A pragmatic argument cannot deliver an all-purpose, general justification for following the inductive rule

Reichenbach’s justification is generally taken to be a pragmatic one, since though it does not supply knowledge of a future event, it supplies a sufficient reason for action (Reichenbach 1949: 481). One might question whether a pragmatic argument can really deliver an all-purpose, general justification for following the inductive rule. Surely a pragmatic solution should be sensitive to differences in pay-offs that depend on the circumstances. For example, Reichenbach offers the following analogu