Challanges to inductive arguments Flashcards
What are the inductive arguments?
Cosmological argument and Teleological argument
Who challenged the inductive arguments?
Hume
What was Hume’s criticism of the cosmological argument?
He thought the quest for a first cause was illogical and argued that the notions of eternity and infinity renders the quest irrelevant
What did Hume reject about the part and the whole?
He rejected the notion that a principle that was relevant to the ‘part’ (i.e. a cause) could be applied to the ‘whole’ (i.e. universe)
What did Hume call the part and the whole application?
An arbitrary act of the mind
Who developed Hume’s ‘arbitrary act of the mind’ idea?
Russell
What did Russell refer to this development as?
The fallacy of composition
What is the fallacy of composition?
When one infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some part
How does the fallacy of composition relate to inductive arguments?
Since we can only reason with certainty what we have experienced, to ask about origins of a universe is meaningless as we have no experience of this
What did Hume object about the teleological argument?
The watchmaker analogy
Who had previously objected to the watchmaker analogy?
Descartes
What are the problems with the watchmaker analogy?
Comparing a mechanical instrument (watch) to an organic one (the world around us) is inappropriate
What would be a better analogy?
A vegetable
Why is assuming there is a governing intelligence behind the universe a problem?
It is not sound inductive reasoning according to the evidence we have available
What is the problem with the notions of design?
Any notions of ‘design’ that we do induce would not tell us how many ‘designers’ there were, nor whether or not it was the God of classical theism
What is a problem with the idea of us having a perfect word?
Any ‘designer’ of our world would be open to criticisms of incompetence, creating an imperfect, almost apprentice-like world
What is the problem of the problem of evil in this perfectly designed world?
Features of our world such as disease and natural disasters would also question the morality of such a designer
What does the teleological argument fail to do according to Hume?
Distinguish between deliberate
and authentic design on the one hand and
the appearance of the design on the other as there are other explanations for this ‘apparent’ order
What are the alternative scientific theories which challenge inductive arguments?
Big bang theory and Charles Darwin’s evolution theory
How does the Big Bang theory challenge inductive arguments?
It suggests the universe originated from a random appearance of a singularity (a single point in space-time)
How does Darwin’s evolution theory challenge inductive arguments?
It theorises appearance of order emerges from an underlying process that is both unpredictable and random
‘How can any thing, that exists from eternity, have a cause…
…since that relation implies a priority in time, and a beginning of existence?’ (David Hume)
‘Just because every human has a mother does not mean…
…the whole of humanity has a mother.’ (Russell)
‘…in tracing an eternal succession of objects…
…it seems absurd to inquire for a general cause or first author.’ (David Hume)
