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Nineteenth Century Philosophy

William Whewell

What was William Whewell’s theory of induction?

In his Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded upon Their History (1840; revised, 1847; expanded, 1858), Whewell focused on “Discoverers’ Induction” as used to construct phenomenal laws or generalizations, and causal laws, or explanations. This is where he described “colligation” as a “renovation” of Francis Bacon’s (1561–1626) principles.