Inductive Reasoning

Inductive reasoning, also known as induction or inductive logic, is a type of reasoning that involves moving from a set of specific facts to a general conclusion.[1] It can also be seen as a form of theory-building, in which specific facts are used to create a theory that explains relationships between the facts and allows prediction of future knowledge. The premises of an inductive logical argument indicate some degree of support (inductive probability) for the conclusion but do not entail it; i.e. they do not ensure its truth. Induction is used to ascribe properties or relations to types based on an observation instance (i.e., on a number of observations or experiences); or to formulate laws based on limited observations of recurring phenomenal patterns. Induction is employed, for example, in using specific propositions such as:

This ice is cold. (Or: All ice I have ever touched has been cold.)
This billiard ball moves when struck with a cue. (Or: Of one hundred billiard balls struck with a cue, all of them moved.)

...to infer general propositions such as:

All ice is cold.
All billiard balls move when struck with a cue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductive_reasoning



[INDUCTION - JOHN STUART MILL - FROM 'A SYSTEM OF LOGIC']

INDUCTION is the operation of the mind by which we infer that what we know to be true in a particular case or cases will be true in all cases which resemble the former in certain assignable respects. The mere summing up of details in a single proposition is not induction, but colligation; induction always involves inference from the known to the unknown, from facts observed to facts unobserved.

The fundamental principle of induction is the proposition that the course of nature is uniform. The test of any induction is its consistency with inductions which have been found invariable in experience. If an induction conflicts with stronger inductions it must give way. It is the part of the logic of induction to find certain and universal inductions, and to use them as criteria.

At the root of the whole theory of induction is the notion of physical cause. To certain phenomena, certain phenomena always do, and, as we believe, always will, succeed. The invariable antecedent is termed the 'cause,' the invariable consequent, the 'effect.' Upon the universality of this truth depends the possibility of reducing the inductive process to rules.

Invariable sequence, however, seldom subsists between a consequent and one single antecedent; the consequent usually follows from the concurrence of several antecedents. In such a case it is usual to style the cause that antecedent which came last into existence, or whose share in the matter is the most conspicuous, or whose share in the matter is most easily prevented or encouraged. But the real cause is the whole of the antecedents, the whole of the contingencies of every description, which being realized, the consequent invariably follows. Yet even invariable sequence is not synonymous with causation. The sequence, besides being invariable, must be unconditional.

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