Read Section 5.1 of the text and the selection from Bertrand Russell on the reserve reading list. (Reserve List). Then answer the following questions. A one or two sentence answer to each of (1)- (3) will suffice. (4) is much harder; write a paragraph or so about it if you can.

 

1) On p. 62 Russell writes, “in dealing with this question, we must to begin with, make an important distinction...” What, exactly is the important distinction he’s referring to?

 

2) On p. 65 Russell writes that “we have experience of past futures, but not of future futures.” What is he thinking about?

 

3) At the very top of p. 68 Russell is discussing an argument about white swans and he writes, “The argument is not disproved by the fact some swans are white.” Explain his point - why is the argument not disproved?

 

4) On p. 115 of the text, Rosenberg says that an inductive argument for induction is like “underwriting your promise to pay back a loan by promising that you keep your promises.” Can you think of any relevant respect in which the induction case and the promising case are different?