Method

Inductive Reasoning

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Classification

Method family
Argumentative
Domains
Epistemology

Overview

Inductive reasoning generalizes from observed cases to unobserved ones, or from a sample to a wider population. A strong induction makes its conclusion probable without guaranteeing it; a weak one is an induction still, just a bad one.

Purpose. The method is how experience is made to bear on claims that reach beyond it, which is why an account of its justification matters so much to empiricism. Induction is not a weaker deduction: its conclusion genuinely exceeds its premises, and that surplus is exactly what stands in need of justification.

Characteristic operations

  • Assemble the cases: Collect observations, checking how varied and how numerous they are.
  • Generalize beyond them: Extend the pattern to cases not yet observed.
  • Assess the strength: Judge how strongly the evidence supports the conclusion, since support comes in degrees.
  • Confront the justification problem: Face the question of what entitles the projection, given that past success is itself an inductive ground.

Used by traditions

Applied to questions

References

  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, The Problem of Induction
  • David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, §IV (the problem of induction's warrant)
  • John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic (1843), Book II, chs. v–vi (arguing that even the necessary truths of mathematics are inductions from experience)