Concept
6 readings
Inference
Concept · 6 readings
An inference moves from reasons to a conclusion. What does a reason support, how does a sign connect with a conclusion and what does an objection actually defeat?
A place to begin
Guided course · Module 1 · Lesson 2
What does a reason actually support?
Whether a conclusion follows is one question, and whether the premises are true is another; imagining true premises with a false conclusion tests whether it follows. Reasons can still support a conclusion they do not guarantee.
Inference under challenge · Lesson 1 of 2
Nyāya: what warrants an inference?
Setting out a Nyāya inference in five parts does not establish its warrant: the sign must be connected to what it proves, in the right direction. A countercase can expose an additional condition without showing that the conclusion is false.
All readings
6 readings · Title A–Z
Reference article
Argument: reasons and what they support
An argument gives reasons for a conclusion; an explanation says why something is so. This article sets out that vocabulary and what validity does, and does not, tell us about truth.
Inference under challenge · Lesson 2 of 2
Dharmakīrti: a reason that establishes its conclusion
For Dharmakīrti, a reason must belong to its subject and be inseparable from what it establishes, and the connection must be known. The lesson compares his account with Nyāya’s, keeping apart what follows, what is known and what a countercase defeats.
Guided course · Module 3 · Lesson 9
How can we tell whether we know?
Nyāya counts perception, inference and testimony among the ways of coming to know, and sets out an inference in five steps. How can inquiry check its own instruments without demanding certainty in advance?
Inference under challenge · Lesson 1 of 2
Nyāya: what warrants an inference?
Setting out a Nyāya inference in five parts does not establish its warrant: the sign must be connected to what it proves, in the right direction. A countercase can expose an additional condition without showing that the conclusion is false.
A counterexample workshop · Lesson 1 of 1
Testing a claim with a counterexample
A counterexample can test a general claim, or test an inference by describing a case in which its premises are true and its conclusion false. The workshop practices both, then asks what a fair repair of an argument should preserve.
Guided course · Module 1 · Lesson 2
What does a reason actually support?
Whether a conclusion follows is one question, and whether the premises are true is another; imagining true premises with a false conclusion tests whether it follows. Reasons can still support a conclusion they do not guarantee.
Study this in sequence
A counterexample workshop
Test how far a claim reaches by finding a case in which it fails, and practice on general statements, inferences and fair repairs to an argument.
Inference under challenge
What makes a sign a reason to believe something we cannot see? Follow selected Nyāya accounts and Dharmakīrti’s argument to examine the connection a sign needs, our grounds for relying on it and what a countercase can show.