Inductivism

Inductivism is the traditional and still commonplace philosophy of scientific method to develop scientific theories.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] Inductivism aims to neutrally observe a domain, infer laws from examined cases—hence, inductive reasoning—and thus objectively discover the sole naturally true theory of the observed.^[5]

Inductivism's basis is, in sum, "the idea that theories can be derived from, or established on the basis of, facts".^[6] Evolving in phases, inductivism's conceptual reign spanned four centuries since Francis Bacon's 1620 proposal of such against Western Europe's prevailing model, scholasticism, which reasoned deductively from preconceived beliefs.^[5]^[7]

In the 19th and 20th centuries, inductivism succumbed to hypotheticodeductivism—sometimes worded deductivism—as scientific method's realistic idealization.^[8] Yet scientific theories as such are now widely attributed to occasions of inference to the best explanation, IBE, which, like scientists' actual methods, are diverse and not formally prescribable.^[9]^[10]

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^ James Ladyman, Understanding Philosophy of Science (London & New York: Routledge, 2002), pp 51–58
^ Alan Francis Chalmers, What is this Thing Called Science?, 3rd edn (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1999), pp 49–58, particularly 49–50, 53–54 & 58.
^ ^a ^b John Pheby, Methodology and Economics: A Critical Introduction (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1988), p 3.
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[:7-3] James Ladyman, Understanding Philosophy of Science (London & New York: Routledge, 2002), pp 51–58

[4] Alan Francis Chalmers, What is this Thing Called Science?, 3rd edn (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1999), pp 49–58, particularly 49–50, 53–54 & 58.

[:6-5] John Pheby, Methodology and Economics: A Critical Introduction (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1988), p 3.

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