Our reliance on induction in everyday life
Induction is the process of drawing general conclusions from specific observations. While this form of
reasoning has received widespread criticism historically, with Popper (1968) claiming that it has “no
place in the logic of science” as cited by Henderson (2018). I acknowledge Popper’s views in this
paper, and I will discuss why I believe induction is still relevant our everyday lives. Specifically, I
will investigate our reliance on induction for decision making and for forming an understanding of the
world around us. Next, I will acknowledge the shortcomings of induction due to its inability to
provide certainty in reasoning. Finally, I will discuss why induction is nonetheless useful and
necessary to live a normal life.
Humans constantly exercise inductive reasoning when we form beliefs on how the world works and
when we make decisions. The act of making generalisations based on previously observed patterns is
a process that is “psychologically natural to us” (Godfrey-Smith 2003), and it is what gives us
confidence that the sun will rise the next morning. Even though we cannot say with certainty the sun
