Questions tagged [induction]
The induction tag has no usage guidance.
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Doesn't infinite regress go backward forever? Is SEP wrong?
I have always understood infinite regress to mean going backwards forever. (Forever as in endlessly, not necessarily temporally). A model would be the negative integers, if we viewed them as a model ...
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Hume's induction using circularity fallacy
Hello everyone, i was going through this reading of a book in which it present Hume's induction wrong using circularity . I was trying to find some error in it as given there but could not pinpoint ...
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Are the premises of deductive arg's. founded upon inductive cases?…help is what I am in need of
Let's take this example of a deductive argument:
P1: Monkeys like bananas.
P2: Lucy is a monkey.
C: Therefore, Lucy likes bananas.
Disregarding whether this argument is true or false, how does one ...
2
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3answers
115 views
Does all deductive knowledge stem from inductive observation?
Given the premise that deductive reasoning needs a premise statement to get started, ultimately do these premises come from inductive observation? e.g.
When the sun is out it’s daytime. The sun is out....
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0answers
81 views
Questioning Kant's resolution to induction
From what I haved gathered from the first sections of the Critique, Kant wants to resolve the problem of induction by adding the a priori concept of (the necessity between) cause and effect to our ...
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67 views
Probabilistic Interpretation of Hume's Problem of Induction
I am a mathematician who has recently started delving into philosophy and I had a thought today.
From what I understand, the scientific method can be described in the following terms.
Suppose we have ...
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1answer
56 views
Inductive strength & tracking requirement
An inductive inference is usually considered strong if its conclusion is probably true, given true premises. In Tracking Track Records, Peter Lipton (giving credit to Nozick) suggests that a strong ...
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2answers
170 views
Does Bayesian epistemology solve Hume’s problem of induction?
Or, does it just sidestep it? Or, is it just completely unrelated to it? I’m having trouble seeing what the connection might be. It seems to me that Bayesians solve it by saying, take:
Your prior ...
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2answers
152 views
Does this argument disprove immaterialism?
-Every observation we have analysed has a material cause.
-By inductive reasoning, all observations have materialistic causes.
-Hence, there are no immaterial causes and immaterialism doesn't exist.
(...
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1answer
75 views
Resolve the contradiction/paradox [closed]
-We have observed that the color of a raven is black.
-Every non-blue thing I have observed
in my room is non-raven.
-By inductive reasoning, every non-blue thing I will observe in my room is non-...
1
vote
1answer
47 views
Trying to understand the fallacy in my inductive reasoning regarding this conclusion? [closed]
Consider the following statements:
Anna told you she failed her physics midterm.
Anna hasn't been in physics class since the teacher graded the exams.
Anna has been in sociology class, which meets ...
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0answers
34 views
Is it standard to distinguish two versions of the hypothetico-deductivist conception of science : confirmation approach and falsificationism?
In his course on Philosophy Of Science, Pr Folse ( Loyola University New Orleans) distinguishes two trends in the " empricist consensus " ( that emerged in the 19th century) : inductivism ...
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2answers
112 views
Inductive argument for Con(ZFC)
If you ask a mathematician, particularly a set theorist, about whether ZFC is consistent, they will answer that we can't know for sure because of Gödel's theorems. If you ask what evidence at all is ...
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0answers
140 views
Material theory of induction: why not abandon induction altogether?
John Norton defends a material theory of induction, based on the idea that universal inference schemes cannot account for the strength of inductive inferences. Whether a specific induction is good or ...
2
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1answer
78 views
Are inferences in everyday life often combinations of inductive, deductive and other possible methods of inference?
Logicians have distilled methods of inference into some fundamental kinds like deduction and induction. In everyday conversation, though, we are constantly making inferences both inductively and ...
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1answer
255 views
Why is mathematical induction so applicable in mathematics?
Mathematical induction is a way to give finite proofs for (some of the) claims that concern infinitely many objects. For this reason it can be thought of as an approximation of the ω-rule. However, ...
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2answers
192 views
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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1answer
57 views
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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41 views
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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2answers
136 views
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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43 views
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 ...
2
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2answers
101 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
50 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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3answers
122 views
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
1k views
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
122 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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1answer
77 views
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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1answer
108 views
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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2answers
75 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
366 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
91 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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2answers
137 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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3answers
138 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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3answers
246 views
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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35 views
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
721 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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3answers
281 views
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
328 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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3answers
145 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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4answers
2k views
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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5answers
237 views
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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4answers
519 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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0answers
86 views
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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1answer
299 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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282 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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232 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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1answer
174 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 ...
