John D. Norton, "The Large-Scale Structure of Inductive Inference" (U Calgary Press, 2024)

This book is free to download here. Science depends essentially on inductive inferences – inferences that go beyond the evidence on which they are based. But inductive inferences have historically been modeled on deductive inferences, which are valid if and only if they satisfy a valid argument form. In The Large-Scale Structure of Inductive Inference (BSPS Open/University of Calgary Press), John Norton expands his defense of what he calls the material theory of induction: what makes an induction good is not its conforming to a universal rule, like deduction, but instead by its being warranted by true background facts in a particular domain. Norton – Distinguished Professor of philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh -- argues that while these facts are themselves in turn supported by inductive inferences, the resulting network of inductive support does not suffer from vicious circularity, is not a form of coherentist epistemology, and dissolves the infamous problem of induction articulated most clearly by Hume. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/philosophy Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.