induction – The Pop Culture Philosopher

I would take a standard textbook on math, where all the propositions are correct. Write down 99 correct mathematical statements. And then add “Zeus exists”, and compile a text. Then I would argue, that if we have a box, from which we sample randomly 99 balls and they are have the property of being black, we can think with good reason that the next one will be black. And therefore, since 99 of the math propositions in the texts are have the property of being correct, there is good reason to think that “Zeus exists” is also correct. It seems wrong somewhere. But where?

February 22, 2008 askmeLogic

No matter how strong an inductive argument is, it cannot guarantee results the same way a deductive argument can. It is always theoretically possible for the premises of an inductive argument to be true and[…]

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