Version 1
: Received: 11 December 2017 / Approved: 19 December 2017 / Online: 19 December 2017 (09:13:07 CET)
Version 2
: Received: 10 February 2018 / Approved: 11 February 2018 / Online: 11 February 2018 (04:35:28 CET)
How to cite:
He, Y. Recursive Abduction and the Universality of Physical Laws: A Logical Analysis Based on Case Studies. Preprints2017, 2017120134. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201712.0134.v2.
He, Y. Recursive Abduction and the Universality of Physical Laws: A Logical Analysis Based on Case Studies. Preprints 2017, 2017120134. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201712.0134.v2.
Cite as:
He, Y. Recursive Abduction and the Universality of Physical Laws: A Logical Analysis Based on Case Studies. Preprints2017, 2017120134. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201712.0134.v2.
He, Y. Recursive Abduction and the Universality of Physical Laws: A Logical Analysis Based on Case Studies. Preprints 2017, 2017120134. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201712.0134.v2.
Abstract
The paper studies some cases in physics such as Galilean inertia motion and etc., and presents a logical schema of recursive abduction, from which we can derive the universality of physical laws in an effective logical path without requiring infinite inductions. Recursive abduction provides an effective logical framework to connect a universal physical law with finite empirical observations based on both quasi-law tautologies and suitable recursive dimensions, two new concepts introduced in this paper. Under the viewpoint of recursive abduction, the historical difficulty from Hume’s problem naturally vanishes. In Hume’s problem one always misunderstood a time-recursive issue as an infinitely inductive problem and, thus, sank into an inescapable quagmire. With this new effective logical schema, the paper gives a concluding discussion to Hume’s problem and justifies the validity of probability argument for natural laws.
Keywords
abduction; recursion; physical law; Hume’s problem
Subject
PHYSICAL SCIENCES, Other
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
