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Political Economy neither a purely mental nor a purely
physical inquiry, but referable to a class of studies inter-
mediate between mental and physical inquiries

Proper limits of economic inquiry

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Mr. Senior's view criticized

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OF THE LOGICAL METHOD OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.

§ 1. Common notion that economic investigation should be con-
ducted according to the 'inductive method'

Latitude of meaning with which the expression 'inductive
method' has been employed by authoritative writers
Examination of the doctrine that 'induction,' in the strict
sense of the term, is the true path of economic inquiry

§ 2. Logical position of the speculator on the physical universe at

the outset of physical inquiry

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§ 3. This reason does not hold in economic investigation, because
the ultimate principles of Political Economy, being the con-
clusions and proximate phenomena of other branches of
knowledge, admit of direct proof.

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§ 4. The economist, excluded from the use of experiment, but has
at his disposal an inferior substitute.

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OF THE LOGICAL METHOD OF POLITICAL ECONOMY—(continued).

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Nature of the evidence by which an economic law is estab-
lished or refuted

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OF THE SOLUTION OF AN ECONOMIC PROBLEM, AND OF THE DEGREE OF

PERFECTION OF WHICH IT 18 SUSCEPTIBLE.

§ 1. Circumstances in which an economic law, regarded logically,
differs from a law in the more advanced physical sciences--

unsusceptibility of precise quantitative statement
[Note.-Mr. McLeod's and Mr. Jennings' view]

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Unprecise character of economic laws illustrated by the
theory of the decline of profits

And by the variations in the price of food

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§ 3. Prevalent ignorance as to what the solution of an economic

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OF THE PLACE AND PURPOSE OF DEFINITION IN POLITICAL ECONOMY.

§ 1. Definition in positive science embraces two operations-classi-

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