Induction - by John P McCaskey (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Charts the historical development of induction and challenges contemporary understandings of the concept and its foundations.

The problem of induction continues to vex and beguile. How can we reliably draw universal conclusions from limited observations? In Induction, John P. McCaskey steps back and rethinks long-held assumptions, tracing the ideas of Socrates and Aristotle in ancient Greece to those of Karl Popper in the twentieth century.

This comprehensive account does not look at how people of the past answered the questions we ask today. Instead, it asks: How did they understand the very meaning of the words epagōgē in Greek, inductio in Latin, istiqrāʾ in Arabic, Induktion in German, and induction in English? McCaskey's careful treatment of texts in their context dispels many long-standing myths, and importantly, he introduces us to a now-unfamiliar way to think about what induction is-a way in which there simply is no "problem of induction." McCaskey reveals that the problem was one of our own making and that an accurate history may help us recover old ways-and thereby introduce new ways-to think about the whole idea. A must-read for philosophers, historians of ideas, and anyone interested in the scientific method.

Review Quotes

"All contemporary philosophers are supposed to know that there is a 'problem of induction' how can we move from a limited number of observations of a certain kind of phenomena to their universal knowledge covering a potential infinity of cases of the same kind, never observed in the past? McCaskey's book, the result of decades of careful research, shows how the investigation of the historical developments of the concept underlying the phrase compels us to revisit many of our assumptions, and shows us a way to reconceptualize the issue for our own use. Not all historians or philosophers of science may agree with every point and argument, but Induction is a compelling read, challenging them all: tolle lege!"

"In this comprehensive study of the evolution of the concept of induction, McCaskey challenges us to return to its roots, shorn of anachronistic assumptions about its connection to probability, skepticism, and the modern 'problem of induction.' When we do so, the deep connections between the concept's roots in Plato's Socratic dialogues and Aristotle's theory of inquiry, on the one hand, and founders of the Scientific Revolution, on the other, become clear. Written in a clear and direct style, Induction is an important contribution to the history of science and its philosophical foundations."

About the Author

John P. McCaskey is a visiting research scholar at Fordham University. He is the editor and translator of Jacopo Zabarella's On Methods and On Regressus.