of a factual regularity.31 Perhaps the Philosopher has overestimated the rationalistic and non-empirical aspects of the Copernican revolution, leading him to empirical skepticism. The Botanist’s assertion of the certainty of inductive knowledge does not comfort the doubtingPhilosopher, who retorts that since induction bases its claims for certainty upon probability, which in turn is based upon further probabilities, the truth value of empirical truths is ultimately based upon probability which is itself merely probable in infinitum, which implies that the truth value of all relative truths, cannot be fixed in any apodictically definite manner.Thus, the Philosopher’s analysis indicates that any attempt to establish a definite probability leads to an infinite regress, which in turn undermines the scientific certainty of every synthetic judgment.32 The solution provided by empirical science, namely to make synthetic truths relative, is of no help to the Philosopher, who argues that no restriction of the universality of the synthetic judgments, from absolute truth to relative truth, will help save induction and empirical science from the Philosopher’s critique.33 According to the philosophical point of view, the results and truths presented by empirical investigations are afflicted by the shadow of doubt, making them contingently true rather than deductively true,and if any such doubt regarding the certainty and validity of a judgment exists, then the judgment conveys no knowledge. However, as the Botanist interposes, the Philosopher’s line of argumentation can just as well be disproved by the use of statistical arguments, probability. Because, is not the mere chance that a large number of similar observations occurring by mere chance more improbable than the probability that these similarities in fact do have a common cause? In other words, is it not more probable that similar observations express an actual regularity rather p a r t i i 1 , c h a p t e r 2 178 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid., p. 19. 33 Ibid.
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