Induction vs. Deduction: Synthesis vs. Analysis 23 May, 2015
V1 2015 Schield CTC 1 Past V1 2015 Schield CTC 2 Induction vs. Deduction We thought critically! Synthesis vs. Analysis January, 1776
In proportion to the population of Milo Schield the colonies (2.5 million), it had the Augsburg College largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history. [500,000 copies 1st year]
As of 2006, it remains the all-time May 23, 2015 best-selling American title West Minneapolis Critical Thinking Club Wikipedia: Common Sense www.StatLit.org/pdf/2015-Schield-CTC2-Slides.pdf
Past V1 2015 Schield CTC 3 PresentV1 2015 Schield CTC 4 Critical Thinking in America Change in Values 1858 US Freshman
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1st speaker had 60 minutes; 2nd had 90; 1st replied for 30 Speakers averaged around 100 words per minute. Families stood, listened, analyzed and evaluated!
PresentV1 2015 Schield CTC 5 PresentV1 2015 Schield CTC 6 Critical Thinking: Most college grads do NOT The Fall in Culture accept Darwinian evolution
Advocacy journalism rejects . objectivity and neutrality Theory!
Rise of pseudo-science: • young-earth creation • denial of evolution
Confirmation bias in media • MS-NBC & Fox News
2015-Schield-CTC2-slides.pdf 1 Induction vs. Deduction: Synthesis vs. Analysis 23 May, 2015
PresentV1 2015 Schield CTC 7 PresentV1 2015 Schield CTC 8 Assumptions are Arbitrary Assumptions are Arbitrary
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PresentV1 2015 Schield CTC 9 PresentV1 2015 Schield CTC 10 Stance & Perspective: Assumptions are Arbitrary Optional / Elective
Secular humanism Religious humanism Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over established doctrine or faith (fideism). … humanism refers to a perspective that affirms some notion of “human nature”…
V1 2015 Schield CTC 11 V1 2015 Schield CTC 12 Recent causes; The Root Cause but not the Root Cause Aristotle! Schools drop diagramming sentences (1960s) Aristotle noted two kinds of reasoning: Colleges drop logic as GenEd requirement. • Deduction: from general to specific No evidence that logic improves writing • Induction: from specific to general. Schools cut back on formal debate Critical thinking: waxes, peaks (1996) and wanes Aristotle was extremely clear on deduction. Reading for pleasure declines for school children Aristotle was ambiguous (incomprehensible?) Decline in academic rigor (Academically Adrift) on induction. College is not much harder than high school
2015-Schield-CTC2-slides.pdf 2 Induction vs. Deduction: Synthesis vs. Analysis 23 May, 2015
V1 2015 Schield CTC 13 V1 2015 Schield CTC 14 Aristotle: Aristotle: the Father of Logic the Father of Logic
Aristotle was clear on deduction: Inductions generate universals based on valid arguments gave true particulars. From “Some” to “All”. conclusions given true premises. Aristotle seemed incomprehensible on induction.
All men are mortal. Socrates is a man, Induction: Socrates is mortal; Plato is mortal; Therefore, Socrates is mortal. Therefore all men are mortal. Every deductive argument required a universal Aristotle said induction was justified if we knew what premise: Either “All X are Y” or “No X are Y”. was true for all subjects. This made him sound like an idiot. It required omniscience! Where did these universals come from? All swans are white, so all swans are white…
V1 2015 Schield CTC 15 V1 2015 Schield CTC 16 The Fall in Philosophy Examples of Induction Hume in 1748
All inductions involve universals: All men are 1748 Hume: Human Understanding: mortal; All acorns come from oak trees; All water The problem of causation; runs downhill; All shocks come from electricity. The problem of induction
Benjamin Franklin investigated various sources of “We cannot rationally justify the claim “shocks”: eels, cloths, etc. His famous kite- that nature will continue to be lightning experiment demonstrated “the sameness uniform.” of electrical matter with that of lightening…” “The supposition that the future All universals about the causes and natures of resembles the past is not based on things are inductions. arguments of any kind, but is derived entirely from habit.”
V1 2015 Schield CTC 17 V1 2015 Schield CTC 18 The Fall in Philosophy Critical Thinking: No Certainty The Fall in Philosophy
1748 Hume: Human Understanding: 1748 Hume: Human Understanding: The problem of causation; Problem of induction; Problem of causation. The problem of induction
Cannot generalize with certainty 1879 Frege: Formal Language for Pure Thought "induction is the glory of science Father of Analytic philosophy and the scandal of philosophy" Creator of mathematical/symbolic/predicate logic Broad 1903 Moore: Principia Ethica, the naturalistic fallacy Hume has posed “a most Cannot derive an “ought” from an “is” fundamental challenge to all human 1921 Wittgenstein: the Tractatus: Language limits what knowledge claims.” Kant & Popper can be said meaningfully. This excludes “religion, ethics, aesthetics, the mystical”...
2015-Schield-CTC2-slides.pdf 3 Induction vs. Deduction: Synthesis vs. Analysis 23 May, 2015
V1 2015 Schield CTC 19 PresentV1 2015 Schield CTC 20 Change in Values . US Freshman
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V1 2015 Schield CTC 21 V1 2015 Schield CTC 22 Critical Thinking: Relativism: The Fall in Philosophy The Religious Response
No way to validate an ethical statement: Impossible to obtain an “ought” from an “is” Relativism: No way to validate a scientific statement. No good or bad; All statements are conditionally or temporarily true: no right or wrong; true until they have been refuted. no virtue or vice; Induction as invalid/unjustified leads to: no merit or sin; • Skepticism no earned or unearned • Cynicism • Relativism Involves “cognitive • Subjectivism promiscuity”
V1 2015 Schield CTC 23 V1 2015 Schield CTC 24 Bloom’s Taxonomy #2: Focus on Analysis Top 2 are opinions; Ignored Treat Synthesis as Opinion
. Analysis: Synthesis: “To break up” “to put together” decomposition, composition, disintegration, integration, reductionism creation
2015-Schield-CTC2-slides.pdf 4 Induction vs. Deduction: Synthesis vs. Analysis 23 May, 2015
V1 2015 Schield CTC 25 V1 2015 Schield CTC 26 Critical Thinking: Three Key Problems: Problems Teaching Schield (2004)
What is called critical thinking in the classroom Resolving Three Key Problems in the Humanities. tends to be Abstract: The disarray in the humanities reflects their sensitivity to the problems of objectivity, unobservables • reductionist (explaining complex phenomena in and induction. Resolving these problems could set a terms of more elemental events), new direction. • positivistic (limiting the “real” to what is Copy: www.statlit.org/pdf/2004SchieldNDIH.pdf physically observable or which can be proved), • quantitative (understanding qualities in terms of quantities).
Source: John Bardi: www.personal.psu.edu/jfb9/essay2ThinkingCritically.html
V1 2015 Schield CTC 27 V1 2015 Schield CTC 28 Ethics reclaimed from Resolving these problems could value-clarification
• “Provide a reality-based middle ground that avoids . the excess of relativistic subjectivism and dogmatic intrinsicism. • Reverse the tide of anti-intellectualism, skepticism and pseudo-science. • Lay the foundation for a second renaissance that would outshine the first in its benefits to society.”
Schield 2004
V1 2015 Schield CTC 29 V1 2015 Schield CTC 30 More on Essentials; Cultural Relativism Less “cognitive promiscuity”
The officer reported he was being assaulted [by the suspects] with a skateboard. May 21, 2015 Yahoo News.
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V1 2015 Schield CTC 31 V1 2015 Schield CTC 32 The most-accessible book on 3) Solution or Resolution the Problem of Induction
Solving or resolving the problem of induction The Logical Leap: Induction in Physics. Harriman (2010). “Refuting the skepticism that is endemic in contemporary philosophy of science, Harriman offers demonstrable evidence of the power of reason.” “He argues that philosophy itself is an inductive science.” [Most accessible]
V1 2015 Schield CTC 33 V1 2015 Schield CTC 34 Untangling Aristotle’s views on Aristotle the Problem of Induction misunderstood
An Aristotelian Account of Induction: Creating Something In presenting induction, Aristotle from Nothing by Groarke (2009). spoke of knowing what was true for “Groarke explains how Aristotle all members of the group. offers a viable solution to the This made Aristotle sound like the village idiot. so-called problem of induction…” It required omniscience of past, present and future! If all swans are white, then all swans are white…
Professor of philosophy Groarke says that Aristotle was trying to talk about at St. Francis Xavier what was essential to something. If it were essential, University, Canada. it would be true for all members of that group.
V1 2015 Schield CTC 35 V1 2015 Schield CTC 36 Socrates: A philosopher’s discussion Misunderstood of the Problem of Induction
Shifting the Paradigm: Alternate Perspectives on Induction Editors Biondi and Groarke (2014). “essays by experts who argue against the prevailing Humean view of inductive reasoning as an unreliable, enumerative argument.”
Paolo C. Biondi, 1. Always questioning. Sharing opinions. Professor Philosophy. U. Sudbury, Canada 2. Searching for what is essential about something. [Most academic]
2015-Schield-CTC2-slides.pdf 6 Induction vs. Deduction: Synthesis vs. Analysis 23 May, 2015
V1 2015 Schield CTC 37 FutureV1 2015 Schield CTC 38 Critical Thinking Two Kinds of Induction The Future will be Better
Induction is “proceeding from particulars to a universal” Truth, goodness and beauty will be explored and recast. Aristotle’s statement is ambiguous – two interpretations: Philosophy will once again be the queen of the sciences. The humanities will be ascendant. Scholastic induction (propositions) [Hume, Analytics] • Truth: Concept formation, the nature of knowledge > From particular propositions to universal propositions and the field of education will be transformed. All swans I’ve seen are white, so all swans are white. • Goodness: Ethics will be secularized. The social sciences will merge back under the Humanities. Socratic induction (Definitions) [Aristotle, Bacon] • Beauty: Art and literature will be redefined. > From particular things to universal ideas or concepts. Is color essential for being a swan? What is a swan? Organized religion will no longer have a “monopoly” What is man? What is truth? What is good? on goodness, values and virtues.
FutureV1 2015 Schield CTC 39 FutureV1 2015 Schield CTC 40 Critical Thinking Will a different Philosophy The Future will be Much Better make that much difference?
Induction is the motor of the mind. Scientists manage to ignore the problem of induction. Problem solvers don’t worry about this problem. People in the professions don’t worry about it.
Most individuals ignore the problem of induction. They believe there is a right and wrong, a good and bad.
Q. Is there any evidence that resolving the problem of induction will make much difference? A. Yes, Ocassionalism in Islamic civilization today!
V1 2015 Schield CTC 41 V1 2015 Schield CTC 42 Socrates Averroes Aquinas The Fall in Islam Aristotle Al-Ghazali Ayatolla Rejection of Aristotle and Plato
1058-1110 Al-Ghazali The Incoherence of the Philosophers: Most influential Muslim after Muhammad. Asharite doctrine: Occasionalism: As God wills it
Yes No
2015-Schield-CTC2-slides.pdf 7 Induction vs. Deduction: Synthesis vs. Analysis 23 May, 2015
V1 2015 Schield CTC 43 V1 2015 Schield CTC 44 Averroes: Socrates Bacon ???????? 1126-1198 Aristotle Hume GE Moore
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Yes No
V1 2015 Schield CTC 45 V1 2015 Schield CTC 46 I look forward to a brighter Critical Thinking future for all of mankind Generalizations
. Scientific generalizations: • Water runs downhill • What a thing is (nature) determines what it does (causation) • All swans are white (No)
Human/Ethical Generalizations: • Humans are mortal • Reason is man’s basic means of survival • The right to life is the source of all rights
V1 2015 Schield CTC 47 Critical Thinking: The Fall in Philosophy
Analytic Philosophy (1879 to today): “emphasis on clarity and argument (often achieved via modern formal logic and analysis of language)…” In a narrower sense: • The logical-positivist principle that there are no specifically philosophical truths and that the object of philosophy is the logical clarification of thoughts • the logical clarification of thoughts can only be achieved by analysis of their logical form • The rejection of sweeping philosophical systems in favour of attention to detail, or ordinary language
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