Philosophy 1020 Lecture Notes - Circular Reasoning, Deductive Reasoning, Nelson Goodman
5 Dec 2012
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Induction (november 3, 2011: deductive vs inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning: A kind of reasoning that constructs or evaluates propositions that are abstractions of observations. form of reasoning that makes generalizations based on individual instances: the problem of induction. Scientific reasoning is, for the most part, inductive reasoning. We think of science as, par excellence the instrument of knowledge and certainly. The laws of nature are not relations of idea thy are matters of fact. We have no good reason to believe: that the law of gravity will hold tomorrow, that the sun will rise tomorrow. In general: that the future will resemble the past in these respects. Or rather that unobserved portions of the universe resemble observed portions of the universe, in these respects. Hume"s view is that inductive reasoning is simply a habit: we get used to the sum of rising every morning, so we assume it always will.
