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All Ravens can be Black, After All

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Abstract

This article discusses the problem of non-zero probabilities for non-tautologous universal generalizations in Rudolf Carnap’s inductive logic (1950, 1952) when the domain of discourse is infinite. A solution is provided for a generalization of the form “all Xs are Ys”, for example “all ravens all black”. The solution is based on assuming that a significant part of the domain consists of non-Xs. This assumption can often be justified as a kind of ceteris paribus principle.

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Notes

  1. Following also the terminology of Kuipers (1986, p. 38).

  2. For one monadic atomic predicate, see Holm (2013, pp. 4005–4006); cf. also Zabell (2011, p. 278).

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Correspondence to Ruurik Holm.

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Holm, R. All Ravens can be Black, After All. J of Log Lang and Inf 30, 657–669 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10849-021-09338-7

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