Mill's Methods: Identification

John Stuart Mill proposed several methods for establishing causal relationships. These methods are systematic approaches used in scientific inquiry to determine cause and effect.

Core Experimental Methods

The primary experimental methods described by Mill include:

• Method of Agreement: If two or more instances of a phenomenon under investigation share only one circumstance, in which they all concur, that circumstance is the cause or effect of the phenomenon.
• Method of Difference: If an instance in which the phenomenon occurs, and an instance in which it does not occur, have every circumstance in common save one, that one intervening circumstance is the cause or effect, or a condition of the phenomenon.
• Method of Residue: If we subtract from the circumstances of a phenomenon, all those circumstances which we know to be the causes of the remaining circumstances, then the residuum of the phenomenon is the effect of the remaining circumstances.

Mill also discussed the Joint Method of Agreement and Difference and the Method of Concomitant Variations as extensions or combinations of these core ideas.

Excluded Method

The Method of Random Occurrence is not considered one of Mill's established experimental methods for causal inference. Mill's methods focus on systematic comparison and elimination, unlike methods that rely on chance or randomness.

Therefore, the method not included in Mill's experimental framework is the Method of Random occurrence.