Questions tagged [induction]
The induction tag has no usage guidance.
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Are all non-deductive arguments inductive?
I am having troubles with understanding this question. Can someone give me an example/insight about where to go from here?
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What kind of inference do we need to confirm the form of an experimental law?
Imagine scientists observe a linear correlation between two measurable quantities x and y in some type of phenomenon. They induce an experimental law: y=kx. However, the degree of precision of their ...
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better definition of induction
Consider this argument:
I saw him hit the lady with a stone in the head.
The lady will likely die.
For me this is inductive argument.
But I got impression some places define inductive argument such ...
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Justification for the paradigm of abductive reasoning
In Chance , Love and Logic, Peirce defines reasoning into two categories: analytic and non-analytic. All forms of reasoning have three fundamental components: rule, case, result.
Analytic reasoning ...
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Inductive reasoning and probability: probability of the conclusion versus probability of the supporting relation?
It is often admitted that inductive reasoning has something to do with probability.
While in a ( valid) deduction the premises necessarily imply the conclusion, in an inductive reasoning the premises ...
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86 views
Can the word “probably” be used in a proposition? (logic)
I'm interested in applying logic to day-to-day reasoning. The problem is that formal logic seems really restrictive to limit inductive arguments to be only universal ("all swans are white"). Few ...
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1answer
41 views
Hume on Induction vs Education
Hume thinks that mental ideas are built upon repeated observations and habituation, namely by induction. As far as I know, the principal alternative to this view is given by Descartes, postulating ...
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What is the justification for the claim that observing something that is both a raven and black increases the likelihood that all ravens are black?
Suppose that I have access to a machine that allows me to input a positive integer (perhaps up to ten decimal digits) and the machine will -- depending only on the input -- output a statement.
If the ...
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7answers
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Problem of Induction: Dissolved
Whenever we make some claim about the world, the phenomena, whatever you want to call it, we necessarily draw from our immediate and past experience, i.e. we engage in any act of induction in the most ...
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Clarifications on 1) Modus Ponens, 2) Modus Tollens, 3) Inductive, 4) Incomplete based on examples
My second lecture on Hypothetico-Deductive methods (based on Popper's falsification theory).
In the class, we were given the following examples. We had to classify which examples belong to 1) Modus ...
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1answer
62 views
Reasoning for Inductive inference?
Just out of curiosity, if I should replace the deductive inference related questions to inductive inference, then which are true?
Inductive inferences rearrange current knowledge in such a way that ...
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Clarification regarding “Hume's argument against the justifiability of induction”
This is my quiz problem, in particular on "Hume's argument against the justifiability of induction". I was supposed to do True and False.
That every inference is either inductive or deductive.
That ...
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Contemporary problem of induction
What is the contemporary opinion on the problem of induction? It seems that no justification can be given, according to the SEP and an Oxford lecturer. It seems that the SEP does not provide any ...
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71 views
Is argument from need a valid type of reasoning, even in some cases?
To begin with, I know that if I need X , does not necessarily mean that X exists.
But in some cases, it seems very convincing that if I need X then X exists. These are some examples :
If I am ...
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2answers
276 views
Confusion between deductive and inductive reasoning definitions
The following arguments is always given as a classic example to deductive reasoning:
All men are mortal. (First premise)
Socrates is a man. (Second premise)
Therefore, Socrates is mortal. ...
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1answer
88 views
Should we accept non-predictive inductive arguments based on cultural judgments?
Some inductive arguments that are taken seriously are based on observations about society/culture that cannot be objectively confirmed and do not produce any predictions. Does that make them less ...
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What fallacy is assuming something is the case because of past events
I'm sure this is a simple question. What I am referring to is disbelieving someone on Day 20 because they have lied every day previous to Day 20.
Another example is the boy who cried wolf. The 50th ...
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125 views
Is deduction based on induction?
I'm wondering if deduction is in the end based on induction.
The problem of induction discovered by the Scottish philosopher David Hume is quite well known. On the other hand, it's commonly supported ...
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109 views
Is symbolic regression Popperian or inductivist?
This has been on my mind for a few days. I'd love a criticism of my arguments outlined here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/fallible-ideas/9bcC5WN6bLs. I'll re-issue them here:
While ...
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Can all inductive arguments be written as deductive arguments?
Whenever I see inductive arguments being used, it seems as though they can be redone by simply making certain assumptions and rephrasing the argument as a deduction from those assumptions.
For ...
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Can the conclusion of an inductive argument be that there is only one exception to the list of evidentiary claims?
Can this be an example of an inductive argument?
Premise 1: Country A rejected idea Z.
Premise 2: Country B rejected idea Z.
Premise 3: Country C rejected idea Z.
Premise 4: Country D rejected ...
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5answers
672 views
How do I operate with philosophers if I reject deductive reasoning?
Deductive reasoning is the one that takes premises for granted. I never do it. Therefore I never do deductive reasoning.
Well, enough jokes. It is safe to assume that deductive reasoning never should ...
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If nature is inherently imprecise, how is it so easy for us to conceptualize mathematical certainties?
In modeling any real physical system, we are required to employ inductive reasoning. We can never be completely certain about the state or properties of any system or of any future observation we will ...
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Inductive and deductive arguments and mathematical induction
I started reading Paul Teller's A Modern Formal Logic Primer. In the first chapter, the book presents the inductive and deductive arguments with the following examples:
The inductive argument:
Adam ...
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2answers
289 views
Can inductive arguments be made in first order logic and, if not, why not?
After reading a question by rus9384 Why is faulty generalization called an informal fallacy? I wondered whether induction can be part of any argument in first order logic (FOL).
rus9384 symbolized ...
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133 views
What's wrong with the following argument regarding temporal limits?
Let us suppose there is a limit: you cannot buy something after 10:00PM. From the position of law, of course "cannot" must be taken directly. But from the position of common thinking, people are less ...
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How did Aristotle define induction so incorrectly?
From: Philip Johnson-Laird BA PhD Psychology (UCL), Stuart Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton. (Author isn't a logician.) How We Reason (1st edn 2008). p. 431, for Ch. 1.
The ...
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Questioning determinism (example)
Questioning the world's deterministic behaviour, I shall present an example which seems to defy any certainty about the recurrence of events and is (obviously) a result of faulty logic, but I would ...
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403 views
Is actual infinity physical infinity? Or just the axiom of infinity?
I've always been a little confused on this point.
My (second-hand) understanding of Aristotle's difference between potential and actual infinity is this:
We all have an intuition of the counting ...
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Swinburne's solution to Grue
In the new riddle of induction, Swinburne proposes the idea that there is a genuine distinction to be made between the predicate 'green' and the predicate 'grue' in that 'green' is a qualitative ...
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248 views
How does a Bayesian respond to the Grue-hypothesis?
According to Bayesian inference/confirmation theory, your confidence in a hypothesis increases as you observe more and more evidence predicted by that hypothesis (according to bayes theorem and the ...
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3answers
214 views
On the circularity of induction
Hume's problem of induction is that any attempt to justify induction would lead to a circular argument. Can someone give an example to illustrate this and maybe explain the problem more?
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211 views
Hume's problem of induction
Hume argued that assuming A causes B isn't the same as arriving at a truth of logic. However, even though Hume cautioned the "the mental habit" of induction should be used carefully he still believed ...
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155 views
Help me understand Earman and Salmon's pragmatic vindication
"Hume showed convincingly that, if nature is uniform, inductive reasoning will work very well, whereas, if nature is not uniform, inductive reasoning will fail. This much is pretty easy to see. [Some ...
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How does Hume justify his account of the origin of causation to a general sense?
Hume's account of causation explains why we think specific things have causes and explains them in terms of their constant connection in our minds such that we associate them by "habit". Hume brings ...
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How does abduction differ from inductive reasoning?
Consider this statement:
Abductive reasoning typically begins with an incomplete set of
observations and proceeds to the likeliest possible explanation for
the set.
But couldn't the same ...
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2answers
676 views
Does Popper's falsification view of the problem of induction have any implications for the NEW riddle of induction?
Popper claims to solve Hume's problem of induction by explaining that science does not use induction at all, but rather science can be described by the process of putting forward hypotheses and then ...
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1answer
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Does Hume's skepticism about induction extend to his treatise?
Can we extend Hume's skeptical conclusions to the treatise itself? How far reaching is Hume's skepticism, and if it is all-encompassing, then what is (as he sees) the purpose of his work?
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Is Goodman's new riddle of induction a restatement of Hume's problem of induction?
I was reading Goodman's [Facts, fictions and forecasts] and was confused by the new riddle of induction. I don't really see what's new about it, it seems to me like a restatement of Hume's problem ...
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Is there a deduction analog to the problem of induction?
Aren't deductive and inductive reasoning equally unjustified? So, inductive reasoning is going from specifics to general, whilst deductive reasoning is going from general to specific. But in deductive ...
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How applicable is the problem with induction to real life?
I am an engineer and know nothing about philosophy, my friend is an economist who argues that the problem with induction invalidates all predictions based on induction.
I can understand this on a ...
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Do Hume’s Problem and Zeno’s Arrow Paradox have the same solution?
Both Hume’s Problem and Zeno’s Arrow Paradox freeze an observation in time. Do they have the same solution?
To show that the future may not be predicted from the past, the test that David Hume ...
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124 views
What is an appropriate way to solve a Mill's method table, if it exists?
I'm being asked to determine the cause of a phenomenon using Mill's methods and a table of relevant factors. Below is the table:
A B C D E Event
* * *
* * ...
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1answer
789 views
Why can't uniformity of nature (in principle) be proven deductively?
I've been reading about the problem of induction and I have trouble understanding the argument for nature's uniformity being impossible to prove deductively.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on ...
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Are “if smoke then fire” arguments deductive or inductive?
I'm new to philosophy and have a question regarding deductive vs. inductive reasoning:
I'm told that "John ate a strange plant in the forest and got sick. Clearly, the plant made John sick."
I ...
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Does reliabilism fall to the problem of induction?
From what I've gathered, reliabilism states that epistemic justification occurs when someone forms a belief via truth-conducive methods. However, doesn't this fall to the problem of induction? Isn't ...
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370 views
Based on evolution, do we arrive at deductive principles inductively?
If our knowledge of deductive principles is a result of evolution... doesn't this mean that we arrive at deductive principles inductively?
Assuming deductive principles are beneficial for survival, ...
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547 views
Is this an inductive or a deductive argument?
Two flowers of the same cultivar were planted in adjacent plots .
The first was fertilized with Miracle-Gro and it flourished (2); The second was not and it din't(3) .
Therefore , Miracle-Gro ...
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2answers
108 views
What skeptical arguments do not use induction?
What skeptical arguments do not use induction? I haven't yet found anything which says these do not exist, so doubt that they don't. But I'm still intrigued, as SEP says that
[a] way to motivate ...
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222 views
Is this inductive or deductive?
The fact that we know we have a great great grandfather. Is the reasoning we use for this inductive or deductive?
