Pessimistic induction

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the philosophy of science, the pessimistic induction, also known as the pessimistic meta-induction, is an argument against the truth, or even approximate truth, of our present scientific theories. The argument is that because past theories (for example Newtonian mechanics) which were very successful (enabled us to make accurate predications, seemed to explain many puzzling phenomena etc.) turned out to be radically false we should therefore expect that present science, despite its apparent success, will turn out to be radically false as well.

See: Laudan, Larry A Confutation of Convergent Realism (Philosophy of Science, 1981)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../p/e/s/Pessimistic_induction.html"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.