Abstract
EVERYONE who is interested in the foundations of scientific method will find it worth while to read the article entitled "Hr. Von Wright on the Logic of Induction" which appears in the issue of Mind of January 1944, from the pen of Prof. C. D. Broad. It is Prof. Broad's account of the attack on the problem of induction which Hr. Von Wright has made in his published works consisting of a thesis (in English) and an article (in Swedish) on logical subjects. Prof. Broad deserves our thanks for bringing the content of these two works to the attention of English logicians. This article not only presents a remarkable original contribution of the Swedish logician but also reveals Dr. Broad's own illuminating comments upon it. It is impossible to summarize the argument adequately in a few sentences. The article begins by pointing out that where an unlimited sequence of instances is concerned, the proposition "100% of the Q's are R's"does not entail the proposition "All the Q's are R's". The nucleus of the problem of induction is, "How can we pass from propositions of the former type based on a finite number of Q'e to propositions of the latter type?" The attempt to justify such a passage by a priori argument is neatly refuted by a proof both ingenious and conclusive. The attempt to justify it by arguments a posteriori leads to a discussion of how in practice the necessary and/or sufficient conditions of a phenomenon are established. The question then arises: "Can we infer with certainty by such means general propositions about the necessary or sufficient conditions of a given characteristic Q?" The answer, very briefly, is: "Not without the help of postulates". These postulates are either a priori propositions, which is proved impossible, or inductive generalizations, which would lead to a vicious circle. Hence no justification of inductive generalization along these lines is possible.
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New Light on the Inductive Method. Nature 153, 430 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/153430a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/153430a0