CF Dictionary · Critical Rationalism Terms
Jump to Universality
The error of treating 'all observed X are Y' as 'all X are Y'. CR rejects this as the failure mode of induction.
A jump to universality is the error of moving from "all observed instances have property P" to "all instances (observed or not) have property P". CR treats this as the core failure of induction.
The problem
- "Every swan I've seen is white" → "All swans are white" is a jump.
- The next observation might be different.
- A single black swan refutes the universal.
Why CR rejects it
- Asymmetry.: Counter-examples refute; confirming observations don't confirm.
- Regress.: A principle of induction needs its own justification.
- Conjectures are better.: Hypotheses are guesses, not derived from data.
CF's view
CF extends CR:
- Breakpoints are universals. "All adult humans have property P" — fallible, refutable.
- Falsifiable claims are useful precisely because they can be refuted.
- Even math uses universals. "All bachelors are unmarried" — a definition, not an observation, but a universal all the same.
Anti-patterns
- "We've always done it this way, so it always works."
- "Everyone I know agrees, so it's true."
- "It worked last time, so it'll work again."
These are jumps to universality from limited data.
"Jump to universality" is one of CF's enumerated CR-specific concepts. — criticalfallibilism.com