Bonjour"s A Priori Justification of Induction

Meixner, John and Fuller, Gary Bonjour"s A Priori Justification of Induction. In: Pre-Proceedings of the 26th International Wittgenstein Symposium. Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society, Kirchberg am Wechsel, pp. 227-229.

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Abstract

Justifications of induction, and certainly a priori justifications
of induction, are out of fashion these days. In a
chapter of his recent book, In Defense of Pure Reason
(1998)1, however, Lawrence Bonjour, the respected American
epistemologist, bucks the trend and makes a valiant
attempt to revive the latter. What he claims can be justified
a priori is that if the premise of a standard inductive argument
obtains, then it is likely or probable that the conclusion
will hold. A standard inductive premise, for Bonjour,
will state that a certain proportion m/n of observed cases of
A have been cases of B, as well as specify that there has
been "suitable variation of the collateral circumstances�
and that the "observed proportion ... converges over time
to the fraction m/n� (Bonjour, 206-07). The standard
inductive conclusion will state that there is "a corresponding
objective regularity in the world� (212), in other
words an objective regularity of the form: m/n of all As are
Bs.

Item Type: Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords: Justification of Induction; Some-Explanation Principle; Possible Worlds; Bonjour, L.; Mackie, J.
Subjects: Philosophie > Philosophische Journale, Kongresse, Vereinigungen > Wittgenstein Symposium Kirchberg, Pre-Proceedings > Kirchberg 2003
Philosophie > Philosophische Disziplinen > Logik, analytische Philosophie
Depositing User: Wolfgang Heuer
Date Deposited: 06 Dec 2020 14:51
Last Modified: 06 Dec 2020 14:51
URI: http://sammelpunkt.philo.at/id/eprint/3095

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