{"product_id":"humes-problem-solved-isbn-9780262039727","title":"Hume's Problem Solved","description":"\u003cb\u003eA new approach to Hume's problem of induction that justifies the optimality of induction at the level of meta-induction.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eHume's problem of justifying induction has been among epistemology's greatest challenges for centuries. In this book, Gerhard Schurz proposes a new approach to Hume's problem. Acknowledging the force of Hume's arguments against the possibility of a noncircular justification of the reliability of induction, Schurz demonstrates instead the possibility of a noncircular justification of the optimality of induction, or, more precisely, of meta-induction (the application of induction to competing prediction models). Drawing on discoveries in computational learning theory, Schurz demonstrates that a regret-based learning strategy, attractivity-weighted meta-induction, is predictively optimal in all possible worlds among all prediction methods accessible to the epistemic agent. Moreover, the a priori justification of meta-induction generates a noncircular a posteriori justification of object induction. Taken together, these two results provide a noncircular solution to Hume's problem.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSchurz discusses the philosophical debate on the problem of induction, addressing all major attempts at a solution to Hume's problem and describing their shortcomings; presents a series of theorems, accompanied by a description of computer simulations illustrating the content of these theorems (with proofs presented in a mathematical appendix); and defends, refines, and applies core insights regarding the optimality of meta-induction, explaining applications in neighboring disciplines including forecasting sciences, cognitive science, social epistemology, and generalized evolution theory. Finally, Schurz generalizes the method of optimality-based justification to a new strategy of justification in epistemology, arguing that optimality justifications can avoid the problems of justificatory circularity and regress.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGerhard Schurz is Director of the Düsseldorf Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301041688805,"sku":"NP9780262039727","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262039727_7529eb25-003e-4de6-aadc-f37d913df56e.jpg?v=1767729528","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/humes-problem-solved-isbn-9780262039727","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}