by a corresponding advance in the theory of reasoning. Physicists speak familiarly of Scientific Method, but they could not readily describe what they mean by that expression. Profoundly engaged in the study of particular classes of natural phenomena, they are usually too much engrossed in the immense and ever-accumulating details of their special sciences to generalise upon the methods of reasoning which they unconsciously employ. Yet few will deny that these methods of reasoning ought to be studied, especially by those who endeavour to introduce scientific order into less successful and methodical branches of knowledge.

Read on in Part 1 →