An inductive
argument that I used in the last week was when I had caught a cold. I have a good
friend that went to the store to buy me some Nyquil (premise 1). The week
before that, he brought me some laundry detergent (premise 2). A week before
that he drove me to Wal-Mart (premise 3). Therefore, I can most likely count on
him to get me anything I ask for (conclusion). The only reason I continue to
ask him to do things for me is because I know that he will based on prior
experiences. In an inductive argument, the conclusion goes beyond the premises
and claims that the conclusion probably follows the premises. In my example, I
had three premises that stated the things that he has done for me. My
conclusion can be falsified if the next time I ask him to do something he doesn’t
do it for me. I made a general conclusion about what will probably happen next
therefore it is an inductive argument.
Congratulation to you that you got such a good friend! This is absolutely a great example of inductive argument. Base on the understanding of your friend, you can predict that he will not say no to you so that you can depend on him while you need any helps. On the other hand, you will never know when will he reject your request. There is always a possibility that he will say “yes” or “no”. However, according to the prior experiences like what you said, you can have a conclusion that he will do things for you in the future. To sum up, you make a conclusion by what he had done to you. Therefore, it can be counted as an inductive argument.
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