Jonathan Livengood, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Illinois, will lecture on “What is Induction, and What is the Problem?” at 4:00 pm March 
29 in 2269 Beckman Institute and on Zoom. Samuel Okyem, MBM trainee and PhD candidate, will give an introduction. The lecture is free and open to the public courtesy of the Miniature Brain Machinery Program.
Abstract: The problem of induction is the single most important and difficult problem in philosophy. That is my unqualified view. Many of the greatest philosophers since Hume have grappled with the problem. And many have concluded that it cannot be solved. But despite the mountain of research and writing on the problem of induction in the nearly 300 years since Hume wrote his Treatise, it remains unclear — at least to me — precisely what induction is and what the problem is supposed to be. In this talk, I give an historical introduction to the problem of induction, and I add a bit of nuance to my unqualified view. I argue that there isn’t really any unique inference or inferential task that best fits the label “induction,” and I argue that there is no unique problem of induction. Rather, there are many problems, not all equally important or serious.
Bio: I am an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Most of my research is motivated in some way or other by my interest in scientific method — an interest I’ve had since reading C.S. Peirce’s Illustrations of the Logic of Science as an undergraduate. For those who want to read the Illustrations as they originally appeared, Google Books has you covered: The Fixation of Belief, How to Make Our Ideas Clear, The Doctrine of Chances, The Probability of Induction, The Order of Nature, and Deduction, Induction, and Hypothesis. Currently, I am working on several problems under the umbrella of causal reasoning. Some of my research concerns the psychology and semantics of causal reasoning. Some of my research concerns normative questions about causal inference from data. And some of my research concerns the role and legitimacy of causal reasoning in science.
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