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How are premises and conclusions connected in a logical inference?

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Marble bust of Aristotle with a beard and draped robe, showing detailed facial features and wavy hair, set against a dark background. — Applied logic Aristotle, marble portrait bust, Roman copy (2nd century bce) of a Greek original (c. 325 bce); in the Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome.

In logic, an inference is a rule-governed process that connects one or more propositions, known as premises, to a new proposition called the conclusion.1

The connection between these elements is defined by the structure of the argument rather than its specific content. In deductive logic, this connection is considered valid if it is truth-preserving—meaning that if the premises are true, the conclusion must necessarily be true. A valid inference ensures that it would be inconsistent or self-contradictory to accept the premises while denying the conclusion.231

While deductive inferences draw out conclusions already implicit in the premises, other forms of reasoning, such as induction, are ampliative, meaning they may produce conclusions containing new information that is not strictly contained within the premises. Ultimately, the validity of an inference depends on whether the logical form allows for a scenario where the premises are true but the conclusion is false; if no such scenario exists, the connection is logically sound.4123