The Role of Induction in the Functioning of Contemporary Science

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Abstract
Analysis of the history of the methodology of scientific knowledge shows that in evaluating the cognitive status of induction (1), two extreme, diametrically opposed approaches have always existed — inductivism and anti-inductivism. According to the inductivists (F. Bacon, G. Herschel, J. S. Mill, and others), induction is the basic method for acquiring and substantiating scientific laws and theories; for in their opinion, empirical data (the data of observation and experiment) are the source, foundation, and criterion of the truth of concrete scientific knowledge. Furthermore, it must be emphasized that the inductivists have never denied (although they have often minimized) the significance of other methods of cognition (particularly deduction).

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