Practical Induction

Practical reasoning is not just a matter of determining how to get what you want, but also how to work out want it is you want in the first place. This book argues that experience plays a central role in this process, and rejects the idea of instrumentalism, a view predominant among philosophers today. This idea holds that the goals of practical reasoning are basic in the sense that they are given by desires that are not themselves the product of practical reasoning. The book defends the "practical induction" view, a method of reasoning from experiences similar to theoretical induction.

Review :
Elijah Millgram's "Practical Induction" is a graceful, tightly-argued essay built around the thought that figuring out what one should seek is intimately related to determining what things matter and why, and that this, in turn, requires learning as one goes along...The argument goes by way of entertaining and thoughtful examples which are both original and given very much in the spirit of the style of practical reasoning Milgram christens "practical induction"...The approach is refreshing and the result is a finely-argued good read. The detail of the argument, moreover, gives both substance and the philosophical bite to the point that people learn what matters and why in life through living, and that one hallmark of practical rationality must be letting this wisdom guide action without eroding one's ability to respond to change appropriately.--Candace Vogler"Mind" (07/01/2000) Millgram's argument has as a consequence that psychology is as impotent to predict our responses to new circumstances in the practical sphere as it is to predict the shape of new theories in science--only one, but not the least, of the surprising things one finds oneself thinking about anew when one puts down this very surprising book.--John Robertson "Philosophical Quarterly " Written with panache and vigor, boldly confident in laying out its argumentative strategy, and full of colorful examples, this book gives us a good time while plying us with its central positive theses: that, in order to remain unified agents capable of carrying out any serious plans, we must be able to learn from experience about what is desirable, and that, accordingly, this learning should be counted as a kind of inductive practical inference that plays a legitimate role in our thinking.--Henry S. Richardson "Ethics " Elijah Millgram's Practical Induction is a graceful, tightly-argued essay built around the thought that figuring out what one should seek is intimately related to determining what things matter and why, and that this, in turn, requires learning as one goes along...The argument goes by way of entertaining and thoughtful examples which are both original and given very much in the spirit of the style of practical reasoning Milgram christens practical induction ...The approach is refreshing and the result is a finely-argued good read. The detail of the argument, moreover, gives both substance and the philosophical bite to the point that people learn what matters and why in life through living, and that one hallmark of practical rationality must be letting this wisdom guide action without eroding one's ability to respond to change appropriately. inference that plays a legitimate role in our thinking. not the least, of the surprising things one finds oneself thinking about anew when one puts down this very surprising book.