In this paper, I discuss how Newton’s inductive argument of the Principia can be defended against criticisms leveled against it by Duhem, Popper and myself. I argue that Duhem’s and Popper’s ...

Theory: Argumentation is crucial for all academic disciplines. Nevertheless, a lack of argumentation skills among students is evident. Two core aspects of argumentation are the recognition of argument ...

As we mentioned earlier in this series, one of the goals of these articles is to help forum members separate productive debates from flame wars. If this our goal, we have an obvious challenge: what do ...

Patrick Brissey exposes a major unprovable assumption at the core of science. Will the sun rise tomorrow? The answer seems simple: an emphatic “Yes!” But how do you know? We can imagine the following ...

That’s true in our legal system, as well, although there we tend to use the word “proof” very loosely. Even in a criminal case, the “burden of proof” is “beyond a reasonable doubt”—which is not the ...

Hume himself does not use the word "induction". But what has come to be called "the problem of induction" comes down to us from him. What follows is not a detailed analysis of Hume's text. I will ...

Inductive proofs; the concept of ‘a posteriori’. Cosmological argument: St Thomas Aquinas’ first Three Ways – (motion or change; cause and effect; contingency and necessity). The Kalam cosmological ...