Book Publishers Association of Alberta

A thorough investigation of the large-scale structure of relations of inductive support within the material theory of induction, according to which inductive inferences are warranted not by universal rules but by facts particular to each other.

The Large-Scale Structure of Inductive Inference investigates the relations of inductive support on the large scale, among the totality of facts comprising a science or science in general. These relations form a massively entangled, non-hierarchical structure which is discovered by making hypotheses provisionally that are later supported by facts drawn from the entirety of the science. What results is a benignly circular, self-supporting inductive structure in which universal rules are not employed, the classical Humean problem cannot be formulated and analogous regress arguments fail.