Summary of the most important distinctions between induction
and deduction
The whole of the Scotch philosophy, physical as well as metaphy-
sical, is deductive
His Theory of Moral Sentiments and his Wealth of Nations are
different parts of one subject. To understand either, we must
study both
His deductive method depended upon a suppression of premisses. 432-437
Account of his Theory of Moral Sentiments
His method was eminently deductive; and he, like Adam Smith,
Comparison between the method of this work, and the method
employed by Cudworth
His timidity made him look at the practical tendency of specula-
tive doctrines, instead of confining himself to the question of
their truth or falsehood
But a philosopher should deem it his business to ascertain new
truths, without regard to their consequences
Reid attacked Hume's method, because he disliked the results to
which that method had led
He reasoned from his principles speculatively, instead of occupy-
ing himself with a long course of experiments
To do this was to indulge the imagination, which is deemed danger-
ous by the inductive school of English physicists. But, in the
pursuit of truth, we need all our powers; and the advance of
physical science is retarded by our neglect of the imaginative
and emotional faculties
Account of Cullen's philosophy
Theory, though necessary in science, is dangerous in practice
Difference between the science of pathology and the art of thera-
Comparison between the method of Cullen's pathology and the
method employed by Adam Smith .
He refused to inquire into the truth of the principles from which
he argued
His conclusions, like his premisses, represent only a part of the
truth, and were extremely one-sided. Still, their value is un-
questionable, forming, as they did, a necessary part of the
general progress
His grandeur, and, unfortunately, his obscurity of language
In his mind, the inductive and deductive methods struggled for
mastery. Their conflict oppressed him. This is one of the
causes of the darkness of his thoughts and consequently of his
style
The Scotch literature of the eighteenth century, being essentially
deductive, was, on that account, unable to affect the nation.
It was, therefore, unable to weaken national superstition
Superstition and religious illiberality still existing in Scotland
The notions countenanced there respecting the origin of epidemics.
Correspondence which, in consequence of those notions, took
place, in 1853, between the Scotch Church and the English Go-
vernment
These superstitions are eminently irreligious, and are every where
becoming effaced, as physical science advances. Nothing else
can touch them. Hence the gradual liberation of the human
mind from the slavish and unmanly fears by which it has long
been oppressed
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