Questions tagged [induction]
The induction tag has no usage guidance.
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Causation with Inductive/Deductive Logic
I'm sofa-philosopher and I have a case I can't quite dismantle. My friend (let's call him John) just made a statement that I find philosophically weak, and I'd like to run it thru you guys.
So, John ...
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Non-Deductive methods in philosophical argumentation
I'm a mathematician, and I'm trying to expand my understanding of the philosophical basis of mathematics. Mathematics is very much taught axiomatically establishing deductive theories, but philosophy ...
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Is mathematical induction deduction, and if so, why is it so named?
By induction, I mean this screenshot from this Youtube video
Abduction as an Aspect of Retroduction | Chiasson, Phyllis | Commens
Induction:
The prefix “in,” also from the Latin has to do with ...
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61 views
Does 1. extra-, 2. intra-polation fall under abduction, induction or deduction?
How does extrapolation relate to abduction, deduction, and/or induction? Scilicet, does abduction, deduction, and/or induction fully encompass Extrapolation?
Same question for Interpolation.
I ...
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93 views
Science, where is the difference between law and principle?
Theories contain laws, definitions, explain and predict aspects of nature.
A law in itself does not explain, but only reflects cause-effect relationships of empirical data (usually in the form of a ...
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What can be known and what can be believed when neither induction nor deduction is justified?
Kant is well known for taking seriously the lack of justification for induction voiced by Hume and finding what is left for us to be able to know and believe.
I wonder, with the knowledge that the ...
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85 views
Is there such a thing as inductive reasoning?
When I form hypotheses, don't I actually only use deduction instead of induction? Suppose I observe that the sun rises 5 days in a row, so I hypothesise that the sun rises every day.
But for this I am ...
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112 views
The problem of induction and coherentism
My understanding of the problem of induction is this. You want to hypothesise that the future is like the past (let us call this hypothesis H), and so justify the scientific practice of making ...
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107 views
Are all deductive arguments - formal arguments?
For an example, it looks like I have an example of an argument which is both deductive and informal:
Gabriel is a wolf
Gabriel has a tail.
Therefore, Gabriel’s tail is the tail of a wolf
I consider it ...
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133 views
Working of Mathematical Induction
I am aware of what proof by Mathematical Induction is. I have also used it in numerous proofs. However, I don't understand formal correctness/validity of the method down to the level of Peano Axioms. ...
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232 views
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 ...
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128 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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106 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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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
61 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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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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164 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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79 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-...
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1answer
53 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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36 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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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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143 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 ...
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1answer
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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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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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286 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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64 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
146 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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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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2answers
117 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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55 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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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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180 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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1answer
122 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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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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418 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
92 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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152 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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151 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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259 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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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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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 ...
