A paradox stems from a statement that apparently contradicts itself yet might still be true. In most cases logical paradoxes are essentially known to be invalid but are used anyways to promote critical thinking. The Raven’s paradox is an example of a paradox that essentially goes against what most logical paradoxes stand for in that it tries to make a valid claim through inductive logic. Carl Hempel is known for his famous accepting of this paradox with minor adjustments by the use of the contraposition rule. In this paper, however, I argue that Hempel’s solution to the Raven’s paradox is actually unsuccessful because he fails to take into account a possible red herring that serves as evidence against his solution. Irvin John Good is responsible for the formulation of the red herring argument as he tries to prove that the observation of a black raven can potentially negate the Raven’s paradox as valid. In addition to Good’s claim, Karl Popper and his view of falsificationism also functions as evidence to reject Hempel’s solution. Using Popper’s view as a basis, Israel Scheffler and Nelson Goodman formulate the concept of selective confirmation to reject the contraposition rule used by Hempel. Based off of all of the rejections that Hempel’s solution has it can clearly be seen that the Raven’s paradox has flaws that principally lead it to it being invalid.
The main point that the Raven’s paradox lays out is the question of what constitutes evidence for a statement. The actual structure of the argument, according to Hempel, is as follows:
1) A is logically equivalent to B
2) C is confirming evidence for B
3) Confirming evidence for one statement is confirming evidence for any logical equivalent statement
4) Therefore, C is confirm...
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...ion. Hempel’s solution provides to give a reason as to how induction can lead to confirmation and how the logical gap can be filled through the use of logically equivalent statements. However, his view and answer to the paradox prove to be a stretch and lead to the issue of common sense being broken and illogical observations being made to confirm the hypothesis. Good successfully brings attention to this rather blatant error on the part of Hempel to eventually lead to the Raven paradox being invalid. Not only is Good effective in highlighting errors within Hempel’s solution, but Popper, Scheffler, and Goodman are all equally successful in negating individual parts of Hempel’s argument as well. In the end, it is the addition of all these counterarguments that prove to exhibit that Hempel is unsuccessful in trying to come up with a valid answer to the raven paradox.
Any hypothesis, Gould says, begins with the collection of facts. In this early stage of a theory development bad science leads nowhere, since it contains either little or contradicting evidence. On the other hand, Gould suggests, testable proposals are accepted temporarily, furthermore, new collected facts confirm a hypothesis. That is how good science works. It is self-correcting and self-developing with the flow of time: new information improves a good theory and makes it more precise. Finally, good hypotheses create logical relations to other subjects and contribute to their expansion.
The problem I hope to expose in this paper is the lack of evidence in The Argument from Analogy for Other Minds supporting that A, a thought or feeling, is the only cause of B. Russell believes that there are other minds because he can see actions in others that are analogous to his own without thinking about them. He believes that all actions are caused by thoughts, but what happens when we have a reaction resulting as an action of something forced upon one’s self? Such as when a doctor hits your patellar tendon with a reflex hammer to test your knee-jerk reflex. Russell does not answer this question. He is only “highly probable” that we are to know other minds exist through his A is the cause of B postulate.
The entire poem including the first stanza, as scanned here, is octametre with mostly trochaic feet and some iams. The use of a longer line enables the poem to be more of a narration of the evening's events. Also, it enables Poe to use internal rhymes as shown in bold. The internal rhyme occurs in the first and third lines of each stanza. As one reads the poem you begin to expect the next rhyme pushing you along. The external rhyme of the "or" sound in Lenore and nevermore at then end of each stanza imitates the haunting nature of the narrator's thoughts. The internal rhyme along with the same external rhyme repeated at the end of each stanza and other literary devices such as alliteration and assonance and give the poem a driving chant-like sound. The musicality of the rhyme also helps one to memorize the poem. This helps keep the poem in your head after you've finished reading it, lingering in your thoughts just as the narrator's thoughts are haunting him. The rhyme also helps to produce a humming beat in the readers mind driving him on steadily..
Skepticism is the view that there is no way to prove that objects exist outside of us. Skeptics hold that we can not distinguish between dreams and reality, and therefore what we take to be true can very well be creations of our minds while we are nothing more than a simple piece of matter, such as a brain sitting in a vat that is connected to a machine that simulates a perfect representation of reality for the “brain” to live in.1 In the excerpt “Proof of an External World” from his essay of the same name, G.E. Moore responds to the skeptic’s argument by attempting to prove the existence of external objects. There are four parts to this paper. Firstly, I will explain Moore’s overall argumentative strategy and how he considers his proof to be rigorous and legitimate. Then, I will present Moore’s proof of the existence of an external world. Thirdly, I will discuss the responses that skeptics may have to Moore’s argument and how Moore defends his proof against the these responses. Finally, I will give my opinion on how efficiently Moore defends his claims against the skeptics’ responses.
The first premise is: “All ravens are black.” This premise is a hypothesis that takes a general form -- “all Fs are G”. The hypothesis “All ravens are black” is logically equivalent to the hypothesis “All non-black things are non-ravens.” Logical equivalence can be defined as: “P being logically equivalent to Q,” which means that P and Q are true or false in all the same situations and that each one is a valid argument for the other. In any instance, anything that confirms one confirms the other. Confirmation Theory of Instance says if while testing a hypothesis in the form “All Fs are G”, a particular F (for some instance) is discovered to also be G, then this evidence is enough (at least to some degree) to favor the hypothesis.
In “The principles of human knowledge” George Berkeley responds to the skeptics view about the external world. As we already talked about, skepticism is against the belief that you can know anything because even saying that you “know” something is a big contradiction itsel...
It is thought that Meno's paradox is of critical importance both within Plato's thought and within the whole history of ideas. It's major importance is that for the first time on record, the possibility of achieving knowledge from the mind's own resources rather than from experience is articulated, demonstrated and seen as raising important philosophical questions.
Lycan and Schlesinger give the five most common objections to Pascal but they focus on the two most common and important objections. The first most important objection: is ...
Almost all epistemologists, since Edmund Gettier’s 1963 article, have agreed that he disproved the justified-true-belief conception of knowledge. He proposed two examples
The novel, The Raven Master's Secret, is a story about a eleven year-old boy named Forest who lives within the mighty walls of the Tower of London. Forest is the son of the raven master and yearns to show his courage and strength to everyone. But when his opportunity arises Forrest has to make a choice. Betray his own country or help save his only friends lives. Will Forest become great and face his destiny or will he cower in fear.
Certainly, we tend to like to like a good ghost story and are drawn by the possibility of the supernatural. The speaker’s initial thought that his Lenore has returned to him from beyond the grave is a captivating one. When the speaker wonders whether The Raven is a prophet or messenger from death, we are titillated and drawn to the possibility as well. For example, it is said that after the poem’s publication, children would follow Poe down the street and call him The Raven. Poe being good natured would flap his arms with his long black coat on, thrilling them to no end. We are drawn to the creepiness and other-worldliness of the poem. It is the speaker’s terrible grief and longing for her that has made him
Though there are numerous symbols in this poem, the most important symbol in The Raven, is the raven itself. The raven can have several interpretations, it can be a symbol of bad luck or a bad omen. The raven can also symbolize change and metamorphosis. Perhaps, in this poem, it is the change that comes with the loss of a loved one. It can also be seen as a messenger of the underworld. This idea is made clear, that this is what the raven stands for, when the narrator asks him, “Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!” (Poe, “The Raven” 48). This is a reference to Pluto, the god of the underworld. This symbolism is further enhanced when the raven sits “perched upon the bust of Pallas”, the goddess of wisdom (Poe, “The Raven” 42). This is significant because, in this poem the narrator is searching for answers about his lost loved one, as he wants to forget
It seemed that the arguments put forward made some sense, and Charles did not or could not think of any arguments to counter. Yet, he thought the proposition was wrong; he mentioned “I am just trying to imagine what Kant would make of this.” and “It just doesn’t seem right.” Although Charles could not put a finger on it, he intuitively thought it was wrong. What appeare...
symmetry. To look closely at the major patterns of paradox is to discover how the
The idea of alternative reality challenges the Principle of Contradiction, a fundamental part of logics which lay...