Statistics as Inductive Inference

This chapter1 concerns the relation between statistics and inductive logic. I start by describing induction in formal terms, and I introduce a general notion of probabilistic inductive inference. This provides a setting in which statistical procedures and inductive logics can be cap- tured. Speciacally, I discuss three statistical procedures (hypotheses testing, parameter estimation, and Bayesian statistics) and I show to what extend they can be captured by certain inductive logics. I end with some suggestions on how inductiv