Skip to main content

Publication Details

“The New Riddle of Induction” and Testing of Qualities

(Original title: „Nová záhada indukcie“ a testovanie vlastností)
Filozofia, 66 (2011), 8, 746-754.
Type of work: Papers
Publication language: Slovak
Abstract

The paper deals with the New Riddle of Induction set forth by N. Goodman in his Fact, Fiction, and Forecast. The problem is introduced through the definition of grue-predicate. The relation between the grue-hypothesis and empirical evidence is examined. Goodman’s underlying thesis about the neutrality of empirical evidence is undermined. The intelligibility of the idea that disjunctive properties such as Grue can be observed and seen is questioned. A solution of Goodman’s riddle is outlined by means of the definition of the identity of empirical properties and further deve- loped through postulating of the necessary condition of induction executability which prohibits the inference from “Some a, b, c, d emeralds are green” to the hypothesis “All emeralds are grue”.

Keywords

The New Riddle of Induction, Grue-predicate, Identity of empirical properties, Necessary condition of induction executability, Empirical evidence

File to download: PDF