Who Invented Method of Agreement

30.9.2022

The method of agreement is a logical principle used to identify the cause of a phenomenon by finding a common factor in different instances of it. Although the method of agreement has been used by philosophers and scholars for centuries, it is often attributed to a 19th-century English philosopher and logician named John Stuart Mill.

John Stuart Mill was born in 1806 in London, England. From a young age, he was remarkable for his intelligence and was trained extensively in philosophy, economics, and logic by his father. He was also exposed to the works of Jeremy Bentham, who is considered the founder of utilitarianism, a philosophical theory that emphasizes the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

In his early career, Mill worked on several social and political issues, including women`s rights, slavery, and the role of government in society. He also made significant contributions to the field of logic, publishing works on induction, causality, and the scientific method.

It was in his work on the scientific method that Mill developed the method of agreement. This method is used to identify the cause of a phenomenon by looking for a common factor in different instances of it. For example, if several people become sick after eating at a particular restaurant, the method of agreement would involve examining the common factors among those people, such as the food they ate or the time they visited the restaurant, to identify the cause of the illness.

Mill`s development of the method of agreement was a significant contribution to the field of logic and has had applications in various fields, including science, medicine, and economics. The method of agreement is still used today to identify causes of phenomena and to make predictions based on observable data.

In conclusion, although the method of agreement has been used by scholars and philosophers for centuries, it is often attributed to John Stuart Mill, a 19th-century English philosopher and logician. His development of the method of agreement has had significant applications in various fields and is still used today to identify the causes of phenomena and make predictions based on observable data.