But it is obvious that induction has worked; — Janus
there is no more need of argument for that than there is to justify saying the sun has always risen on earthly life — Janus
Can you give an account of any other means of arriving at confirmable/ dis-confirmable beliefs than induction? — Janus
Can you give an example of two competing beliefs, and explain how induction would not be at all involved in deciding between them. — Janus
Yes, of course we shouldn't demand absolute proof of anything before believing it; that is very the nature of induction — Janus
Other kinds of belief; aesthetical, ethical or metaphysical are discarded, if they are, for personal reasons; there can be no inter-subjectively definitive reasons in those cases. By that I mean there can be no reasons that a suitably educated unbiased observer would be bound to accept. — Janus
As I understand it, the problem is not only that it can't deliver certainty, but that there's no good reason to think it would deliver any support at all, even merely probabilistic support. — Pfhorrest
That's where we definitely do disagree. I think... — Janus
To those who find it is obvious, sure. To those who don't, what then? — Pfhorrest
As I understand Hume, he is pointing out... — Pfhorrest
Someone tells you something, and you don't know any better to the contrary, so you believe them.
Or:
It'd be really nice if something were the case, and you're not certain that it's not, so you tell yourself that it is.
Just for two examples. — Pfhorrest
Yes, which is why induction is a fine reason to believe something on my account. — Pfhorrest
As I said earlier I think he is just pointing out that there is no deductive certainty, no logical necessity, that nature's observed regularities will remain in place in the future. — Janus
There is no argument for it other than constant experience of it, and total lack of counterexamples to it. — Janus
You keep falling into the trap of thinking there must be a purely logical argument — Janus
We're just going in circles now — Janus
time to quit I think — Janus
which is only an argument at all if you think induction works already — Pfhorrest
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