Means - Ends epistemology

This paper describes the corner-stones of a means-ends approach to the phil osophy of inductive inference. I begin with a fallibilist ideal of converge nce to the truth in the long run, or in the 'limit of inquiry'. I determine which methods are optimal for attaining additional epistemic aims (notably fast and steady convergence to the truth). Means-ends vindications of (a v ersion of) Occam's Razor and the natural generalizations in a Goodmanian Ri ddle of Induction illustrate the power of this approach. The paper establis hes a hierarchy of means-ends notions of empirical success, and discusses a number of issues, results and applications of means-ends epistemology.