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Single Idea 9082
[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 4. Pro-Empiricism
]
Full Idea
The principle requisites of clear conceptions, are habits of attentive observation, an extensive experience, and a memory which receives and retains an exact image of what is observed.
Gist of Idea
Clear concepts result from good observation, extensive experience, and accurate memory
Source
John Stuart Mill (System of Logic [1843], 4.2.5)
Book Ref
Mill,John Stuart: 'System of Logic (9th ed, 2 vols)' [Longmans, Green etc 1875], p.206
A Reaction
Empiricists are always crying out for people to 'attend to the evidence', and this is the deeper reason why. Not only will one know the world better in a direct way, but one will actually think more clearly. Darwin is the perfect model for this.
The
108 ideas
from John Stuart Mill
7076
|
Mill wondered if he would be happy if all his aims were realised, and answered no
[Mill, by Critchley]
|
20515
|
Maximise happiness by an area of strict privacy, and an area of utilitarian interventions
[Mill, by Wolff,J]
|
20517
|
Utilitarianism values liberty, but guides us on which ones we should have or not have
[Mill, by Wolff,J]
|
20516
|
Mill defends freedom as increasing happiness, but maybe it is an intrinsic good
[Wolff,J on Mill]
|
7215
|
True freedom is pursuing our own good, while not impeding others
[Mill]
|
7211
|
Prevention of harm to others is the only justification for exercising power over people
[Mill]
|
7213
|
Liberty arises at the point where people can freely and equally discuss things
[Mill]
|
7210
|
The will of the people is that of the largest or most active part of the people
[Mill]
|
7214
|
Ethics rests on utility, which is the permanent progressive interests of people
[Mill]
|
7212
|
Individuals have sovereignty over their own bodies and minds
[Mill]
|
7216
|
The ethics of the Gospel has been supplemented by barbarous Old Testament values
[Mill]
|
7217
|
The main argument for freedom is that interference with it is usually misguided
[Mill]
|
7231
|
The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it
[Mill]
|
7218
|
Individuals are not accountable for actions which only concern themselves
[Mill]
|
7221
|
Blocking entry to an unsafe bridge does not infringe liberty, since no one wants unsafe bridges
[Mill]
|
7223
|
Pimping and running a gambling-house are on the border between toleration and restraint
[Mill]
|
7219
|
Society can punish actions which it believes to be prejudicial to others
[Mill]
|
7226
|
Benefits performed by individuals, not by government, help also to educate them
[Mill]
|
7224
|
We need individual opinions and conduct, and State education is a means to prevent that
[Mill]
|
7225
|
It is a crime to create a being who lacks the ordinary chances of a desirable existence
[Mill]
|
7227
|
It is evil to give a government any more power than is necessary
[Mill]
|
7230
|
Aim for the maximum dissemination of power consistent with efficiency
[Mill]
|
7229
|
People who transact their own business will also have the initiative to control their government
[Mill]
|
7222
|
It is a crime for someone with a violent disposition to get drunk
[Mill]
|
7228
|
Individuals often do things better than governments
[Mill]
|
7220
|
Restraint for its own sake is an evil
[Mill]
|
20508
|
How people vote should be on public record, so they can be held accountable
[Mill, by Wolff,J]
|
20504
|
People can only participate in decisions in small communities, so representatives are needed
[Mill]
|
20505
|
Direct democracy is inexperience judging experience, and ignorance judging knowledge
[Mill]
|
20507
|
Voting is a strict duty, like jury service, and must only be aimed at the public good
[Mill]
|
17086
|
Surprisingly, empiricists before Mill ignore explanation, which seems to transcend experience
[Mill, by Ruben]
|
17091
|
Explanation is fitting of facts into ever more general patterns of regularity
[Mill, by Ruben]
|
5201
|
Mill says logic and maths is induction based on a very large number of instances
[Mill, by Ayer]
|
9360
|
If two black and two white objects in practice produced five, what colour is the fifth one?
[Lewis,CI on Mill]
|
4944
|
Mill says names have denotation but not connotation
[Mill, by Kripke]
|
7762
|
Proper names are just labels for persons or objects, and the meaning is the object
[Mill, by Lycan]
|
8625
|
What physical facts could underlie 0 or 1, or very large numbers?
[Frege on Mill]
|
12411
|
Mill is too imprecise, and is restricted to simple arithmetic
[Kitcher on Mill]
|
5656
|
Empirical theories of arithmetic ignore zero, limit our maths, and need probability to get started
[Frege on Mill]
|
8345
|
A cause is the total of all the conditions which inevitably produce the result
[Mill]
|
10391
|
Causes and conditions are not distinct, because we select capriciously from among them
[Mill]
|
17895
|
Combining two distinct assertions does not necessarily lead to a single 'complex proposition'
[Mill]
|
11156
|
The essence is that without which a thing can neither be, nor be conceived to be
[Mill]
|
9888
|
Mill mistakes particular applications as integral to arithmetic, instead of general patterns
[Dummett on Mill]
|
9794
|
There are no such things as numbers in the abstract
[Mill]
|
9796
|
Things possess the properties of numbers, as quantity, and as countable parts
[Mill]
|
9795
|
Numbers have generalised application to entities (such as bodies or sounds)
[Mill]
|
9798
|
Different parcels made from three pebbles produce different actual sensations
[Mill]
|
9797
|
'2 pebbles and 1 pebble' and '3 pebbles' name the same aggregation, but different facts
[Mill]
|
9799
|
3=2+1 presupposes collections of objects ('Threes'), which may be divided thus
[Mill]
|
9801
|
Numbers must be assumed to have identical units, as horses are equalised in 'horse-power'
[Mill]
|
9800
|
Arithmetic is based on definitions, and Sums of equals are equal, and Differences of equals are equal
[Mill]
|
16845
|
The whole theory of induction rests on causes
[Mill]
|
14547
|
The strict cause is the total positive and negative conditions which ensure the consequent
[Mill]
|
14545
|
A cause is an antecedent which invariably and unconditionally leads to a phenomenon
[Mill]
|
12190
|
Necessity is what will be, despite any alternative suppositions whatever
[Mill]
|
16805
|
Causal inference is by spotting either Agreements or Differences
[Mill, by Lipton]
|
16835
|
The Methods of Difference and of Agreement are forms of inference to the best explanation
[Mill, by Lipton]
|
16843
|
Mill's methods (Difference,Agreement,Residues,Concomitance,Hypothesis) don't nail induction
[Mill, by Lipton]
|
9806
|
Whatever is made up of parts is made up of parts of those parts
[Mill]
|
9802
|
Numbers denote physical properties of physical phenomena
[Mill]
|
9803
|
We can't easily distinguish 102 horses from 103, but we could arrange them to make it obvious
[Mill]
|
9804
|
Arithmetical results give a mode of formation of a given number
[Mill]
|
9805
|
12 is the cube of 1728 means pebbles can be aggregated a certain way
[Mill]
|
9417
|
What are the fewest propositions from which all natural uniformities could be inferred?
[Mill]
|
8377
|
Causation is just invariability of succession between every natural fact and a preceding fact
[Mill]
|
16859
|
Most perception is one-tenth observation and nine-tenths inference
[Mill]
|
16860
|
Inductive generalisation is more reliable than one of its instances; they can't all be wrong
[Mill]
|
9080
|
General conceptions are a necessary preliminary to Induction
[Mill]
|
9078
|
The study of the nature of Abstract Ideas does not belong to logic, but to a different science
[Mill]
|
9079
|
We can focus our minds on what is common to a whole class, neglecting other aspects
[Mill]
|
9081
|
We don't recognise comparisons by something in our minds; the concepts result from the comparisons
[Mill]
|
9082
|
Clear concepts result from good observation, extensive experience, and accurate memory
[Mill]
|
9624
|
Numbers are a very general property of objects
[Mill, by Brown,JR]
|
4773
|
Mill's regularity theory of causation is based on an effect preceded by a conjunction of causes
[Mill, by Psillos]
|
8741
|
Numbers must be of something; they don't exist as abstractions
[Mill]
|
4775
|
In Mill's 'Method of Agreement' cause is the common factor in a range of different cases
[Mill, by Psillos]
|
4776
|
In Mill's 'Method of Difference' the cause is what stops the effect when it is removed
[Mill, by Psillos]
|
10427
|
All names are names of something, real or imaginary
[Mill]
|
22623
|
Necessity can only mean what must be, without conditions of any kind
[Mill]
|
8742
|
The only axioms needed are for equality, addition, and successive numbers
[Mill, by Shapiro]
|
21335
|
Belief that an afterlife is required for justice is an admission that this life is very unjust
[Mill]
|
21329
|
Nature dispenses cruelty with no concern for either mercy or justice
[Mill]
|
21328
|
Killing is a human crime, but nature kills everyone, and often with great tortures
[Mill]
|
21330
|
Nature makes childbirth a miserable experience, often leading to the death of the mother
[Mill]
|
21331
|
Hurricanes, locusts, floods and blight can starve a million people to death
[Mill]
|
21332
|
We don't get a love of 'order' from nature - which is thoroughly chaotic
[Mill]
|
21333
|
Evil comes from good just as often as good comes from evil
[Mill]
|
21334
|
No necessity ties an omnipotent Creator, so he evidently wills human misery
[Mill]
|
6697
|
Moral rules protecting human welfare are more vital than local maxims
[Mill]
|
7202
|
The English believe in the task of annihilating evil for the victory of good
[Nietzsche on Mill]
|
3763
|
Ultimate goods such as pleasure can never be proved to be good
[Mill]
|
3766
|
Better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied
[Mill]
|
5935
|
Mill's qualities of pleasure is an admission that there are other good states of mind than pleasure
[Ross on Mill]
|
3764
|
Actions are right if they promote pleasure, wrong if they promote pain
[Mill]
|
3767
|
Motive shows the worth of the agent, but not of the action
[Mill]
|
3765
|
Only pleasure and freedom from pain are desirable as ends
[Mill]
|
3769
|
With early training, any absurdity or evil may be given the power of conscience
[Mill]
|
3768
|
Orthodox morality is the only one which feels obligatory
[Mill]
|
3770
|
General happiness is only desirable because individuals desire their own happiness
[Mill]
|
3771
|
Virtues only have value because they achieve some further end
[Mill]
|
3772
|
The will, in the beginning, is entirely produced by desire
[Mill]
|
3774
|
Rights are a matter of justice, not of benevolence
[Mill]
|
3773
|
No individual has the right to receive our benevolence
[Mill]
|
3776
|
Utilitarianism only works if everybody has a totally equal right to happiness
[Mill]
|
3775
|
A right is a valid claim to society's protection
[Mill]
|
3583
|
External objects are permanent possibilities of sensation
[Mill]
|
3537
|
I judge others' feeling by analogy with my body and behaviour
[Mill]
|