(April 4, 2014 at 11:27 am)MindForgedManacle Wrote:(April 4, 2014 at 5:38 am)ManMachine Wrote: Interesting statement. Actually I didn't bring up Hume's problem of induction at all, you did. But fair enough, I'm game.
What 'assumption about induction and the uniformity of nature' do you think my message 'came with'?
MM
Accept you did:
(April 2, 2014 at 8:23 am)ManMachine Wrote: Scientists and people who adhere to scientific theory believe that the results of their observations will be repeated in the future, there is no evidence of this yet the belief persists.
That's basically Hume's problem of induction, that we have no valid basis for the belief that the future will resemble the past. We rely on induction for even that, making it circular.
As for your assumption about the uniformity of nature (UoN), I was pointing out that in even making that message, you too assumed the UoN, because you assumed that your desire to create that message would result in you actually making your body do so. The point of this being that it isn't just science or scientists who must fallaciously assume induction, but that everyone must do so in any usage of practical reasoning.
I was curious to see where you were going with this but as it happens you haven't said anything I didn't (albeit with my cyber-tongue in my cyber-cheek).
I accept that there are broader issues and that inductive reasoning has a certain ubiquity, hence my closing remark,
"There's a lot of it about'.
MM
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
