The Problem of Induction
The Scottish philosopher David Hume believed that it was scientific experimentation, not human reasoning, that provided us with factual knowledge. His philosophy, commonly known as empiricism, denied the value of induction, which is a process by which people derive general beliefs from individual facts or occurrences. This paper discusses the problems associated with the theory of induction, and will present proposed solutions from Hume himself, as well as noted philosophers Wesley Salmon, Laurence Bonjour, and Thomas Reid.