Philosophy Questions Research Papers

The application of reason to human thought patterns and assumptions has been one of the most useful and illuminating quests in modern philosophy. Of those applications of reason, Hume’s arguments regarding inferences or, by another name, the inductive thought process utilized so heavily in the sciences, has been one of the most puzzling and difficult to overcome. One of the best attempts at overcoming the problem presented by Hume is that of inference to the best explanation or IBE. Although this is by far one of the best rationales for using induction or inference, it still presents the same epistemological and metaphysical problems as those defined by Hume.

Hume’s critique of inference is based on his assessment of how reason can be applied to the enumerative inductive process. In his discussion of demonstrative reasoning (i.e. deductive) and probabilistic reasoning (i.e. the generalization of causal reasoning), Hume notes that the human mind is the primary causal link between evidence, reason, and truth. At the same time, he indicates that its processes must be based on logical and non-circular arguments in order for them to be considered truth. In order for truth to be determined from some evidence, there must not be any case in which that evidence leads to a different conclusion. This is the basis of Hume’s negative account of induction. Hume shows that in nature links made by human beings between causes and effects are not the result of understanding or reason but are rather the extension of imagination in relation to perception. Quite simply, Hume makes the normative argument that just because “A” has always caused “B” in the past one cannot know for certain that “A” will continue to cause “B” in the future. The infinite nature of the universe and the limitations inherent in the human mind preclude this knowledge. As such, any inductive decision on the part of human beings regarding the causal inferential nature of the relationship between things in the world is imaginative and perceptive but not based on reason.

After determining that enumerative induction cannot be based on reason but only on imagination, Hume goes further to elucidate what he views as the positive definition and nature of induction. He likens induction in human thinking to that of a sort of survival mentality inherent to the behavior of many animals in nature. The belief that because “A” has always caused “B” it will continue to do so in the future is merely a habit of mind in Hume’s account. These habits of mind are not intrinsically true regardless of how true they may seem to the individual. Again, the reason that such causal inferences cannot be true is that human beings have no epistemic access to the future such that they can know that all future occurrences will repeat the patterns of the past. He notes as well that probabilistic inferences such as “All observed Fs have also been Gs a is an F. It is therefore probable that, a, not yet observed, is also a G” are also problematic for the same reason. While it may appear that this inference is reasonable because it allows for the possibility of incorrectness, the formation of the inference prior to inserting the aspect of probability is still made upon the habit of mind first made from the underlying causal inference, “All observed Fs have also been Gs, a is an F. Therefore, a, not yet observed, is also a G”. Hume thus determines that the fundamental notions of thought that are utilized in formulating the argument are inherently important to the determination of the argument’s rationality.

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A Philosophy Questions Philosophy research paper is an in-depth examination of Philosophy Questions. More than just an overview of what was learned on Philosophy Questions, like a term paper is, a research paper contains analysis of Philosophy Questions along the lines of organizational theory and relevant published material. Research papers are highly analytical and can often be more than 8 to 10 pages. The key to a good research project is the examination of recently published journal articles and peer-reviewed material on the Philosophy Questions chosen. Like the name implies, research papers are exactly that, a paper that examines the information that can be found on Philosophy Questions.