TOK essay Inductive logic is one of the most important parts of our daily lives and it is a great helper for us to cope with worlds rules.
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Introduction
TED ANKARA COLLEGE FOUNDATION HIGH SCHOOL 2007-2008 FIRST TERM - GRADE 10 - TOK EXAM November 9, 2007 NAME: Reyhan Ayas NUMBER: 20217 CLASS: 10F Everybody can very simply hear, see, smell, taste and feel many things. Throughout a whole a lifetime, we observe many thing through these senses. Generalizations are indeed something we usually make in order to use these observations. But here is the question, can we take the generalizations we make for true as sure as the particular observations we make. That is probably one of the most important questions about inductive logic and I think we are more likely to be mistaken when we generalize than the cases we observe one by one. But we are still in need of a fair judgment on inductive logic to say if this risk to fail totally makes our inductions invalid. Inductive logic is one of the most important parts of our daily lives and it is a great helper for us to cope with world's rules. Just think for a minute and you will find out that the words we use are results of inductive logic. ...read more.
Middle
Before then, everybody was sure to generalize that she was and would always be winning the gold medal. Indeed, it seemed to be like that but here we see the importance of thinking of exceptions before using inductive logic. A small disorder in her leg invalidated our generalization. If we were to use all this information individually, it was not a problem to state our results like "She won the gold in the competition A and B , but she won the bronze in competition C." But here our claim was proved to have a fallacy because of an unexpected incident. For the above example, you may say that it is my problem that I made a weak inductive argument and if I was just normally careful and rational, inductions were as reliable as deductions and my fallacy was just one of all those we made in daily life. You may seem to disproof my claim but here is an interesting example on even how "reliable authorities" are fallible in using generalizations. On 2nd January 1980, the Scientific American Magazine had some lines like this: "Last year, there haven't been any improvements in car technology, so we can say that this invention has also completed its progression and evolution." ...read more.
Conclusion
So this sentence is a generalization implying that "Any class on Monday at 8.15 to 9.00 a.m. is mathematics for 10F. This argument was clearly disproved when it came 29th October when, due to the ceremonies, we couldn't have the class. Our argument is disproved but do you think we could have a programmed and easy life if we didn't make this induction? If we didn't take this generalization for true because it's epistemologically invalid, we wouldn't have a timetable and our school-life would be a mess. This is the reason why we go on making inductions although we know that they are very weak in leading us to certain truth. To sum up, generalizations are more likely to lead us to false conclusions then the specific observations we make, whereas we are still in need of them to have a meaningful and organized life. Logically, we always have a minimum risque that one day a space object will effect the earth and its gravity laws, but how can we live if we can't generalize that when we stand on the floor, the floor will carry us and we will be able to move on the floor? This is why generalizations are so important and essential, ignoring all its defects. ...read more.
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