Q10. Write in detail about Inductive and Deductive reasoning/arguments.

Explain
the concept with the help of examples.

For understanding inductive and deductive arguments first of all let’s discuss what an argument is
mainly. Making an argument is all about taking a position and then providing reasons for that position
thus an argument has two basic parts:

1. One or more premises.

2. A conclusion

So argument is always a position that we take in reply to a question that is related to a particular
problem like:

1. Where should we eat dinner?

2. Which house should we buy?
3. What school is best?
4. How many classes should I take next year?
5. What should I major in?
6. Should I get internship or study abroad?

Now let’s move to understand what is inductive and deductive argument.

Deductive and Inductive Argument with examples:

First of all, consider a condition where you and your friends are trying to decide, “Where to go for
dinner?” and you have two options to decide New World restaurant or Hello restaurant so here we have
two premises as:

1. New World is open until 10 pm and Hello is open until 9 pm.

2. New World has the best food in area.

Consider another example with a question “How many classes should I take next year?” for it we have
two premises as:

1. Twelve credit hours will cost 3 lac and fifteen will cost 3.5 lac.
2. Taking more classes every semester will get you done faster.

In both of the examples above, first premise is the fact that can be proven true or false .i.e. you can
confirm the timing of New World and Hello restaurant closure from these restaurants and you can also
check if the fee mentioned for twelve and fifteen credit hours is right or wrong and hence you can prove
these premises as true or false so they are the facts. While the second premise in both of the examples
above are opinions .i.e. people might not agree that the New World has the best food in the area or
taking more classes to complete degree early is a good idea.

Facts and opinions have different relationships with the conclusions drawn and thus result in different
type of arguments. For example consider that your friend ask you at exactly 9:05 pm that we should go
for dinner then you will say that as New World is open until 10 pm and Hello is open until 9 pm so we
should go to New World as it’s 9:05 pm thus if your facts are true then the conclusion must be true.
Thus the argument in which the conclusion necessarily follows the premise if premise is true then the
conclusion must also be true is called deductive argument.

Now consider another situation that your friend ask you at 8:00 pm “Should we eat at New World or
Hello restaurant?” and you say that as New World has the best food in the area so we should go there
then in this case the decision to go to New World cannot be said to be true, conclusion does not logically
follow from the conclusion just because you think that New World has the best food does not mean that
you or your friend must choose it. Thus the argument in which the acceptance of the conclusion
depends on the strength of premises, in which conclusion is not proven by premise it is merely
supported by premises is called inductive argument.

Based on the discussion above we understood following things about both types of arguments:

Deductive Argument:
It is an argument in which the conclusion necessarily follows from the premises that is if premises are
true then the conclusion is true. So, in case of this argument, you have to accept the conclusion no
matter if you like it or not because when the facts are presented then conclusion is also a fact for
example of you want to go to Hello restaurant instead of New World at 9:05 pm then you don’t have
this option as the fact is that Hello restaurant have closed so you don’t have option to go there.

Evaluating deductive argument: While evaluating a deductive argument you have to consider two
things:

1. Are the premises true?

2. Is the form of argument valid?

If the answer to both of these questions is yes then you have a sound argument. How to answer these
questions is mentioned below:

1. Are the premises true? As in the case of deductive argument, arguments are the facts so it is
very easy to check if they are true or not for example in case of restaurant example above the
best way to check if the premise New World is open until 10 pm and Hello is open until 9 pm is
to drive to the restaurant and check.
2. Is the form of argument valid? An argument is valid if it is not possible for the premise to be true
AND the conclusion to be false.

Inductive Argument:
It is an argument in which the conclusion is supported (but not proven), to a greater or lesser degree, by the premises.
So in this case conclusion can be opposed by the counter argument because conclusion is based on opinion so if it is
not a strong opinion then the counter argument could be given to prove it wrong as in this case premises are not facts
but opinions which could be proven wrong. Like in the restaurant example above it is your opinion that New World has
the best food in the area but it is possible that your friend don’t like the food of that restaurant and can give counter
argument to prove it wrong.
Evaluating inductive argument: In case of inductive argument evaluation process is different from the
deductive one in this case you cannot prove or disprove the premises nor you can determine if the
premises lead to a conclusion or not instead we have to consider following questions:

1. Are the premises true or acceptable?

2. Are the premises relevant to the issue at hand?
3. Are the premises compelling enough (sufficient) to justify the conclusion?

Answer to these three questions will help to determine how strong or weak the argument is. Now lets
see how to answer these questions:

1. Are the premises true or acceptable? So, unlike the deductive in case of inductive argument the
premises are opinions not facts. So, for checking them if they are true or acceptable you have to
check if the premise is reasonable and does the opinion of the most of the people same as you
mentioned in the premise for example for proving that the New World has the best food in the
area you could have look on the reviews of restaurant or you can ask your friends and other
people in your area to check if the majority of people think same about the New World food.
2. Are the premises relevant to the issue at hand? In the restaurant above the premise telling which restaurant
serve the best food is the relevant premise for deciding where to go for dinner but if a premise is given that
New World has the best parking lot then it is obviously irrelevant if we are deciding about having dinner.
3. Is the premise sufficient to justify the conclusion? Are the premises given sufficient for reaching a conclusion.
For example in the restaurant example is it sufficient to just consider the food taste or other factors like how
long they take to serve or their services or charges should be considered too.
Thus:

1. Stronger Inductive argument: An argument will be stronger inductive argument only if the
premises are acceptable, relevant and sufficient.
2. Not weak but not strong enough Inductive argument : An argument will be not weak but not
strong enough inductive argument if the premises are acceptable, relevant but not sufficient.
You can improve this argument by giving more supporting arguments like the food is great and
so is the service in case of restaurant example. And you can weaken it by giving counter
argument like the food is good but their service is very bad so more acceptable, relevant and
sufficient the premises are the more stronger is the inductive argument.

Different form of Inductive arguments:

Inductive arguments can take on many different forms as given below:

1. Generalizations: It is form where arguments involve making a general claim based on limited or
specific evidence. For example getting idea about whole nation view based on the view shared
by some people at polls installed at particular locations.
2. Analogies: It is a form where conclusions about one situation are drawn based on what we now
about another.
3. General Principles: This form is opposite to generalizations in it we apply general principles to a
specific case. For example considering every individual of a particular group to have a quality if
generally the people of that group have that quality.
4. Causal Reasoning: It offer an argument that one thing necessarily lead to another happening.