Item 20 - Richard Jones to William Whewell

4 pp.

Brasted - RJ wants WW to look at the third edition of Whately's [Richard Whately] 'Logic' [first published 1826] - 'turn to p.3 20 you will find some observations on terms by Senior [Nassau William Senior] beginning The foundations of political economy being a few general propositions deduced from observation or from consciousness and generally admitted as soon as stated[,] it might have been expected that there would be as little difference of opinion among political economists as among mathematicians and then read on'. RJ states 'that when he comes to rent he gets from consciousness and such observation as he deemed sufficient a notion that rent is always the secret of some advantage which enables unequal profits to be made and proposes to extend the term to all the gains made in consequence of any extraordinary powers of body or mind any processes in manufacture which are protected by secrecy or by law any peculiar advantages from situation or connexion a pretty hash he was likely to make of it'. RJ does not think there is much they should object to in the body of Whately's work, 'except a strange notion that the inference made by the mind when its inductive processes are completed is an inference which belongs to deductive reasoning and may be called logical ascending to his own strict definition of logic which I hold to be utterly wrong (the notion that is not the definition) see p.235 and another foolish sneer at those who think that inductive reasoning can ever be reduced to scientific form - page 243'. RJ had not seen 'Senior's nonsense till lately as I could hardly have kept my hands off him'. RJ has an idea 'that some popular views of inductive reasoning such as I shall sketch would be a good thing to publish, when you see them decide whether you will keep them and use them yourself or send them back for me to enlarge. If either of us do it it must not be with a reference to natural philosophy exclusively or I think mainly - But mind if you insist on german phraseology or any thing like it I wash my hands of the job'.