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Single Idea 16485

[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 5. Empiricism Critique ]

Full Idea

Propositions about 'some' may be proved empirically, but propositions about 'all' are difficult to know, and can't be proved unless such propositions are in the premisses. These aren't in perception, so forgo general propositions, or abandon empiricism?

Gist of Idea

Perception can't prove universal generalisations, so abandon them, or abandon empiricism?

Source

Bertrand Russell (An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth [1940], 5)

Book Ref

Russell,Bertrand: 'An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth' [Penguin 1967], p.86

A Reaction

This is obviously related to the difficulty empiricists have with induction. You could hardly persuade logicians to give up the universal quantifier, because it is needed in mathematics. Do we actually know any universal empirical truths?

The 15 ideas from 'An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth'

16477 Asserting not-p is saying p is false [Russell]
16484 There are four experiences that lead us to talk of 'some' things [Russell]
16486 The physical world doesn't need logic, but the mental world does [Russell]
16483 Disjunction may also arise in practice if there is imperfect memory. [Russell]
16480 A disjunction expresses indecision [Russell]
16479 'Or' expresses hesitation, in a dog at a crossroads, or birds risking grabbing crumbs [Russell]
16481 'Or' expresses a mental state, not something about the world [Russell]
16487 Maybe the 'or' used to describe mental states is not the 'or' of logic [Russell]
16475 A 'heterological' predicate can't be predicated of itself; so is 'heterological' heterological? Yes=no! [Russell]
16482 All our knowledge (if verbal) is general, because all sentences contain general words [Russell]
16476 For simple words, a single experience can show that they are true [Russell]
16485 Perception can't prove universal generalisations, so abandon them, or abandon empiricism? [Russell]
16478 A mother cat is paralysed if equidistant between two needy kittens [Russell]
2947 Questions wouldn't lead anywhere without the law of excluded middle [Russell]
4758 Naïve realism leads to physics, but physics then shows that naïve realism is false [Russell]