ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author criticizes version of Hume's argument. Recall that Hume held that every time the people make an induction-inferring that the sun will rise tomorrow or that the next emerald they observe will be green-they are assuming that nature is uniform. According to Strawson, induction is, by definition, a rational activity. Strawson doesn't claim that "Induction will be reliable" is an a priori truth. According to Strawson, it is entirely rational to use inductive methods to formulate the people beliefs about the future, even though they can offer no good reason for expecting that the method will usually lead to true beliefs. Counter-induction has had a poor track record in the past. Since the method has been unreliable in the past, counter-induction tells the reader to expect that counter- induction will be reliable in the future.
