Bad Solutions to the Problem of Induction

No literature is given for these solutions: you don't want to know any more about them.

Probability

"While induction cannot give us certain knowledge, it can tell us what will probably happen."

This is simply a statement of the fallibility of induction: Hume's point is that we have no grounds for supposing that the future will be like the past, in any way.

Track Record

"We know that the laws of nature haven't changed in the past, so they won't change in the future. So induction works."

This "solution" blatantly begs the question. It should not be confused with the reliabilist solution, which is much more subtle.


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Copyright David Chart 1998