360 FALLACIES. 



enumerationem s unplicem : &quot; This, that, and the other A are 

 B, I cannot think of any A which is not B, therefore every A 

 is B.&quot; As a final condemnation of this rude and slovenly 

 mode of generalization, I will quote Bacon s emphatic denun 

 ciation of it ; the most important part, as I have more than 

 once ventured to assert, of the permanent service rendered by 

 him to philosophy. &quot;Inductio qute procedit per enumera 

 tionem simplicem, res puerilis est, et precario concludit&quot; (con 

 cludes only ~by your leave, or provisionally,) &quot; et periculo ex- 

 pouitur ah instantia contradictor! a, et pier unique secundum 

 pauciora quam par est, et ex his tantinnmodo quce prcesto sunt 

 pronunciat. At Inductio qua3 ad inventionem et demonstra- 

 tionem Scientiarum et Artium erit utilis, Naturam separare 

 debet, per rejectiones et exclusiones debitas ; ac deinde post 

 negativas tot quot sufficiuut, super affirmativas concludere.&quot; 



I have already said that the mode of Simple Enumeration 

 is still the common and received method of Induction in what 

 ever relates to man and society. Of this a very few instances, 

 more by way of memento than of instruction, may suffice. 

 What, for example, is to be thought of all the &quot; common- 

 sense&quot; maxims for which the following may serve as the uni 

 versal formula, &quot; Whatsoever has never been, will never be.&quot; 

 As for example : negroes have never been as civilized as 

 whites sometimes are, therefore it is impossible they should be 

 so. Women, as a class, are supposed not to have hitherto 

 been equal in intellect to men, therefore they are necessarily 

 inferior. Society cannot prosper without this or the other 

 institution; e.g. in Aristotle s time, without slavery ; in later 

 times, without an established priesthood, without artificial 

 distinctions of rank, &c. One poor person in a thousand, 

 educated, while the nine hundred and ninety-nine remain 

 uneducated, has usually aimed at raising himself out of his 

 class, therefore education makes people dissatisfied with the 

 condition of a labourer. Bookish men, taken from speculative 

 pursuits and set to work on something they know nothing 

 about, have generally been found or thought to do it ill; there 

 fore philosophers are unfit for business, &c. &c. All these 

 are inductions by simple enumeration. Keasons having some 



