Answer to Question #106998 in Philosophy for Shayleen

Question

Consider these two inductive arguments.

Argument 1: Every summer for the past 20 years, Fresno's temperature has reached triple digits. Therefore, it is very likely that in, at least, one of the next 20 summers, Fresno's temperature will reach triple digits.

Argument 2: "If a single cell, under appropriate conditions, becomes a man in the space of a few years, there can surely be no difficulty in understanding how, under appropriate conditions, a cell may, in the course of untold millions of years, give origin to the human race." [Herbert Spencer, Principles of Biology]

One of these is considered an inductive argument by analogy and the other is considered an inductive argument through enumeration. Take a guess at which is which and explain why you think that (just based on what you might know about the words "analogy" and "enumeration"). What differences do you see between the first and second arguments? How are these arguments different than the abductive arguments we've talked about?

Answer 1

First argument is an inductive argument by analogy, because perceived similarities are used as a basis to infer some further similarity that has yet to be observed.

Second argument is an inductive argument through enumeration, because it is a generalization based upon the observation of the sample.

Abductive reasoning is a form of logical inference which starts with an observation or set of observations and then seeks to find the simplest and most likely explanation for the observations.