Friday 14 December 2018

"'The process of observing the facts of reality and of integrating them into concepts is ... a process of induction. The process of subsuming new instances under a known concept is ... a process of deduction.' These sentences state not the two fundamental methods of cognition, & the correct roles of induction and deduction in human life." QotD


"'The process of observing the facts of reality and of integrating them into concepts is, in essence, a process of induction. The process of subsuming new instances under a known concept is, in essence, a process of deduction.'
    "These brief and to the point sentences [from Ayn Rand's 'Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology'] state not just the two fundamental methods of cognition, but more importantly, the correct roles of induction and deduction in human life.
    "And by 'human life,' I mean science as well as everyday life.
    "Induction is the process of generalisation, of forming universal concepts based on our observation of particular objects or events. The definition of a single concept states a principle—all humans possess the capacity to reason, for example—and the combination of several or many concepts and principles builds our knowledge of reality and, in some cases, establishes the physical, biological, and human sciences.
    "Induction is conceptualisation. From an early age, probably before we can assign words to them, we all practice the inductive formation of universal concepts... 
  "[Ayn] Rand’s identification describes in general terms the true nature of induction and makes the biological and human sciences as exact and valid as the physical sciences."
        ~ Jerry Kirkpatrick, from hist post 'On the Correct Roles of Induction and Deduction in Human Life:
           Two Sentences from Ayn Rand’s Theory of Concepts'
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