Inductive Reasoning
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[edit] Definition
Inductive Reasoning (as opposed to Deductive Reasoning) is the process of reasoning from specific examples to general principles. Most practical reasoning, including science, makes extensive use of inductive reasoning in an effort to apply a relatively small number of specific observations to cover new areas and applications.
For example, an observer might notice that all of the crows in a particular flock (technically, murder) are black, and from that try to infer a general proposition such as "All crows, including those not yet seen, are black."
From a philosophical position, the problem of induction is that inductive reasoning, while often cogent, rational, and indeed compelling, can never lead to an absolutely valid conclusion. Although I have never seen nor heard of a blue crow, that is no guarantee that I will not find one on my front porch tomorrow.
A specific kind of induction, called mathematical induction, by contrast, is a legitimate and deductively valid method of proving statements about numbers or other objects capable of sequencing.
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