<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> The subject of the paper is a contemporary interpretation of J.S. Mill’s elimination method using selected concepts of Zdzisław Pawlak’s decision logic. The aim of the interpretation is to reformulate the original rules (canons) of Mill’s induction so that they correspond more precisely to his concept of cause as a complex sufficient condition. In the first part of the paper, we turn to Mill’s writings and justify the thesis that in his understanding the cause is an aggregation of circumstances, and not a single circumstance; next, we point out that Mill’s original canons (for example the canon of agreement and the canon of difference) do not allow causes-aggregations to be singled out from empirical data. In the second part of this paper, we present such aspects of Z. Pawlak’s decision logic that serve as the basis for the formalisation of the method of eliminative induction. We describe exhaustively the schema of induction that involves a gradual - divided into three stages - simplification of a set of implications corresponding to the observed dependencies [system of potential causes, effect]. The simplification is deductive because it maintains consistency within the set of implications. We show that such schema is ideal for isolating complex causes (aggregations of circumstances), ultimately described using complex conditional formulas of decision logic.</p></abstract>

The subject of the paper is a contemporary interpretation of J.S. Mill’s elimination method using selected concepts of Zdzisław Pawlak’s decision logic. The aim of the interpretation is to reformulate the original rules (canons) of Mill’s induction so that they correspond more precisely to his concept of cause as a complex sufficient condition. In the first part of the paper, we turn to Mill’s writings and justify the thesis that in his understanding the cause is an aggregation of circumstances, and not a single circumstance; next, we point out that Mill’s original canons (for example the canon of agreement and the canon of difference) do not allow causes-aggregations to be singled out from empirical data. In the second part of this paper, we present such aspects of Z. Pawlak’s decision logic that serve as the basis for the formalisation of the method of eliminative induction. We describe exhaustively the schema of induction that involves a gradual - divided into three stages - simplification of a set of implications corresponding to the observed dependencies [system of potential causes, effect]. The simplification is deductive because it maintains consistency within the set of implications. We show that such schema is ideal for isolating complex causes (aggregations of circumstances), ultimately described using complex conditional formulas of decision logic.

A Decision Logic Approach to Mill’s Eliminative Induction

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw

Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"A Decision Logic Approach to Mill\u2019s Eliminative Induction"}

The subject of the paper is a contemporary interpretation of J.S. Mill’s elimination method using selected concepts of Zdzisław Pawlak’s decision logic. The...

A Decision Logic Approach to Mill’s Eliminative Induction

Published Online: Nov 26, 2015

Page range: 113 - 138

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/slgr-2015-0033

Keywords
Mill’s methods, eliminative induction, decision logic, concept of cause, John Stuart Mill, Zdzisław Pawlak

© Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

A Decision Logic Approach to Mill’s Eliminative Induction

Published Online: Nov 26, 2015

Page range: 113 - 138

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/slgr-2015-0033

KeywordsMill’s methods, eliminative induction, decision logic, concept of cause, John Stuart Mill, Zdzisław Pawlak

© Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Mill’s methods, eliminative induction, decision logic, concept of cause, John Stuart Mill, Zdzisław Pawlak