Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

John Stuart Mill's Method In Principle And In Practice: A Review Of The Evidence, Samuel Hollander, Sandra J. Peart

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

We believe an additional, and contrasting, interpretation of Mill’s method is supported by the evidence. For in our view Mill insisted on the possibility of theory modification in the light of inadequacies revealed by empirical evidence, and also held that the central behavioral axiom is not of universal relevance but is pertinent only to the local circumstances of contemporary Great Britain and America—and, even so, qualified as we shall see—that axiom itself is empirically based. On our reading, there is more in common between his research strategy and that of Milton Friedman than is sometimes granted, at least when Friedman’s …