A broad class of inductive logics that includes the probability calculus is defined by the conditions that the inductive strengths [A|B] are defined fully in terms of deductive relations in preferred partitions and that they are asymptotically stable. Inductive independence is shown to be generic for propositions in such logics; a notion of a scale-free inductive logic is identified; and a limi...

Drawing on the epistemology of logic literature anti-exceptionalism about logic, we set out to investigate following metaphilosophical questions empirically: Is philosophy special? Are its methods (dis)continuous with science? More specifically, test hypotheses philosophical deductivism, inductivism, and abductivism. Using indicator words classify arguments by type (namely, deductive, inductive...

In a number of works, Rudolf Carnap provided ingenious and systematic approaches to the understanding of scientific knowledge (see, for instance, Carnap 1928, 1934, 1947, 1950a, b). As is well known, his proposals faced three important changes: (i) the early phenomenalism of the Logische Aufbau der Welt (Carnap 1928) was replaced by the physicalism of Logische Syntax der Sprache (Carnap 1934); ...

Abstract The problem of induction belongs to the most controversial issues in philosophy science. If is understood widely, it covers every fallible inference, that is, such its conclusion not logically entailed by premises. This paper analyses so-called reductive induction, reasoning which premises follow from conclusion, but reverse relation does hold. Two are taken into account, namely defini...

Despite the lip service which many sociologists pay to Popper’s hypothetico-deductive model (HDM) of theory testing, few if any major social theories have been definitively falsified. The reason is that sociological explanations do not fit the deductivist model of explanation: They do not contain universal or statistical ‘‘covering laws’’ from which falsifiable hypotheses could be deduced. Soci...

We examine several formulations of the common practice of jumping to conclusions when actions demand decisions but solid knowledge fails. This practice permeates artificial intelligence, where systems assume many conclusions automatically as defaults simply because the questions they decide are known to occur frequently, and where other assumptions are formulated and adopted only when ignorance...

Claude Bernard, the father of scientific physiology, believed that if medicine was to become truly scientific, it would have to be based on rigorous and controlled animal experiments. Bernard instituted a paradigm which has shaped physiological practice for most of the twentieth century. In this paper we examine how Bernard's commitment to hypothetico-deductivism and determinism led to (a) his ...