Abstract
IN the issue of Mind for January 1943, Prof. A. D. Ritchie, under the title “The Logic of Question and Answer”, discusses problems connected with the use of hypotheses in scientific method. He begins by denying the existence of 'hard' facts, a denial which should be platitudinous now but is not. A single observation, he argues, does not by itself provide empirical information. This is the function of a plurality of observations in certain relations. He goes on to develop the contention (which he derives from Prof. Collingwood's philosophy) that every proposition which really contributes to knowledge is an answer to a question, and that the question arises out of pre-existing knowledge, this knowledge itself being the answer to a previous question or questions. The fundamental question is always “What have we here ?”If we ask the question about, say, a truck-load of coal, we find the answer by inspecting and testing samples. The number of samples we take and the way in which we take them will depend on knowledge we already possess about the coal, the method in which it is loaded in the truck, whether it is protected from the elements, etc. If we ask how we know that the samples are representative of the material, the answer is that we have chosen a way of sampling which answers the questions we were asking. If our questions are not answered, we must devise another method of sampling.
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The Logic of Question and Answer. Nature 151, 498 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151498a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151498a0