Inductive arguments only determine that the conclusion is probably true, whereas, deductive arguments claim that the conclusion must be true.
An example of my own inductive reasoning happened yesterday morning. I was cleaning my room upstairs and I heard my little Chihuahua mix barking his head off. He usually barks when people walk into the garage. I muted my T.V. so that I could listen to what was going on, I then heard the door from my garage that leads into the house trying to open. My heart jumped and I looked out of my window but didn’t see any cars so I started to get a little worried. I walked downstairs thinking someone could be trying to break in or it could be my boyfriend. He has, on many occasions, shown up through the side door to surprise me. However, this day was different. I had been texting him and calling him all morning but no response, so I assumed he was still sleeping. I cautiously walked down the stairs and out the front door, all while thinking I may have to call the cops. Sure enough, as I looked around the corner, I saw the back of his car. I instantly knew it was him trying to surprise me at the door and when I saw him I told him that I almost called the cops on him and we both had a quick laugh.
Inductive reasoning breakdown:
Premise one: Someone was trying to come in through my garage door.
Premise two: My boyfriend sometimes tried to come in through the garage door to try to surprise me.
Conclusion: It is probably my boyfriend trying to surprise me by coming in the side of the house.
Since inductive reasoning only leads to a conlcusion that is PROBABLY true, my reasoning could have led me to great danger. I generalized that the garage door trying to open was most likely my boyfriend but in the event that someone was really trying to break in, my generalization would have been a BIG mistake.
It was a good thing that your inductive reasoning turned out to be right because i wouldnt want to know what would have happened if you were wrong. Thats the bad thing about these kinds of decision making, you have to completely rely on probability and chance and hope that the decision you made or the argument your stating is right otherwise it might prove to be very dangerous like how your situation might have ended up. Next time your boyfriend should know to give out a warning before showing up, because he could have been in for a surprise as well. Glad you are ok though!
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