Determining soundness requires both a logical task of determining validity and the task of determining the truth of premises carried out by whatever field is concerned with the subject matter of those premises. First , determining the truth of the premises requires determining the meaning of the sentences in which the argument is expressed. Although a great deal of attention is focused on deductive arguments, much reasoning cannot be presented as making the strong claim of deductive necessity. When an argument claims to provide some grounds for the truth of the conclusion but not to necessitate that conclusion, it is considered an inductive argument. Inductive arguments claim that the truth of the premises provide grounds for the likelihood or probability of the truth of the conclusion.
Inductive logic is concerned with techniques for the appraisal of inductive arguments.
For the most part, inductive logic provides only rather loose and informal guidelines for assessing the relative strength or weakness of one inductive argument over others.