Shifting the Paradigm ─ Alternative Perspectives on Induction

Arguing against the view of inductive reasoning as an unreliable, enumerative argument (based on the ideas of David Hume), the 16 essays in this volume offer alternative accounts of how people arrive at general claims, scientific laws, definitions, and predictions, showing that induction is an authentically epistemological or philosophical process that has both psychological and logical aspects, focusing on Aristotelian approaches to induction. Philosophers from North America describe the influence of Hume's view; the comparison of the Humean and Aristotelian perspectives; the role of inductive reasoning in science; the Greek account of induction, including that of Socrates, Aristotle, and Euclid; the medieval perspective of Thomas Aquinas; Neo-Scholastic approaches to contemporary issues, such as those of Suarez, as well as Descartes; the historical transition from medieval realism to modern skepticism about the reliability of mental representations of the world; alternative modern approaches associated with Goethe, Lonergan, and American Pragmatism; and objections against contemporary accounts and a wider view of the exercise of intellection that produces the inductive insight. Annotation c2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Paolo C. Biondi, University of Sudbury, Canada; Louis Groarke, Saint Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Canada.