TGGP4 comments on A Priori - Less Wrong

32 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 08 October 2007 09:02PM

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Comment author: TGGP4 08 October 2007 10:21:01PM 4 points [-]

Generalizing from past observations to future expectations is often referred to in philosophy as the "problem of induction". It has the same problem is that you have to accept induction working in the past to expect it to work in the future, and if Bertrand Russell is right to argue that you were created five seconds ago with false memories you can't know it worked in the past either. Against that kind of skepticism I can only fall back on a David Stove type "common sense" position, but fortunately I am not interested in persuading others but understanding the world well enough to attain my goals.