Single Idea 6352

[catalogued under 14. Science / C. Induction / 1. Induction]

Full Idea

Enumerative induction examines a sample of objects, observes they all have a property, and infers that they all have that property; statistical induction observes a proportion of the objects having the property, and infers that proportion in general.

Gist of Idea

Enumerative induction gives a universal judgement, while statistical induction gives a proportion

Source

J Pollock / J Cruz (Contemporary theories of Knowledge (2nd) [1999], §1.4.6)

Book Reference

Pollock,J.L./Cruz,J: 'Contemporary Theories of Knowledge (2nd)' [Rowman and Littlefield 1999], p.19


A Reaction

There is also induction by elimination, where it is either p or q, and observation keeps saying it isn't p. A small sample is very unreliable, but a huge sample (e.g. cigarettes and cancer) is almost certain, so where is the small/huge boundary?

Related Ideas

Idea 4800 Natural laws result from eliminative induction, where enumerative induction gives generalisations [Cohen,LJ, by Psillos]

Idea 18610 'Ampliative' induction infers that all members of a category have a feature found in some of them [Machery]