METHOD OF DISCOVERING CAUSAL LAWS 207 



i.e. similar to the observed cases. We hesitate to apply them to 

 cases that differ considerably in their conditions from those we 

 have observed. Every such &quot; law &quot; or &quot; generalization &quot; is usually 

 called an &quot; EMPIRICAL LAW,&quot; or an &quot; EMPIRICAL GENERALIZA 

 TION &quot;. By these expressions we mean some observed uniform 

 ity of connexion between phenomena, or of the mode in which a 

 phenomenon happens, which uniformity we expect to hold good 

 always and everywhere, though we do not understand it suffici 

 ently to be sure that it will hold good. 



But suppose we have verified our hypothetical law by a 

 sufficient application of the various grounds of elimination em 

 bodied in the &quot; methods &quot; already set forth ; and that we are 

 therefore certain that our established causal connexion will de 

 facto hold good universally, that no other supposition would be 

 consistent with the facts of our experience : we may still be un 

 able to explain why such a connexion must hold good universally, 

 or, in other words, to connect the law in question with other laws, 

 and show how it is necessarily involved in, and derived from, 

 these. The phenomena connected by such a law &quot; we see to be 

 connected, though how they are connected we know not,&quot; 1 be 

 cause we cannot explain the law that connects them. &quot; They 

 are connected for us empirically, that is, in our experience ; &quot; a 

 they are connected for us to some extent even &quot; rationally, that is, 

 for our intelligence,&quot; 3 inasmuch as we have convinced ourselves 

 that the connexion is not merely a contingent connexion which 

 occurs within our experience, but that it is in some sense a 

 necessary connexion which must hold universally ; but we have 

 not &full intelligence, a full rational knowledge of the connexion, 

 so long as \*e are unable to see why the law connecting the 

 phenomena must be so. The law, though verified, is still for 

 us an isolated law, not connected &quot;rationally,&quot; &quot;logically,&quot; 

 &quot; scientifically,&quot; &quot; philosophically,&quot; with any wider laws ; in other 

 words, not &quot; scientifically explained &quot;. Now, it is in accordance 

 with fairly common usage to describe also such verified but 

 unexplained laws as Empirical Laws, or Empirical Generalizations, 

 like the probable, unverified generalizations described in the pre 

 ceding paragraph. 



It is evident, therefore, that laws may exist merely as empirical 

 laws for a long time before they are verified, and again for a long 



1 JOYCE, op, cit., p. 369. t6trf., p. 370. 3 ibid. 



