On the Pessimistic Induction and Two Fallacies

On the Pessimistic Induction and Two Fallacies

On The Pessimistic Induction & Two Fallacies

The Pessimistic Induction from falsity of past theories forms a perennial argument against scientific realism. This paper considers and rebuts two recent arguments due to Lewis (2001) and Lange (2002) to the conclusion that the argument from Pessimistic Induction (in its best known form) is actually fallacious. With this I want to re-establish the dignity of the Pessimistic Induction by calling...

Pessimistic and Optimistic Induction

Learning methods vary in the optimism or pessimism with which they regard the informativeness of learned knowledge. Pessimism is implicit in hypothesis testing, where we wish to draw cautious conclusions from experimental evidence. However, this paper demonstrates that optimism in the utility of derived rules may be the preferred bias for learning systems themselves. We examine the continuum be...

the evaluation and comparison of two esp textbooks available on the iranian market for teaching english to the students of medicine

abstract this study evaluated and compared medical terminology and english for the students of medicine (ii) as two representatives of the textbooks available on the iranian market for teaching english to the students of medicine. this research was performed on the basis of a teacher’s and a number of students’ attitudes and the students’ needs analysis for two reasons: first, to investigate...

Induction Proofs, IV: Fallacies and pitfalls

By now, induction proofs should feel routine to you, to the point that you could almost do them in your sleep. However, it is important not to become complacent and careless, for example, by skipping seemingly minor details in the write-up, omitting quantifiers, or neglecting to check conditions and hypotheses. Below are some examples of false induction proofs that illustrate what can happen wh...