Mind The World Order by Clarence Irvfing Lewis

Author:Clarence Irvfing Lewis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Charles Scribners sons
Published: 1929-06-07T16:00:00+00:00

Up to this point, there has been no consideration of the last of the five distinct kinds of apprehension or knowledge mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, L e. 9 empirical generalizations, ordinarily so-called. We have found that a certain kind of empirical generalization enters into the judgment of truth about empirical particulars. But these are not of the type ordinarily called "generalizations" since the subject of them is the presentation itself; they are usually not expressed at all and are indeed, as we found, dif-

*For a note concerning a further problem about the application of abstract conceptual systems to experience, see Appendix E.

302 MIND AND THE WORLD-ORDER

ficult to express in language without including reference beyond themselves to objective and enduring things. Customarily what is meant by "empirical generalization" is a universal proposition the subject of which denotes a class of objects. It is distinguished from the a priori in application by the fact that the connection between subject and predicate is not necessary but contingent.* A simple illustration may be here of service. The proposition "All swans are birds" is a priori because if any creature originally designated as a "swan" should be discovered to lack some distinguishing character of birds, the name "swan" would be withdrawn. The applicability of the predicate term is logically requisite to the applicability of the subject. But the proposition "All swans are white" is an empirical generalization because white color is not included as essential in the denotation assigned to "swan." The former proposition can not be falsified by any possible experience because its truth has a purely logical warrant; it represents the implication of a concept. But the latter proposition has no such logical warrant and may be falsified by experience ; black creatures having all the essential properties of swans may be discovered. It is to be noted that any universal proposition asserts the non-existence of some class of things: that all swans are birds requires that there be no non-bird swans; *See Appendix F.

A PRIORI AND EMPIRICAL 303

that all swans are white, asserts that the class of swans of different color is a class which has no members. But the proposition which is a priori does not assert any limitation of experience; it asserts only that whatever lacks some essential property, J5T, is not to be classified under some concept, A. That all swans must be birds, does not legislate out of existence any possible creature. The empirical generalization, however, does require for its truth a limitation of nature and of experience: that all swans are white, excludes certain conceivable creatures from existence. It is thus that the a priori proposition is assured with certainty in advance, while the empirical generalization requires for its theoretical certitude a verification which extends to all reality.

The empirical generalization is forever at the mercy of future experience, and hence probable only, while the a priori proposition is forever certain* But as the above example points out, this does not represent any greater assurance

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.