A Text Book Of Inductive Logic

An introductory 2001 textbook on probability and induction written by a foremost philosopher of science.

A thorough and practical introduction to inductive logic with a focus on arguments and the rules used for making inductive inferences. This textbook offers a thorough and practical introduction to inductive logic. The book covers a range of different types of inferences with an emphasis throughout on representing them as arguments. This allows the reader to see that, although the rules and guidelines for making each type of inference differ, the purpose is always to generate a probable conclusion. After explaining the basic features of an argument and the different standards for evaluating arguments, the book covers inferences that do not require precise probabilities or the probability calculus: the induction by confirmation, inference to the best explanation, and Mill's methods. The second half of the book presents arguments that do require the probability calculus, first explaining the rules of probability, and then the proportional syllogism, inductive generalization, and Bayes' rule. Each chapter ends with practice problems and their solutions. Appendixes offer additional material on deductive logic, odds, expected value, and (very briefly) the foundations of probability. Argument and Inference can be used in critical thinking courses. It provides these courses with a coherent theme while covering the type of reasoning that is most often used in day-to-day life and in the natural, social, and medical sciences. Argument and Inference is also suitable for inductive logic and informal logic courses, as well as philosophy of sciences courses that need an introductory text on scientific and inductive methods.

Originally published in 1930, this well-known text by the late British philosopher Abraham Wolf offers the student a practical, consistent, and comprehensive approach to logic which remains unique in its field. Dr. Wolf here deals systematically with the two main types of reasoning - formal logic and inductive logic - and their various applications. All the main elements of logic - such as inference, syllogism, dilemmas, evidence, deductive and inductive methods, and probability - are subsumed under these general headings. Professor Wolf strongly emphasizes the fact that logic cannot be mastered without some practical application; at the end of this volume, therefore, he includes a section of exercises based on each chapter. His unusally interesting appendix examines such matters as symbolic as logic, fallacies, the law of contradiction, modal propositions, the existential import of categorical propositions, predictables, and categories.

The state of the art of the bioengineering aspects of the morphology of microorganisms and their relationship to process performance are described in this volume. Materials and methods of the digital image analysis and mathematical modeling of hyphal elongation, branching and pellet formation as well as their application to various fungi and actinomycetes during the production of antibiotics and enzymes are presented.

This is an introductory 2001 textbook on probability and induction written by one of the world's foremost philosophers of science. The book has been designed to offer maximal accessibility to the widest range of students (not only those majoring in philosophy) and assumes no formal training in elementary symbolic logic. It offers a comprehensive course covering all basic definitions of induction and probability, and considers such topics as decision theory, Bayesianism, frequency ideas, and the philosophical problem of induction. The key features of this book are a lively and vigorous prose style; lucid and systematic organization and presentation of ideas; many practical applications; a rich supply of exercises drawing on examples from such fields as psychology, ecology, economics, bioethics, engineering, and political science; numerous brief historical accounts of how fundamental ideas of probability and induction developed; and a full bibliography of further reading.