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From: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams)
Newsgroups: sci.philosophy.tech
Subject: Re: Layman's argument for Occam's razor
Message-ID: <2455@mmintl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-Oct-87 21:03:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: mmintl.2455
Posted: Mon Oct  5 21:03:20 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 10-Oct-87 06:01:09 EDT
References: <433@morgoth.UUCP> <20264@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <294@sequent.cs.qmc.ac.uk> <588@l.cc.purdue.edu>
Reply-To: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams)
Organization: Multimate International, E. Hartford, CT.
Lines: 16

In article <588@l.cc.purdue.edu> cik@l.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
>On the other hand, I completely disagree that one infers natural laws from
>empirical observations!  One only chooses which mental construct to use
>among those which the mind can conceive on the basis of observations.

I will certainly agree with that second sentence.  But I think it is also
indisputable that those observations may cause us to conceive mental
constructs which we would not otherwise have conceived.  If that isn't
"inferring natural laws from empirical observations", I don't know what is.

If, on the other hand, you mean to say that we don't *deduce* natural laws
from empirical observations, I will quite agree.
-- 

Frank Adams                           ihnp4!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka
Ashton-Tate          52 Oakland Ave North         E. Hartford, CT 06108