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> Yes, explanatory theories rely on observations. But they are not just straightforward extrapolations of the form, "Because we have observed something N times
by sonusario 8y ago
> Yes, explanatory theories rely on observations. But they are not just straightforward extrapolations of the form, "Because we have observed something N times (e.g. we have seen N green emeralds) we can reliably conclude that we will continue to observe it (e.g. all emeralds are green)."
Interesting. I will need to look further into explanatory theories, because my current understanding tells me that anything that uses observational evidence is inductive (even without following the "observed something N times" form).
- lisper 8y agoYou can choose to lump Popperian epistemology (what I have been calling "explanatory theories") together with other kinds of inductive reasoning, but that misses the point. If you cast your linguistic net wide enough, then there are a lot of different kinds of inductive reasoning. But only one of them actually works, and it's not the one that Goodman uses. At that point calling them both "inductive" robs the word of its utility.