All the arguments discussed thus far have been deductive. The conventional way of distinguishing between deductive argument and inductive argument is to say that the former starts from the general and proceeds to the particular, while the latter starts from the particular and proceeds to the general. This is an adequate account of the difference between the two, but a limited one. A more precise way to distinguish them is to say that deductive argument is productive of necessary conclusions, while inductive argument has the capacity to produce probable conclusions only.
