William Whewell raised a series of objections concerning John Stuart Mill's philosophy of science which suggested that Mill's views were not properly informed by the history of science or by adequate reflection on scientific practices. The aim of this paper is to revisit and evaluate this incisive Whewellian criticism of Mill's views by assessing Mill's account of Michael Faraday's discovery of electrical induction. The historical evidence demonstrates that Mill's reconstruction is an inadequate reconstruction of this historical episode and the scientific practices Faraday employed. But a study of Faraday's research also raises some questions about Whewell's characterization of this discovery. Thus, this example provides an opportunity to reconsider the debate between Whewell and Mill concerning the role of the sciences in the development of an adequate philosophy of scientific methodology.
...MoreDescription Deals with Michael Faraday's discovery of electrical induction.
Book
Snyder, Laura J.;
(2006)
Reforming Philosophy: A Victorian Debate on Science and Society
(/isis/citation/CBB000741795/)
Article
Achinstein, Peter;
(2010)
The War on Induction: Whewell Takes on Newton and Mill (Norton Takes On Everyone)
(/isis/citation/CBB001230085/)
Article
Cornelis Menke;
(2018)
The Whewell-Mill Debate on Predictions, from Mill's Point of View
(/isis/citation/CBB045518739/)
Article
Johnson, Kent;
(2011)
Quantitative Realizations of Philosophy of Science: William Whewell and Statistical Methods
(/isis/citation/CBB001024183/)
Article
Smith, Glenn S.;
(2013)
Faraday's First Dynamo: A Retrospective
(/isis/citation/CBB001320909/)
Chapter
Snyder, Laura J.;
(2009)
Hypotheses in 19th-Century British Philosophy of Science: Herschel, Whewell, Mill
(/isis/citation/CBB001032103/)
Chapter
Rowlinson, Matthew;
(2013)
History, Materiality and Type in Tennyson's “In Memoriam”
(/isis/citation/CBB001422073/)
Article
Pfeifer, Jessica;
(2012)
Mill and Lewis on Laws, Experimentation, and Systematization
(/isis/citation/CBB001221676/)
Chapter
Schickore, Jutta;
(2006)
A Forerunner? Perhaps, but Not to the Context Distinction. William Whewell's Germano-Cantabrigian History of the Fundamental Ideas
(/isis/citation/CBB001033918/)
Article
Pratt-Smith, Stella;
(2012)
The Poetic Science of Nineteenth-Century Electricity
(/isis/citation/CBB001200845/)
Article
James, Frank A. J. L.;
(2008)
The Janus Face of Modernity: Michael Faraday in the Twentieth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB000850475/)
Article
Robert, Olivier;
(2002)
La tentation comtienne de John Stuart Mill: une “disciple indiscipliné”
(/isis/citation/CBB000751025/)
Article
Ducheyne, Steffen;
(2008)
J. S. Mill's Canons of Induction: From True Causes to Provisional Ones
(/isis/citation/CBB000960276/)
Article
Casini, Paolo;
(1981)
Herschel, Whewell, Stuart Mill e l'“analogia della natura”
(/isis/citation/CBB000020916/)
Article
Hollander, Samuel;
(1983)
William Whewell and John Stuart Mill on the methodology of political economy
(/isis/citation/CBB000003967/)
Article
Henderson, James P.;
(1989)
Whewell's solution to the recriprocal demand riddle in Mill's “great chapter”
(/isis/citation/CBB000042261/)
Article
Snyder, Laura J.;
(1999)
Renovating the Novum Organum: Bacon, Whewell and induction
(/isis/citation/CBB000111667/)
Article
Snyder, Laura J.;
(1997)
The Mill-Whewell debate: Much ado about induction
(/isis/citation/CBB000073175/)
Essay Review
Achinstein, Peter;
(1992)
Inference to the best explanation: or, Who won the Mill-Whewell debate?
(/isis/citation/CBB000030581/)
Article
Creedy, John;
(1989)
Whewell's “translation” of J.S. Mill
(/isis/citation/CBB000046932/)
Be the first to comment!