William Stanley Jevons Quotes about Science

I am convinced that it is impossible to expound the methods of induction in a sound manner, without resting them upon the theory of probability. Perfect knowledge alone can give certainty, and in nature perfect

I am convinced that it is impossible to expound the methods of induction in a sound manner, without resting them upon the theory of probability. Perfect knowledge alone can give certainty, and in nature perfect knowledge would be infinite knowledge, which is clearly beyond our capacities. We have, therefore, to content ourselves with partial knowledge - knowledge mingled with ignorance, producing doubt.

William Stanley Jevons

Ignorance, Knowledge, Science

"The Principles of Science: A Treatise on Logic and Scientific Method".

It seems perfectly clear that Economy, if it is to be a science at all, must be a mathematical science. There exists much prejudice against attempts to introduce the methods and language of mathematics into any branch of the moral sciences. Most persons appear to hold that the physical sciences form the proper sphere of mathematical method, and that the moral sciences demand some other method-I know not what.

William Stanley Jevons

Science, Spheres, Prejudice

William Stanley Jevons (1871). “The Theory of Political Economy”, p.3

Charles Babbage proposed to make an automaton chess-player which should register mechanically the number of games lost and gained in consequence of every sort of move. Thus, the longer the automaton went on playing game, the more experienced it would become by the accumulation of experimental results. Such a machine precisely represents the acquirement of experience by our nervous organization.

William Stanley Jevons

Moving, Science, Player

It is clear that economics, if it is to be a science at all, must be a mathematical science.

William Stanley Jevons

Math, Science, Economics

1871 The Theory of Political Economy

The whole value of science consists in the power which it confers upon us of applying to one object the knowledge acquired from like objects; and it is only so far, therefore, as we can discover and register resemblances that we can turn our observations to account.

William Stanley Jevons

Knowledge, Science, Observation

William Stanley Jevons (1874). “The Principles of Science: A Treatise on Logic and Scientific Method”, p.1

The child which overbalances itself in learning to walk is experimenting on the law of gravity.

William Stanley Jevons

Children, Learning, Science

William Stanley Jevons (1883). “Methods of Social Reform: And Other Papers”

Whoever wishes to acquire a deep acquaintance with Nature must observe that there are analogies which connect whole branches of science in a parallel manner, and enable us to infer of one class of phenomena what we know of another. It has thus happened on several occasions that the discovery of an unsuspected analogy between two branches of knowledge has been the starting point for a rapid course of discovery.

William Stanley Jevons

Knowledge, Science, Discovery

William Stanley Jevons (1874). “The Principles of Science: Book IV. Inductive investigation. Book V. Generalization, analogy, and classification. Book VI. Reflections on the results and limits of scientific method”, p.288