Hello list, I just finished Vol. 2 of the Collected Papers, and had a couple of questions, if anyone is interested in helping out.
Going through the material on induction towards the end of the volume, much of it seemed to be from Peirce's earlier work on induction, where hypothesis or presumption (or abduction) is conceived of as an inference having to do with inferring that a character or set of characters apply to an object or set of objects. However, the editors included a piece from 1905 that treats of crude, qualitative, and quantitative induction. My understanding is that Peirce came to believe in his later years that what he had originally identified as hypothesis is actually qualitative induction, and hypothesis or abduction is something else. But in the selected piece from 1905, Peirce is not clarifying that point and instead has some other remarks about qualitative induction. I am wondering whether Peirce was consistent about maintaining in his later work that the earlier view of abduction really should be considered qualitative induction, or if Peirce's views about this topic are more complicated. It strikes me as odd that the editors might have purposely misled readers about this point concerning hypothesis and qualitative induction, but I have difficulty seeing it otherwise. Perhaps this point is clarified in later volumes of the CP? My second question is that I recall hearing at some point that Peirce identified nine different kinds of induction, but I don't recall seeing anything by Peirce about this. I was hoping I would find something in the CP, but I'm not so sure I will find it now. Does anyone know anything about this, and where I might look for it? I'm not sure if I've asked about this before; please forgive me for not remembering if I have. -- Franklin
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