Historical Inductions Meet the Material Theory.

Historical inductions, that is, the pessimistic metainduction and the problem of unconceived alternatives, are critically analyzed via John D. Norton's material theory of induction and subsequently rejected as noncogent arguments. It is suggested that the material theory is amenable to a local versi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophy of Science Vol. 86; no. 5; pp. 918 - 930
Main Author: Shech, Elay
Format: Article
Published: Cambridge University Press Dec2019
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:Historical inductions, that is, the pessimistic metainduction and the problem of unconceived alternatives, are critically analyzed via John D. Norton's material theory of induction and subsequently rejected as noncogent arguments. It is suggested that the material theory is amenable to a local version of the pessimistic metainduction, for example, in the context of some medical studies.