Justification and Induction

Abstract

The Logical Problem of Induction was a doctoral dissertation written by Professor G. H. von Wright for the University of Helsingfors and published in I94i as a number in the series Acta philosophica Fennica. After being some years out of print the book has now been republished in a second, revised edition.' The revisions made in the second edition of the book are careful and extensive, some portions having been completely rewritten. In its fundamental structure, however, and in its philosophical position, the book remains unchanged from the original version. Some of the places where changes and refinements of von Wright's views during the intervening years are made apparent are in the discussion of Inductive Logic, one portion of which has been rewritten, the chapter devoted to the Formal Analysis of Inductive Probability, which is likewise a completely new version, and a new section added to the chapter on inductive policies, which offers, as a kind of justification of inductive practice, an attempted analytic proof of the goodness of inductive policies. The full Notes appended to the book have also been revised and supplemented, and are rich in items of information, particularly on the history of various topics discussed in the book, though their location at the end makes reference to them awkward, time-consuming, and unlikely, except by readers who are prepared to follow what is in effect the procedure of reading a book at two places at once. The Bibliography is extensive and useful. Amid all these signs of scholarly industry it is curious that the second edition of the book, like the original one, has been permitted to appear without an index.