PHI 210 Lecture 13: Response to Paradox of the Ravens
Document Summary
According to (1), a white shoe confirms all non-black thing are non-ravens since it is an instance of a non-black object (i. e. , a white object) that is a non-raven (i. e. , a shoe). Therefore, according to (2) and (3), a white shoe confirms all ravens are black. At least one of 1-4 is false. Evaluating possible responses to the paradox: reject that all ravens are black is a priori equivalent to all non-black things are non- ravens. But they clearly are a priori equivalent: reject (e1): if two hypotheses are a priori equivalent, then any data that confirm one confirm the other. All ravens are black and all non-black things are non-ravens both assert that being a raven is a sufficient condition for being black. If you reject (g1), you can reject it for all generalizations. Or you can reject it for non-black things are non-ravens but not for all ravens are black. so reject only (i).
