Explanation
Induction comprises inferential movements from observed cases or samples toward a more general rule, expectation, or hypothesis. Unlike valid deduction, true premises do not guarantee the generalisation; its strength depends on selection, number, variation, background knowledge, and possible countercases. Induction may be enumerative, statistical, analogical, or hypothesis-forming, so the precise form must be stated. A single example illustrates but does not establish a robust generalisation. The concept reveals how knowledge reaches beyond what has been observed: inquiry gains scope at the price of uncertainty and therefore requires transparent sampling, willingness to revise, and an active search for cases that limit the proposed rule.
Movement of thought
1. Observation first supplies individual cases or a sample whose features and conditions must be described reliably. 2. A recurrent pattern is identified among those cases and treated as possible evidence of a wider order. 3. A rule, probability, or hypothesis exceeds the observed set and claims relevance for further cases not yet known. 4. A counter-test examines sampling bias, countercases, population, and alternative explanations and separates induction from illustration, deduction, and analogy alone. 5. The general claim returns to new observations, where it is confirmed, restricted, or rejected and thereby displays its provisional character.
Scientific use case
Philosophy of science, statistics, and argumentation studies examine sampling, scope of generalisation, uncertainty, and opportunities for refutation. Replications test whether a pattern holds across populations and contexts.
Example
Across twelve diversely sampled conversation corpora, one repair form occurs mainly after acoustic disruption; researchers formulate a probabilistic hypothesis and test it on a new corpus.
Counterexample
One delayed train does not establish that trains on the route are generally late; the case may prompt a hypothesis but cannot support the generalisation by itself.
Distinction
Distinguish it from deduction, abduction as inference to the best explanation, analogy, exemplum and illustration, statistical estimation as one procedure, causal claims, and complete enumeration.
Effect on thought and perception
Induction extends limited observation into actionable expectation and theory, makes knowledge productive, and at the same time requires visible uncertainty and continuing correction.
Resonance
Individual cases begin to sound together; their similarity forms a larger line whose true reach becomes audible only through further cases.
Etymology
Technical core term; individual etymological review pending
Provenance
ATLAS 241 residual-case triage → profile candidate 241-B → source and neighbourhood cross-check → ATLAS 243
Cite this entry
Reich, Michael (Hrsg./ed.): „Induction“. Atlas der Sprache, AT-CORE-243-001. ATLAS 260, data model 1.6.0. https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-CORE-243-001The address remains stable; editorial content may evolve. Editorial reading state: 2026-10-15. Include your access date for precise references.
Historical background
Book III of Mill's System of Logic makes induction central to the justification of non-intuitive knowledge. In III.i.2 he describes discovering and proving general propositions, extending the same process to inference about an unknown individual case. His claim that scientific and practical inference share conditions belongs to that historical logical programme. The witness does not settle every present-day problem of induction.
How conceptual history changes the analysis
Generalization extends beyond observed instances, and that extension requires justification.
References for the historical section
- John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, eighth edition, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1882; Project Gutenberg ebook 27942 · Book III, Chapter I, §§1–2, and Chapter II, §1
Selected named passages read in the transcription. The title page identifies an 1882 printing of the eighth edition, not the first edition. No claim that these passages were present unchanged in the first edition; no first-attestation or exhaustive reception claim.