Fact, Fiction, and Forecast
Encyclopedia
Fact, Fiction, and Forecast is a book by Nelson Goodman
in which he explores some problems regarding scientific law
and counterfactual conditionals and presents his New Riddle of Induction. Hilary Putnam
described the book as "one of the few books that every serious student of philosophy in our time has to have read." According to Jerry Fodor
, "it changed, probably permanently, the way we think about the problem of induction, and hence about a constellation of related problems like learning and the nature of rational decision." Noam Chomsky
and Hilary Putnam
attended some of the lectures on which the book is based as undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania
leading to a lifelong debate between the two over the matter of whether the problems presented in the book imply that there must be an innate ordering of hypotheses.
Nelson Goodman
Henry Nelson Goodman was an American philosopher, known for his work on counterfactuals, mereology, the problem of induction, irrealism and aesthetics.-Career:...
in which he explores some problems regarding scientific law
Scientific law
A scientific law is a statement that explains what something does in science just like Newton's law of universal gravitation. A scientific law must always apply under the same conditions, and implies a causal relationship between its elements. The law must be confirmed and broadly agreed upon...
and counterfactual conditionals and presents his New Riddle of Induction. Hilary Putnam
Hilary Putnam
Hilary Whitehall Putnam is an American philosopher, mathematician and computer scientist, who has been a central figure in analytic philosophy since the 1960s, especially in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of science...
described the book as "one of the few books that every serious student of philosophy in our time has to have read." According to Jerry Fodor
Jerry Fodor
Jerry Alan Fodor is an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. He holds the position of State of New Jersey Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University and is the author of many works in the fields of philosophy of mind and cognitive science, in which he has laid the groundwork for the...
, "it changed, probably permanently, the way we think about the problem of induction, and hence about a constellation of related problems like learning and the nature of rational decision." Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
and Hilary Putnam
Hilary Putnam
Hilary Whitehall Putnam is an American philosopher, mathematician and computer scientist, who has been a central figure in analytic philosophy since the 1960s, especially in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of science...
attended some of the lectures on which the book is based as undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
leading to a lifelong debate between the two over the matter of whether the problems presented in the book imply that there must be an innate ordering of hypotheses.
- http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?recid=24162&content=book