Time Quote by Bertrand Russell
““There was once upon a time a census officer who had to record the names of all householders in a certain Welsh village. The first that he questioned was called William Williams; so were the second, third, fourth… At last he said to himself: ‘This is tedious; evidently they are all called William Williams. I shall put them down so and take a holiday’. But he was wrong; there was just one whose name was John Jones. This shows that we may go astray if we trust too implicitly to induction by simple enumeration.””
About This Quote
Source Essay: "The Problems of Philosophy", 1912 (paraphrased)
Relying solely on repeated patterns can mislead; exceptions exist beyond apparent trends.
In simple terms: Induction can be faulty when outliers appear.
Key Takeaway
Question assumptions and seek evidence.
Themes
logic
induction
error
critical thinking
Mood
skeptical
analytical
Type
philosophical
educational
When to use this quote
- scientific research
- legal judgments
- business forecasting
Key Concepts
philosophy
statistics
epistemology
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you verify patterns before acting?
- What safeguards prevent inductive errors?
A Different Perspective
Overreliance on patterns may ignore rare but important cases.
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