Philosophy of Scientific Method

Contents: A system of logic. Preface. Introduction. I. Of names and propositions: 1. Of the necessity of commencing with an analysis of language. 2. Of names. 3. Of the things denoted by names. 4. Of the import of propositions. 5. Of propositions merely verbal. 6. Of the nature of classification and the five predicables. 7. Of definition. II. Of reasoning: 1. Of inference, or reasoning in general. 2. Of ratiocination, or syllogism. 3. Of the functions and logical value of the syllogism. 4. Of trains of reasoning and deductive sciences. 5. Of Demonstration and necessary truths. 6. The same subject continued. III. Of Induction:  1. Preliminary observations on induction in general. 2. Of inductions improperly so called. 3. Of the ground of induction. 4. Of laws of nature. 5. Of the law of universal causation. 6. Of the composition of causes. 7. Of observation and experiment. 8. Of the four methods of experimental inquiry. 9. Miscellaneous examples of the four methods. 10. Of plurality of causes and of the inter mixture of effects. 11. Of the deductive method. 12. Of the limits to the explanation of laws of nature, and of hypotheses. 13. Of empirical laws. 14. Of chance and its elimination. 15. Of the Calculation of chances. 16. Of the evidence of the law of universal causation. IV. Of operations subsidiary to induction: 1. Of abstraction, or the formation of conceptions. 2. Of classification, as subsidiary to induction. V. On the logic of the moral science: 1. Introductory remarks. 2. That there is or may be a science of human nature. 3. Of the laws of mind. 4. Of ethnology, or the science of the formation of character. 5. Of the chemical or experimental method in the social science. 6. Of the geometrical or abstract, method. 7. Of the physical, or concrete deductive, method. 8. Of the inverse deductive, or historical method. 9. Of the logic of practice, or art, including morality and policy.  From an examination of sir William Hamilton\'s Philosophy. Index.
 
The publication in 1843 of System of Logic established John Stuart Mill as the philosophical leader of his school. It was the best attacked book of the time provoking not only detailed critical comment from influential philosophic adversaries but also extensive discussion from  prominent theologians. However, the book was widely as a signal contribution to its subject, and rapidly achieved the status of a classic in the philosophic literature of utilitarianism.

it went through eight editions during Mill\'s life, and Mill used the opportunity thus given him to reply with care to many of his critics and to record a number of substantial changes in his original analyses.

The abridged text of A system of logic contained in this volume is based on the eighth edition New York, 1881 of that work, the last one to be revised by Mill for publication. The present version of the logic omits the whole of the original Book V, as well as many chapters, numbered sections, and paragraphs from other books. These omissions have been made for the sake of a more compact statement of Mill\'s doctrines than he gave them; but in the judgement of the editor only materials of subordinate interest have been excluded, and nothing essential for the understanding of Mill\'s thought has been eliminated.