3.2 What Is An Inductive Argument?

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| By Kdelapla

Kdelapla

Community Contributor

Quizzes Created: 10 | Total Attempts: 22,953

Questions: 7 | Attempts: 323 | Updated: Mar 18, 2023

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Questions and Answers

1.

An invalid argument is one with the following property: if the premises are all true, the conclusion can still be false.
- A.
  
  True
- B.
  
  False
Correct Answer
A. True

Explanation
True, by definition.

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2.

A strong argument is one with the following property: if all the premises are true, the conclusion is very likely true.
- A.
  
  True
- B.
  
  False
Correct Answer
A. True

Explanation
True, again, by definition.

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3.

An inductive argument is an argument that is intended to be strong.
- A.
  
  True
- B.
  
  False
Correct Answer
A. True

Explanation
An inductive argument is an argument that is intended to provide strong evidence or support for its conclusion. Unlike deductive arguments, which aim to provide conclusive proof, inductive arguments rely on reasoning from specific observations or examples to make a general conclusion. Therefore, it is correct to say that an inductive argument is intended to be strong, as it aims to provide a high degree of probability or likelihood for its conclusion based on the evidence presented.

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4.

An argument can be both strong and weak.
- A.
  
  True
- B.
  
  False
Correct Answer
B. False

Explanation
False. This is contradictory. If it's weak then it's not strong, and vice versa.

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5.

An argument can be both inductive and weak.
- A.
  
  True
- B.
  
  False
Correct Answer
A. True

Explanation
True. This is the analog of the case where an argument is both deductive and invalid.

In this case, it's inductive if it's INTENDED to be strong. But that doesn't mean the argument actually IS strong. Lot's of people mistake weak arguments for strong ones.

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6.

“Look, almost all spiders are poisonous, right? You got bit by a spider, so you’ve very likely been poisoned!”
- A.
  
  A strong inductive argument
- B.
  
  A weak inductive argument
Correct Answer
A. A strong inductive argument

Explanation
This has the form of a strong argument (if the premises are true, the conclusion is very likely true), and it's clearly intended to be strong, so it's inductive as well.

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7.

“Look, some spiders are poisonous, right? You got bit by a spider, so you’ve very likely been poisoned!”
- A.
  
  A strong inductive argument
- B.
  
  A weak inductive argument
Correct Answer
B. A weak inductive argument

Explanation
This is a weak inductive argument. "Some spiders" doesn't make it likely that the conclusion is true. In logic, "some" just means "at least one".

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Current Version
Mar 18, 2023

Quiz Edited by
ProProfs Editorial Team
Aug 25, 2012

Quiz Created by
Kdelapla

3.2 What Is An Inductive Argument?

An invalid argument is one with the following property: if the premises are all true, the conclusion can still be false.

A strong argument is one with the following property: if all the premises are true, the conclusion is very likely true.

An inductive argument is an argument that is intended to be strong.

An argument can be both strong and weak.

An argument can be both inductive and weak.

“Look, almost all spiders are poisonous, right? You got bit by a spider, so you’ve very likely been poisoned!”

“Look, some spiders are poisonous, right? You got bit by a spider, so you’ve very likely been poisoned!”