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Cristina asked:
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What is the difference between inferring something and just making it up? Do I really have to believe
something to infer about it?
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You infer one proposition or statement from another proposition or statement when you say that the
second proposition or statement follows from the first. That means, you are asserting that ifthe first is
true, then, so is the second true (or, what is the other side of the same coin, if the second is false,
then the first is false) Your inference may be correct, or incorrect. But there is no question of making
something up. For instance: Suppose I I draw the inference that if 5 is an odd number, then 5 is not
divisible by 2. That is a correct inference, since no odd number is divisible by 2.
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The question of inference is this: if you know that a certain statement is true, what else do you know?
For instance, if you know that I have a penny in my pocket, do you, or do you not, know I have a coin
in my pocket? The answer is, yes. But if you know I have a coin in my pocket, do you know I have a
penny in my pocket? The answer is, no. Therefore, you can correctly infer that if I have a penny in my
pocket, I have a coin in my pocket. But you cannot correctly infer that if I have a coin in my pocket,
that I have a penny in my pocket.
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You should see that you do not actually have to believe I have a penny in my pocket, to know that ifI
do, I have a coin in my pocket. You can know that without believing I have a penny in my pocket.
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Ken Stern
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The way I understand 'infer' is that it means to validly draw a conclusion from a number of
statements. That's very different from just making something up. You certainly have to believe those
statements before you can infer anything from them. 'Infer' is sometimes (incorrectly) used to mean
'hint' or 'imply'.
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To infer is to draw a logical conclusion from a number of statements. Logical conclusions are, in a
sense, contained in the statements from which they are drawn. Conclusions can only be guaranteed
to be true if the statements from which they are drawn are also true, and the inference follows the
rules of logic. Hence, you need to believe the statements from which you are inferring the conclusion
if you are to believe the conclusion.
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Tim Sprod
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