PHL246H1 Study Guide - Inductive Reasoning
Document Summary
Begins by distinguishing relations of ideas from matters of fact; ideas are things like mathematics, matters of facts things like ravens are black". The contradiction of every matter of fact is still a possibility: that the sun won"t rise tomorrow is not impossible in the way 2+2=5 is. Only relations of ideas can be deduced: matters of fact cannot, given that the opposite is always possible. Because cause and effect relies on experience, it can never be a priori knowledge, so a person with no experience can never make a prediction therefore, inductive statements can never be proven to be certain.
