APPROXIMATE GENERALIZATIONS. 127 



we know well enough what circumstances distinguish the por 

 tion of A which has the attribute B from the portion which 

 has it not, but have no means, or have not time, to examine 

 whether those characteristic circumstances exist or not in the 

 individual case. This is the situation we are generally in 

 when the inquiry is of the kind called moral, that is, of the 

 kind which has in view to predict human actions. To enable 

 us to affirm anything universally concerning the actions of 

 classes of human beings, the classification must be grounded 

 on the circumstances of their mental culture and habits, which 

 in an individual case are seldom exactly known; and classes 

 grounded on these distinctions would never precisely accord 

 with those into which mankind are divided for social purposes. 

 All propositions which can be framed respecting the actions of 

 human beings as ordinarily classified, or as classified accord 

 ing to any kind of outward indications, are merely approximate. 

 We can only say, Most persons of a particular age, profession, 

 country, or rank in society, have such and such qualities ; or, 

 Most persons when placed in certain circumstances act in 

 such and such a way. Not that we do not often know well 

 enough on what causes the qualities depend, or what sort of 

 persons they are who act in that particular way ; but we have 

 seldom the means of knowing whether any individual person 

 has been under the influence of those causes, or is a person 

 of that particular sort We could replace the approximate 

 generalizations by propositions universally true ; but these 

 would hardly ever be capable of being applied to practice. 

 We should be sure of our majors, but we should not be able 

 to get minors to fit : we are forced, therefore, to draw our 

 conclusions from coarser and more fallible indications. 



4. Proceeding now to consider, what is to be regarded 

 as sufficient evidence of an approximate generalization ; we 

 can have no difficulty in at once recognising that when ad 

 missible at all, it is admissible only as an empirical law. 

 Propositions of the form, Every A is B, are not necessarily 

 laws of causation, or ultimate uniformities of coexistence ; 

 propositions like Most A are B cannot be so. Propositions 



