Incomplete Induction

a type of inductive inference whose premises are singular propositions containing empirical data concerning the investigated objects of some realm and whose conclusion is a general proposition about all objects of the given realm (called general, or universal, incomplete induction) or about some uninvestigated objects of this realm (called partial incomplete induction, traduction, or prediction). The demonstrative force of incomplete induction is limited since the relation between its premises and conclusion is probabilistic and problematic. Nevertheless, incomplete induction is a fundamental method of obtaining new knowledge, unlike complete induction, the premises and conclusion of which contain precisely the same information (infinite induction is a particular type), and deduction, the conclusions of which are generally weaker than the premises.