Abstract
Using a minimum of propositional logic and of the elementary calculus of probability (see the Appendix), David Miller and I (Popper and Miller, 1983) published a very short paper in which we proved that probabilistic support in the sense of the calculus of probability can never be inductive support. As some knowledgeable people remained unconvinced, I am here restating our case, adding some further proofs.
Keywords
- Propositional Logic
- Deductive System
- Unconditional Probability
- Probabilistic Support
- Inductive Probability
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This paper originally appeared in G. Dorn and P. Weingartner (eds) Foundations of Logic and Linguistics (New York and London: Plenum Press, 1985).
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References
Popper, K. R., 11934, Logik der Forschung (Vienna: Springer).
—, 1959, 111983, The Logic of Scientific Discovery (London: Hutchinson).
—, 1963, 81983, Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul).
—, 1983, Realism and the Aim of Science (London: Hutchinson and Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Littlefield).
—, 21966, 81984, Logik der Forschung (Tubingen: Mohr).
— and Miller, D., 1983, ‘A Proof of the Impossibility of Inductive Probability’, Nature, No. 302, pp. 687–8.
— and —, 1984, ‘A Proof of the Impossibility of Inductive Probability (A Reply to some Critics)’, Nature, No. 310, pp. 433–4.
— and —, 1987, ‘Why Probabilistic Support is Not Inductive’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, A.321: 569–91.
Tarski, A., 1956, Logic, Semantics, Metamathematics (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
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© 1991 Karl R. Popper
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Popper, K.R. (1991). The Non-Existence of Probabilistic Inductive Support. In: Mahalingam, I., Carr, B. (eds) Logical Foundations. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21232-3_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21232-3_5
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