DEDUCTIVE & INDUCTIVE

ARGUMENTS

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Deductive Arguments

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 Deductive Arguments
 For a deductive argument, if all its premises are
true, its conclusion is necessarily true (or it is
logically impossible for the conclusion to be false.)
 I.e., the truth of premises guarantees the truth of
conclusion.
 E.g.:
1. Either you work hard or you will fail the test.
2. You do not work hard.
3. Therefore, you will fail the test.

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 3 Types of Possibility
 Technological possibility
 e.g., Going to the moon is technological possible, but
going to Mercury is not.
 Physical possibility
 e.g., Going to Mercury is physical possible, but making
water boil at 95 C under one atmospheric pressure is
not.
 Logical possibility
 e.g. Making water boil at 95 C under one atmospheric
pressure is logical possible, but drawing a triangle with
4 angles is not.

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 Deductive Arguments
 When we talk about deductive arguments,
we have already presupposed that the
arguments are successful or valid deductive
arguments.
 The conclusion of a valid argument is called
a valid conclusion.

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 Deductive Arguments
 For an unsuccessful deductive argument
(the premises are intended to guarantee the
conclusion but fail to do so), we call it an
invalid argument.
 A deductive argument may be valid or invalid,
there is nothing in between.

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 Deductive Arguments
 Whether a deductive argument is valid or invalid
depends on its form or structure, not on its content.
 The above argument is valid because it has this
valid form:
p or q.
Not-p.
Therefore, q.
 p and q are statement variables.

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 Deductive Arguments
 Any argument having that form will also be a
valid argument.
 There are infinite possible valid structures.
 Here are some common examples:

If p, then q If p, then q
p____ Not-q____
q  Not-p

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 Here are more examples:

If p, then q If p and q, then r

If q, then r p_____________
 If p, then r  If q, then r

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 Deductive Arguments
 A valid argument may have false conclusion
if it has false premises.
 E.g.:
CY Leung is either a genius or an idiot.
He is not an idiot.
Therefore, He is a genius.

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 Deductive Arguments
 In order to guarantee the truth of conclusion,
we have to make sure all the premises are
true.
 When all the premises of a valid argument
are true, the argument is called a “sound
argument”.
 And the conclusion of a sound argument is
called a sound conclusion.
 If an argument is invalid or has false
premises, it is unsound.
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 Deductive Arguments
 On the other hand, the fact that an argument is
invalid does not entail that its conclusion is false.
 It just means that its conclusion does not follow
from its premises.
 You can consider a valid argument structure as a
truth-keeping machine:
 When you input T information into it, it will output T
information.
 When you input F information into it, it will output T or F
information.

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Inductive Arguments

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 A typical example of inductive argument:
Swan1 is white.
Swan2 is white.
Swan3 is white.
…
Swann is white.
________________
All swans are white.

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 Another typical example:
An event of type B follows an event of type A at time
t1.
An event of type B follows an event of type A at time
t2.
…
An event of type B follows an event of type A at time
tn.
___________________________
A causes B.

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 Many people think that the characteristic of
inductive arguments is arguing from particular to
general.
 However, deductive arguments may also argue
from particular to general, e.g.:

I have two cats, Fluffy and Garfield.

Fluffy does not eat fish.
Garfield does not eat fish either._____
Therefore, All of my cats do not eat fish.

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 Some inductive arguments may argue from
general to particular, e.g.:

Most of our students are born in HK.

Jim is one of our students.
Therefore, Jim is born in HK.

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 Inductive Argument
 The main difference between deductive
arguments and inductive arguments is that,
for the latter, if all its premises are true, its
conclusion is likely to be true but still
possible to be false
 I.e., The truth of its premises makes it
reasonable to hold that the conclusion is true
but the content of the premises does not include
(imply) the content of the conclusion.

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 Inductive Argument
 We call a good inductive argument a strong
argument, a bad inductive argument a weak
argument.
 Whether an inductive argument is strong or
weak depends on its content, not on its
structure.

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 Inductive Argument
 These 2 arguments have the same structure
but one is strong and the other is weak:
 HK is a wealthy society. Therefore, most of HK
people are wealthy.
 HK is a Chinese society. Therefore, most of HK
people are Chinese.

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 Inductive Argument
 Even for a strong argument, if its premises
are false, we still have no reasons to believe
in the conclusion.
 If all the premises of a strong argument are
true, the argument is called a “cogent
argument.”
 The conclusion is called a “cogent
conclusion.”
 If an argument is weak or has false premises,
it is uncogent.
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Composite Arguments

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 If an argument is made up of two deductive
sub-arguments, the whole argument is still a
deductive argument.

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 Example:
1. Either you work hard or you will fail the exam.
2. You do not work hard.
3. So, you will fail the exam. (Sub-conclusion)
4. If you fail the exam, you need to retake the
course.
5. Therefore, you need to retake the course.

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 If an argument consists of a deductive sub-
argument and an inductive sub-argument,
the whole argument is an inductive
argument.

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 Example:
1. Either you have enough sleep or you will feel
sleepy in class.
2. You do not have enough sleep.
3. So, you will feel sleepy in class. (Sub-
conclusion)
4. Most students who feel sleepy in class have
poor grades.
5. Therefore, you will have poor grades.

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