VML-4/8/02

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So on he goes with his teachings. Now there are two principles of

knowledge. The one principle is that we know by referring the

particular to the general, and the general to the universal; and the

second is that anything of which the explanation is sought is to be

explained so far as possible from its own nature. Taking up the first

principle, we see that all our knowledge really consists of

classifications, going higher and higher. When something happens

singly, we are, as it were, dissatisfied. When it can be shown that

the same thing happens again and again, we are satisfied and call it

law. When we find that one apple falls, we are dissatisfied; but when

we find that all apples fall, we call it the law of gravitation and

are satisfied. The fact is that from the particular we deduce the

general.