Induction/Inductive Logic

Induction/Inductive Logic: Typically contrasted with deduction, inductive reasoning or induction is reasoning in which the conclusion follows from the premises, often with some assignable degree of probability or likelihood. One type of inductive inference is a generalization from the observed properties of a subset of a group to the conclusion that those properties will be found, and with approximately the same distribution, in the group as a whole (as in polling data). Another is reasoning by analogy, as when one reasons that since two things are groups share a certain number of properties in common, then some property that is found in the first will probably also be found in the second (as in inferring that unobserved hoofed animals are likely herbivores).

Source: ‘What is Good? What is Bad? The Value of All Values across Time, Place and Theories’ by John McMurtry, Philosophy and World Problems, Volume I-III, UNESCO in partnership with Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems: Oxford, 2004-11.