The Ground of Induction

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“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided,” said Patrick Henry, “and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.” There is in fact no other way, and it is called “induction.” This book is intended to show how and why induction is a logically valid procedure: that its premises, in short, provide a real reason for accepting its conclusions. The author introduces a modernization of the classic or Laplacean theory of probability. This theory and its application to induction will have a special interest for logicians.