Books

First edition of the author's philosophical work, outlining the five principles of inductive reasoning, now known as Mill's methods. Often considered as Mill's best work, A System of Logic was twelve years in the making. "Mill began his book with the assertion that he was not concerned with the contested territory of epistemology, but only with the structure of logical argument. This austere agenda proved, however, impossible to observe at every point, and the text frequently spilt over into deep questions of human understanding [...] In Mill's view the study of the phenomenal world was a self-contained process of inference between induction and deduction, the latter being the formulation of general laws out of conjunctions of the more particular 'empirical' laws derived from the former" (ODNB). Two volumes, octavo (214 x 134 mm). Contemporary purple half calf, red and black twin morocco labels, brown cloth sides, blue speckled edges. Ex-library, with Gateshead Public Libraries with stamp to title verso and final pages with withdrawn stamp; neat contemporary ownership signature to title pages. Bindings expertly refurbished with volume label of vol. II restored. Light toning and handling to contents, occasional minor pencilled annotations. A good copy. MacMinn, Hainds & McCrimmon, p. 56.

'A System of Logic' establishes the principles of scientific reasoning and logic developed by Mill.