INDUCTIVE BASIS

Given induction does not have an

absolute consistency in its cer- tainty

and science is founded on an inductive

basis, Hume's critique of induction

knocked the bottom out of the validity

of modern, experi- mental science.

Amongst others in the history, Bertrand

Russell observed the weak- ness of

inductive thinking, with a well-known,

metaphorical example: also a turkey being

fed everyday would be induced to believe

tomorrow, it would be fed again, as

 today happened, yet "tomorrow" is

Thanks- giving Day and the only one to

eat will be his farmer.

Another case for the limitations of the

inductive-logic method was put forward

by Carl Gustav Hempel (1945), with his

paradox of the ravens.

Its formulation set out to criticize the

theory of confirmability, whereby "the

acquisition of a new empirical

confirmation of a theory increases the

probability that this theory is true".

Hempel began with the observation that

 the logical proposition "all crows are

black" is logi- cally equivalent to "all non-

black objects are not crows".

The paradoxical conclusion is explained

by observing that common sense, tends to

reject the idea that a red apple can

support the crows thesis, for the real

contribution it can make is infinitesimal,

since non- black objects are enormously

greater than the number of crows.

The criterion of

evidence as a sign

of truth (or
 scientific proof) is

the bedrock of the

criticism and

consequent

development of

nu- merous

theories on the

scientific

The basic method.

domains of The theory of

physics probability and

 statistics have respectively become the basis and the

instrument of the scientific method, while remaining

generally ambiguous.

In probability, a phenomenon is considered observable

exclusively from the stand of the possibility or otherwise

of its occurrence, regard- less of its nature.