Whewells notion of consilience is thus related to his view of natural classes. William whewell stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. William whewell 17941866 was one of the most important and. William whewell on the consilience of inductions most contributions to whewell scholarship have tended to stress the idealistic, antiempirical temper of whewell s philosophy.
Rev dr william whewell dd hfrse 24 may 1794 6 march 1866 was an english polymath, scientist, anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. Rethinking whewell john wettersten, 1993 sage journals. See the complete profile on linkedin and discover william s. Well thats about to change as sharon carleton presents this science show tracing william whewells life and achievements. Wilson cheerfully describes his program as reductionist. Pdf whewells consilience of inductionsan evaluation. The nineteenthcentury appraisal of whewells philosophy as confused, eclectic, and metaphysical is still. William whewell coined osmosis, conductivity, ion and. According to whewell, the consilience of inductions takes place when an induction obtained from one class of facts coincides with an induction obtained from a different class. Having borrowed the term from the english scientist william whewell, for whom it.
The paper attempts to elucidate and evaluate william whewell s notion of a consilience of inductions. Whewell made contributions to many budding fields of inquiry, a fact. Whewell harbored a deep distain for mills purely empiricist philosophy, which he saw as. Consilience consilience of inductions is a phrase that was invented by the nineteenthcentury english historian and philosopher of science william whewell 17941866. The word consilience was originally coined as the phrase consilience of inductions by william whewell consilience refers to a jumping together of. The university of western ontario series in philosophy of science a series of books in philosophy of science, methodology, epistemology, logic, history of science, and related fields, vol 19. According to whewell, the consilience of inductions takes place when an induction obtained from. Falsifiability, consilience, and systematics systematic. Whewell contributed the terms scientist, physicist, linguistics, consilience, catastrophism, uniformitarianism, and astigmatism amongst others. Consilience from latin, leaping together is a word coined by william whewell to describe how different kinds of evidence leap together to support the same conclusion. View william whewell s profile on linkedin, the worlds largest professional community. In section i whewellian consilience is defined and shown to differ considerably from what.
William whewell on the consilience of inductions, the monist, volume 55, issue 3, 1 july 1971, pages 368391. Thus, the only two monographlength studies on whewell, blanch. Publication date 1837 collection europeanlibraries digitizing sponsor. In the drama of my life there are but two scenes, lancaster and cambridge, and the early scenes of lancaster have been enhanced by the transition from one to the. William whewell on the consilience of inductions the.
Colligation involved one idea explaining different but similar. Whewell termed resultant successes the colligation of facts and the consilience of inductions. William whewell 17941866 was one of the most important and influential figures in nineteenthcentury britain. In section i whewellian consilience is defined and shown to differ considerably from what latterday writers talk about when they use the term. William whewell was an english polymath, scientist, anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. Whewell, a polymath, wrote extensively on numerous subjects, including mechanics, mineralogy, geology, astronomy, political economy, theology, educational reform, international law, and architecture, as well as the works that remain the most wellknown today in philosophy of. William whewell coined osmosis, conductivity, ion and scientist. The term consilience was coined by the nineteenthcentury british philosopher and scientist william whewell, as part of the phrase the consilience of inductions. William whewell may 24, 1794 march 6, 1866, british.
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