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Inductive Argument

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In the first part of the assignment we were asked to identify components of arguments, premise and conclusion, for the passages. Where applicable we are to highlight key words or phrases that identify a claim as a premise or a conclusion. A premise is the support for the conclusion. (Missimer, 2005) The first example has several premises as follows if Sue’s baby is a boy it will be named Mark and if it is a girl it will be named Margaret. Another premise is that Sue will have a boy or girl. “So” is a keyword indicating the conclusion that Sue’s baby will be named Mark or Margaret. In the next example, “because” is a keyword in the premise and indicates that the conclusion has preceded and a reason will follow. This premise is that fantasy …show more content…

In the last part of the assignment we are asked to identify the arguments as inductive or deductive. An argument is said to be deductive if its conclusion is claimed to necessarily follow the premise. An inductive argument claims only that its conclusion probably follows from its premises. That is, the inferential claim is that since the premises are true or acceptable, the conclusion is likely to be true or acceptable. (Missimer, 2005) The first and second examples are inductive because even though the premises may be true, it is still possible for the conclusion to be false. They will then have to be looked at to see if they are strong or weak and if all premises are true or if one or more is false. We can then determine if the argument is reliable or unreliable. The third example is a deductive argument if we go by the definition above. If the premises are true then it simply isn't possible for the conclusion to be false. If you have a deductive argument and you accept the truth of the premises, then you must also accept the truth of the conclusion; if you deny it, then you are denying logic

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