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The Method of Elimination in Scientific Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Mapheus Smith
Mapheus Smith*
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
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Extract

Two essentially different approaches to “truth” should be recognized, although they are not in every respect and on all occasions mutually exclusive. If truth be taken to mean the “most adequate idea (statement, explanation, interpretation, expression) a mind (plural number of minds) is able to perceive at any given time,” the process may, first, be one of immediate intuition, insight or inspiration in which conclusions are arrived at without consciousness of the mediate, detailed steps between recognition of a problem and its solution and without considering all of the possible solutions to the problem; or, it may, second, be one of detailed examination and traversal of the various direct and simple steps to the “truth”, as well as the testing of all other methods of arriving at the same truth. The first method may bring about its result “in a flash”, instantaneously, unpredictably; but the second method is never so rapid, always more laborious, and always consumes more time and energy than the first. That is not to say that the first method always involves less elapsed time between inception and completion than the second; often the first method is marked by delays because the mind in question leaps to other trains of thought before obtaining a solution to the first problem. However, the amount of total time used exclusively to answer the question or solve the problem by the first method is much less than for the second.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , October 1943 , pp. 250 - 254
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association 1943

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References

1 Cf. Wild, K. W., Intuition, New York, Macmillan, 1938.

2 Lundberg, G. A., Foundations of Sociology, New York, Macmillan, 1939, p. 14 ff.

3 One apparent advantage of the intuitive method, which, however, is a disadvantage under many circumstances, is that it can be applied to each individual case without the necessity of comparison with other cases of the same sort. Although interpretation is thus facilitated, no opportunity is provided for assuring the correctness of the interpretation advanced. Since the method of elimination cannot be employed for a single event, the demands of immediate situations encourage the use of the intuitive method. This undoubtedly explains its widespread use; and it indirectly explains the habit most people have of employing the intuitive approach rather than one of elimination. However, where at all possible to use, the method of elimination is superior in the dependability of the interpretation obtained.