The Basic Inductive Schema, Inductive Truisms, and the Research-Guiding Capacities of the Logic of Inductive Generalization∗

The aim of this paper is threefold. First, the sometimes slightly messy application of the conditional rule RC of the logic of inductive generalization is clarified by reducing this rule to a so-called basic schema BS. Next, some common truisms about inductive generalization are shown to be mistaken, but are also shown to be valid in special cases. Finally, and most importantly, it is shown that applications of the adaptive logic of inductive generalization to sets of data, possibly in the presence of background knowledge, invokes certain empirical tests and certain theoretically justified defeasible conjectures, which in a sensible way increase one’s empirical and theoretical knowledge about a given domain.