History of Logic Seminar Series - Talk: Simona Taglialatela, "The Mill-Jevons Debate on Induction and Probability" (08.04.2026)
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We are pleased to announce the seventh session of the second annual cycle of the History of Logic Seminar Series. The session will be held on Wednesday, April 8, from 3 to 5 p.m. CEST.
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On this occasion, we will host a talk by Simona Taglialatela (University of Naples Federico II). Her talk is titled The Mill-Jevons Debate on Induction and Probability. Here is a short abstract:
In this talk, I examine the debate between John Stuart Mill and William Stanley Jevons on induction and probability by situating it within a broader nineteenth-century transformation in the logic of science. First of all, I analyse Jevons’ critique of Mill’s concept of induction as developed in The Principles of Science (2nd edition, 1877) and in the series of articles published by Jevons on the Contemporary Review between 1877 and 1879 under the title John Stuart Mill’s Philosophy Tested. I show that Jevons’ attack on Mill’s alleged psychologism and his definition of induction as “inference from particulars to particulars” is not consistent with the more general theory of the System of Logic as it develops over the course of the eight editions of the book. I try to establish that, thanks to his reading of William Whewell’s major works, Mill becomes progressively aware of the drawbacks of adopting a rigorously inductive epistemology, as long as he realizes the need to redefine the scientific method as a hypothetical-deductive method. I then show that Mill’s more mature conception of the role of hypothesis in scientific method is not at all different from Jevons’ view of inductive inference. I conclude by arguing that the questioning of the certainty of knowledge obtained through experimental canons has also had, in the System of Logic, the positive aspect of at least partially appreciating contemporary studies on probability. As an appendix, I briefly turn to Jevons’ treatment of probability as the first real attempt to link probability and induction in a formal, quasi-mathematical framework.
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Kind regards,
Antonio
Sara L. Uckelman
Does anyone regularly teach Gentzen/Beth/other proof systems to
undergraduates, or generally have an interest in logic pedagogy, and
would have the time/interest to referee a short paper?
Cheers,
-Sara (in my capacity as one of the editors of The Reasoner)
--
Prof. Sara L. Uckelman
Department of Philosophy
Durham University
https://sluckelman.webspace.durham.ac.uk/
Lukasz T. Stepien
Dear Sara
I had a couple years ago, a course on Logic and Set Theory for students, and I was teaching there among others, Tarski's theory of consequence. So, if there were an opportunity for a help, I would be able to review such paper.
Cheers
Lukasz T. Stepien University of the National Education Commission Institute of Security and Computer Science, ul. Podchorazych 2 30-084 Krakow Poland tel. +48 12 662-78-54, +48 12 662-78-44 The URL https://ltstepien.up.krakow.pl