nwr writes:
quote:
most ordinary measurements consist of a statistical sample of size one that is taken as valid.
Incorrect. "Measure twice, cut once" as the cliche goes.
That said, measurement is a deductive process, not an inductive one. You are given a standard (that has been calibrated, another deductive process) and you compare the given to the standard and include your error term if you're doing science.
quote:
The fact is, that for many scientific laws, those laws are themselves prerequisite to the possibility of making the observations that the law is alleged to inductively generalize.
So? You make a huge number of observations about how falling bodies behave and you come to the inductive conclusion that they accelerate by an inverse square ratio. You then use that inverse square ratio to predict the next falling body. Because the conclusion is strongly justified through all previous observation, we expect the next one to be similar. If it isn't, then we know we've got something interesting going on.
Rrhain
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