Single Idea 23025

[catalogued under 1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / a. Philosophy as worldly]

Full Idea

The progress of philosophy seems to demand that, like science, it should learn to practise induction, to test its premisses by the conclusions to which they lead, and not merely by their apparent self-evidence.

Gist of Idea

Philosophers should be more inductive, and test results by their conclusions, not their self-evidence

Source

Bertrand Russell (Explanations in reply to Mr Bradley [1899], nr end)


A Reaction

[from Twitter] Love this. It is 'one person's modus ponens is another person's modus tollens'. I think all philosophical conclusions, without exception, should be reached by evaluating the final result fully, and not just following a line of argument.