The desire to sever knowledge from observation is persistent and, to some extent, fruitful. Armed with the rules of arithmetic, one can drop a succession of balls into an urn and, if one has counted carefully, one will know how many balls there are in the urn without looking into it.
Evidence
Facts have to be discovered by observation, not by reasoning; when we successfully infer the future, we do so by means of principles which are not logically necessary, but are suggested by empirical data. — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2114 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
- XREF: connects to: Facts must be discovered through observation rather than logical deduction alone. — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2114
Related
Broader Connections
- Facts must be discovered through observation rather than logical deduction alone.
#complicates(0.55) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2114