Sherlock Holmes is famously called the master of deduction, despite the fact that he only ever uses inductive reasoning in most of his incarnations. Unlike deductive reasoning, which moves from general rules to specific instances, induction works in reverse. The Watson sees his walking stick, a rare African snakewood hiding a blade of five tensile steel. A few were rewarded to veterans of the Afghan war, so I can assume it's decorated. Soldier, strong, brave, born to be a man of action, neat like all military men. I check his pockets. I stop from a boxing match. Now I can infer that he's a bit of a gambler. The logical leap from specific observations to general conclusions, it's how we navigate a complex world without experiencing everything firsthand. Was significantly advanced as a formal method by Sir Francis Bacon in the 17th century, while earlier thinkers like Aristotle focused on deductive reasoning. Bacon's inductive reasoning represented a shift towards empirical inquiry and the systematic collection of data to inform conclusions about the natural world every morning.

the sun rises, and induction tells us it will rise tomorrow too, but can we be 100% certain? That's the rub. Inductive reasoning is probabilistic; it doesn't guarantee truth; it suggests likelihood. The more evidence, the stronger the conclusion. It's the foundation of empirical science: observe, hypothesize, test, repeat. Each experiment adds to our confidence, but absolute certainty remains elusive. The famous Black Swan problem shows its limits. Just because you've only seen white swans doesn't mean black ones don't exist. In an inductive argument, the premises are purported to make the truth of the conclusion more likely. As such, inductive arguments aren't just good or bad; they can be better or worse. Despite its flaws, inductive reasoning is indispensable. It's how we learn from experience, make predictions, and understand patterns in the chaos of existence. And that's inductive reasoning in a nutshell. Thank you for watching, and I will probably see you in the next one.

Inductive Reasoning in 100 Seconds

Inductive Reasoning in 100 Seconds