Critiques of the Problem of Induction

Abstract

I raise the following five objections to Hume’s problem of induction. (i) Experience and reason jointly justify inductions. (ii) The problem of induction is self-defeating in that it uses an induction to establish that inductions are not justified. (iii) To attempt to show that inductions are justified is just as unpromising as to attempt to show that the mind is reliable. (iv) Inductions do not require the uniformity principle, but the uniformity principle rather requires inductions. (v) Experience and reason jointly justify the uniformity principle. Finally, I conjure up the problem of counter-induction against counter-inductivists who invoke a counter-induction to refute an induction.