Abstract

Inductive reasoning, initially identified with enumerative induction is nowadays commonly understood more widely as any reasoning based on only partial support that the premises give to the conclusion. This is a tad too sweeping, for this includes any inconclusive reasoning. A more moderate and perhaps more adequate characterization requires that inductive reasoning not only includes generalizations, but also any predictions or explanations obtained in absence of suitable deductive premises. Inductive logic is meant to provide guidance in choosing the most supported from a given assembly of conjectures.