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Chapter 20: The Philosophical Problem of Induction

Chapter 20: The Philosophical Problem of Induction

pp. 247-255

Authors

, University of Toronto
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Summary

For philosophers, this is the most important question about induction. It is not a problem within inductive logic. It questions the very possibility of inductive reasoning itself.

DAVID HUME

In 1739, David Hume (1711–1776), the Scottish philosopher, published A Treatise of Human Nature, one of the half-dozen most influential books of Western philosophy. He was twenty-eight years old at the time. In 1748, he published An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.

These books, especially the second, include the classic statement of what came to be called the problem of induction.

Hume's problem about induction is only a small part of a very general theory of knowledge. Here we study just this one aspect of Hume's philosophy.

SKEPTICISM

In ordinary English, a skeptic is:

  • ♦ Someone who habitually doubts accepted beliefs.

  • ♦ A person who mistrusts other people or their ideas.

  • ♦ Someone who rejects traditional beliefs, such as religious beliefs.

  • PHILOSOPHICAL SKEPTICISM

    Philosophers attach a far more sweeping sense to the idea of skepticism. A philosophical skeptic is someone who claims to:

  • ♦ Doubt that any real knowledge or sound belief about anything is possible.

  • There are more specialized types of philosophical skepticism, depending upon what kind of knowledge is in doubt. Think of any field of knowledge or belief X, where X may be religious, or scientific, or moral. X may be knowledge about other people, or about the reality of the world around us, or even knowledge about yourself.

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