To understand induction, distinguish a universal concept from its particular instances. “Animal” may be predicated of many individual beings; one identified horse or person is a particular instance of that class.
Universal: animal.
Instances: this horse, that cow, this bird.
Observation: this particular horse has a certain feature.
Knowing one instance has a feature gives us a particular fact. Generalizing across a class from examined instances is the characteristic inductive step.
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Induction: Complete and Incomplete Enumeration, Certainty and Probability
To understand induction, distinguish a universal concept from its particular instances. “Animal” may be predicated of many individual beings; one identified horse or person is a particular instance of that class.
Universal: animal.
Instances: this horse, that cow, this bird.
Observation: this particular horse has a certain feature.
Knowing one instance has a feature gives us a particular fact. Generalizing across a class from examined instances is the characteristic inductive step.