Michael Gr. Voskoglou^1,, Joachim Feuerstein², Evangelos Athanassopoulos³

The present paper investigates the valuable role of induction for human reasoning and in particular for the scientific method of thinking, which is analyzed in detail. It is made clear that the possible error of induction is transferred to the inference of deduction, which, therefore, is not an infallible method, although it is always a valid method. Aristotle’s bivalent logic disputes the effectiveness of inductive reasoning, which, however, finds its real value within a multi-valued logic, completing and extending the traditional logic. The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics for the natural sciences, known as the Winger’s enigma, is also studied and the paper closes with some remarks on the concept of randomness.

human reasoning, induction, deduction, absolute words, scientific method, bivalent logic, multi-valued logics, Winger’s enigma, randomness, free will