Why There Can\u27t be a Logic of Induction

Carap\u27s attempt to develop an inductive logic has been criticized on a variety of grounds, and while there may be some philosophers who believe that difficulties with Carnap\u27s approach can be overcome by further elaborations and modifications of his system, I think it is fair to say that the consensus is that the approach as a whole cannot succeed. In writing a paper on problems with inductive logic (and with Carnap\u27s approach in particular), I might therefore be accused of beating a dead horse. However, there are still some (e.g., Spirtes, Glymour and Scheines 1993) who seem to believe that purely formal methods for scientific inference can be developed. It may still then be useful to perform an autopsy on a dead horse when establishing the cause of death can shed light on issues of current concern. My intention in this paper is to point out a problem in Carnap\u27s inductive logic which has not been clearly articulated, and which applies generally to any inductive logic. My conclusion will be that scientific inference is inevitably and ineliminably guided by background beliefs and that different background beliefs lead to the application of different inductive rules and different standards of evidentiary relevance. At the end of this paper I will discuss the relationship between this conclusion and the problem of justifying induction

A Study of the Vocational Plans of the Prospective Graduates of I. M. Terrell High School for June, 1937

In this study it is the intention of the writer to analyze carefully the trend in choices of vocations among the prospective graduates of I. M. Terrell High School. From such an analysis, the writer will attempt to evaluate these choices in the light of established guidance principles. For this purpose the study will be divided into age groups to associate the logic in the choices with the maturity of the students making them. The findings secured through a questionnaire will be presented in the body of the study with most of the writer\u27s comments coming in the part entitled General Summary and Conclusions

FIVE STEPS TO RESPONSIBILITY

Responsibility has entered the academic discourse of logicians hardly more than few decades ago. I suggest a logical concept of responsibility which employs ideas both from a number of theories belonging to different branches of logic as well from other academic areas. As a comment to this concept, I suggest five steps narrative scenario in order to show how the logical dimension of responsibility emerges from diverse tendencies in logic and other sciences. Here are the five steps briefly stated: Step 1. Developing modal formalisms capable of evaluative analysis of situations (deontic, epistemic and etc.). Step 2. Drawing a conceptual borderline between normal and non-normal (weak) logical systems. Step 3. Using different kinds of models. Step 4. Agent- and action- friendly turn in logic. Step 5. Creating formalisms for modeling different types of agency. An idea advocated here within 5-Steps route to responsibility is that this concept is a complex causal and evaluative (axiological) relation. A logical account may be given for causal and normative aspects of this relation. Unfolding the responsibility back and forth through 5 Steps will result in different concepts. The technicalities are minimized for the sake of keeping the philosophical scope of the paper. For the same reason I also refrain from discussing legal and juridical ramifications of the issue

In Search of an Integrated Logic of Conviction and Intention

According to a two-level criterion for combination tests in the field of ordinary language (C-CT), moral 'ought'-sentences may be taken to imply 'I intend'-sentences partly semantically and partly pragmatically. If so, a trenchant linguistic analysis of the concept of moral obligation cannot do without a non-classical logic which allows to model these important kinds of ordinary-language implications by means of purely syntactical derivations. For this purpose, an integrated logic of conviction and intention has been tentatively devised by way of a doxastically, buletically, and pragmatically extended calculus of natural deduction. This system of buletic logic cannot even be launched without one or two derivation rules of deductive closedness. However, these very closedness rules appear to be responsible for buletic paradoxes which are analogous to paradoxes long since known from other, less exotic branches of logic but at first sight look much more virulent. After having scrutinized two potential strategies for coping with the paradoxes of buletic logic, finally we can convince ourselves that these paradoxes, as well as their familiar non-buletic counterparts, are but apparent paradoxes, provided we consistently lean on C-CT and do not let pragmatical considerations intrude into purely logical ones

Parallel deaths: logic and structure in the house of Poe

Throughout this article a through reading of the short-story titled “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe is proposed, with purpose of exposing it as a fully intentional construction. The sort of intentionally here is mentioned focuses on the structural framework, the narrative: its literary design. This analysis draws the reader’s attention specifically to the layout, frame and scenering of the tale in order to reveal parallel structures expressed in a symmetry between ground and figure. The work adresses as well the author’s intrusion within the text, the problema entailed by a referential language and the purposeful transformations resulting resulting from textual appropiation.A través de este artículo se propone una lectura minuciosa del relato “The Fall of the House of Usher” de Edgar Allan Poe, con el objeto de exponerlo como una construcción completamente intencional. La intencionalidad aquí mencionada se centra en el marco estructural, en la narrativa: su diseño literario. Este análisis dirige la atención del lector específicamente al diseño, estructura y entorno con el propósito de reveler estructuras paralelas: una simetría entre la forma y el fondo; considerado, así mismo, la intrusión del autor en el texto, el problema que supone un lenguaje referencial, así como las transformaciones intencionadas resultants de la apropiación textual

Søren Kierkegaard’s Repetition. Existence in Motion

This article tries to make sense of the concept of repetition in Søren Kierkegaard’s works. According to Kierkegaard repetition is a temporal movement of existence. What is repetition and what is its meaning for human existence? In answering this question the Danish philosopher depicts repetition by comparing three different approaches to life. Throughout the article I try to develop a coherent argument on ‘the new philosophical category’by analysing the three types of repetition and their corresponding human prototypes. I consider repetition a key concept in summarizing Kierkegaard’s theory of existence, where existence pictures the becoming of the human-self that follows several stages. Constantin Constantius’s repetition is an unsuccessful attempt, an aesthetic expression of human-life. The young lover’s repetition is spiritual, albeit not yet authentic, religious, but more poetic, even if he regains his self. Only Job’s repetition is an authentic movement of existence, an expression of a spiritual trial and of genuine faith

The Equality of Sexes in J.S.Mill Vis-A-Vis the Participation of Women in the Nigerian Labour and Economy

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) profoundly influenced the shape of the nineteenth century British thought and political discourse. His substantial corpus of works includes texts in logic, epistemology, economics, social and political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, religion, and current affairs. Among his most well-known and significant pieces is „The Subjection of Women. in which he argues for the equality of the sexes. In this paper, the researcher engages in an enquiry concerning the experience of women in the Nigerian labour and economy. Taking from the data from this enquiry, an attempt is made at studying the situation vis-a-vis J. S Mill.s argument for the equality of sexes. While not suggesting any intention to trek all the allies of the experience of women in the Nigerian labour and economy, this piece adopts a new method to tackle the problem, by arguing for the equality of sexes as a credible tactic for the liberation and restoration of the dignity of women in Nigeria

Philosophy of Action

There are a number of questions, the answers to which define specific theoretical approaches to Hegel’s philosophy of action. To begin with, does Hegel attempt to give a theory of free will that responds to the naturalistic skepticism so prevalent in the history of modern philosophy? Though some scholars hold that he is interested in providing such a theory, perhaps the majority view is that Hegel instead socializes his conception of the will such that the traditional naturalistic worries are no longer germane.1 A second question is: does Hegel have a theory of action as such that competes with those found in the history of modern philosophy and more particularly in the Anglophone literature from the mid-20th century onwards? Though perhaps the majority view is that Hegel does have such a theory of action, it is commonly held to be independent of any commitments to a conception of free will, and to take a form radically different from the other offerings in the literature in virtue of introducing and essentially retrospective rather than prospective relation between the agent and her action