Single Idea 16836

[catalogued under 14. Science / C. Induction / 5. Paradoxes of Induction / b. Raven paradox]

Full Idea

The reason my shoe is white is not that it lacks some feature essential to ravens that makes them black.

Gist of Idea

My shoes are not white because they lack some black essence of ravens

Source

Peter Lipton (Inference to the Best Explanation (2nd) [2004], 06 'The Method')

Book Reference

Lipton,Peter: 'Inference to the Best Explanation (2nd ed)' [Routledge 2004], p.101


A Reaction

Good, but not totally true. If my shoes were made to grow from genes, and then had some raven spliced into them, we might manage it. That is an explanation, but a long way from the best one. Enquiry is explanations, not deductions.