Inductive generalization is a defeasible type of inference which we use to reason from the particular to the universal. First, a number of systems are presented that provide different ways of implementing this inference pattern within first-order logic. These systems are defined within the adaptive logics framework for modeling defeasible reasoning...
Cette contribution porte sur la notion de projection disciplinaire, en vigueur en histoire/épistémologie de la linguistique. On s’attache d’abord à la distinguer des notions de prévision, prédiction et accommodation (cf. Horkheimer, Hempel et/ou Popper). On montre que la projection implique la linguistique comme discipline et pas seulement comme sa...
Published in Studies in history and philosophy of science
Hempel seems to hold the following three views: (H1) Understanding is pragmatic/relativistic: Whether one understands why X happened in terms of Explanation E depends on one's beliefs and cognitive abilities; (H2) Whether a scientific explanation is good, just like whether a mathematical proof is good, is a nonpragmatic and objective issue independ...
Published in Rhizomata
(1) If a deductive argument is valid, then the conclusion is not novel. (2) If the conclusion of an argument is not novel, the argument is not useful. So, (3) if a deductive argument is valid, it is not useful. This conclusion, (3), is unacceptable. Since the argument is valid, we must reject at least one premise. So, should we reject (1) or (2)? T...
In this paper I will argue that the two main approaches to statistical mechanics, that of Boltzmann and Gibbs, constitute two substantially different theoretical apparatuses. Particularly, I defend that this theoretical split must be philosophically understood as a separation of epistemic functions within this physical domain: while Boltzmannians a...
In this paper I investigate how intellectual problems concerning an epistemology of history and a historical view of knowledge played a role in the network of logical empiricist philosophers between 1930 and 1945. Specifically, I focus on the practical efforts of Hans Reichenbach and Otto Neurath to incorporate these intellectual stakes concerning ...
Published in Journal of the history of ideas
This paper situates Carl Hempel's 1942 paper "The Function of General Laws in History" within a broader debate over the philosophy of history in American academia between 1935 and 1943. I argue that Hempel's paper was directed against German neo-Kantianism, and show how the German debate over historiography continued between 1939 and 1943 in the co...
Resumen: El presente artículo analiza la propuesta de Arthur Danto en torno a los enunciados narrativos a la luz del planteamiento de Carl Hempel en torno a las leyes generales de la historia; además considera la posibilidad de aplicar una lógica temporal al estilo de Arthur Prior para validar el aspecto coherentista y científico de ese tipo de enu...
Published in Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research
In this paper, I critically analyse two strands of Bayesian solution to the paradox: the standard Bayesian solution and the attempts to refute Nicod’s criterion (NC). I argue that the standard Bayesian solution evades the exact challenge of the paradox. I hold that though the NC or instance confirmation is imprecisely formulated, it cannot be ruled...
