This is the problem of induction in a nutshell, and it is something that has alternatively been seen as one of the most severe limitations on true knowledge about the world or as a non-issue in any practical terms. If inductive reasoning cannot be trusted, then all past experience and even experimental data is essentially meaningless in predicting the future and there is no logical reason to assume things should occur one way simply because they have occurred that way before. Many have pointed out how silly it would be to go through the world without inductive reasoning -- not being sure if the door would open when the handle is turned, etc. -- but this does not actually address the logical problem of induction.
Edwards Attempted Answer
There have been attempts to address the problem of induction at the fundamental logical level, some of them seeming to come closer to success than others, but ultimately no one has been able to definitively demonstrate in a logically consistent manner (i.e., without a reliance on inductive reasoning) that inductive reasoning is a valid source of knowledge. One attempt, and a very good attempt, is made by Paul Edwards in his answer to Bertrand Russell's restatement of the problem of induction, and this answer seems to combine both practical and logical arguments against the supposed problem of induction. In response to the basic question, "if a has always led to b in the past, is there a reason to believe that this will be the case in the future?" Edwards attempts to frame this as an issue of semantics, asserting that such a question is to misuse the word "reason," ascribing a much higher-order and restrictive meaning to it than common sense and usage would imply.
Edwards essentially acknowledges that there is no way to supply a reason for believing that a will lead to b as long as "reason" has the
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