John D. Norton, "The Large-Scale Structure of Inductive Inference" (U Calgary Press, 2024)
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What is the material theory of induction and how does it differ from traditional deductive models?
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Hello, and welcome to New Books and Philosophy, a podcast channel with the New Books Network. I'm Carrie Figdor, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa, and I'm co-host of the channel along with Robert Talese, Sarah Tyson, and Malcolm Keating. Together, we bring you conversations with philosophers about their new books in a wide range of areas of contemporary philosophical inquiry. Today's interview is with John Norton, distinguished professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh. His new book, The Large-Scale Structure of Inductive Inference, is available open access from BSPS Open, University of Calgary Press. Science depends essentially on inductive inferences, inferences that go beyond the evidence on which they are based.
But inductive inferences have historically been modeled on deductive inferences, which are valid if and only if they satisfy a valid argument form. In his new book, Norton expands his defense of what he calls the material theory of induction. What makes an induction good is not its conforming to a universal rule, like deduction, but instead by its being warranted by true background facts in a particular domain. Norton argues that while these facts are themselves in turn supported by inductive inferences, the resulting network of inductive support does not suffer from vicious circularity, is not a form of coherentist epistemology, and dissolves the infamous problem of induction articulated clearly by Hume.
Let's turn to the interview. Hello, John Norton. Welcome to New Books and Philosophy.
Hi, Carrie. Happy to be here.
uh i'm really looking forward to talking about your new book the large scale structure of inductive inference um so before we get to the actual content of the book uh maybe you can say a bit about yourself as a philosopher um and how this book came about
yeah i'd be i'd be happy to My main interest in philosophy of science has been in science itself. I'm very much a science lover. My early work was in the history and philosophy of relativity, especially Einstein's discovery of the general theory of relativity. But the deeper concern has always been a fascination with science itself and a sense that science has managed to do something that other human endeavors had not. And then the question becomes, what is it that makes science special? What makes it special is the strong relationship with evidence. We have good reason to believe the content of our best scientific theories, and those good reasons are coming from accounts of inductive inference. So that's the framing of the work that I'm doing that leads up to the book that you've
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the material theory of induction and how does it differ from traditional deductive models?
0:00–9:41
2
How does Norton use Marie Curie’s radium‑chloride work to illustrate background‑fact‑warranted induction?
9:41–18:27
3
Why does Norton claim that circularities in scientific theories are benign rather than vicious?
18:27–26:55
4
How does the large‑scale network of inductive support avoid the classic problem of induction?
26:55–34:29
5
What role do hypotheses play in starting inductive inferences within immature scientific domains?
34:29–42:23
6
How does the material theory explain the decline of dowsing and the rise of physics‑based explanations?
42:23–50:27
7
Why does Norton argue that coherentist epistemology fails to capture the nature of scientific justification?
50:27–58:35
8
What are Norton’s upcoming projects on empiricism and what should listeners look forward to?
58:35–1:06:00
Speakers
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