Heuristic argument

{{Refimprove|date=October 2007}}

A heuristic argument is an argument that reasons from the value of a method or principle that has been shown experimentally (especially through trial-and-error) to be useful or convincing in learning, discovery and problem-solving, but whose line of reasoning involves key oversimplifications that make it not entirely rigorous.{{Cite web|url=https://primes.utm.edu/glossary/page.php?sort=Heuristic|title=Heuristic argument|website=The Prime Glossary|access-date=October 21, 2019}} A widely used and important example of a heuristic argument is Occam's Razor.

It is a speculative, non-rigorous argument that relies on analogy or intuition, and that allows one to achieve a result or an approximation that is to be checked later with more rigor. Otherwise, the results are generally to be doubted. It is used as a hypothesis or a conjecture in an investigation, though it can also be used as a mnemonic as well.{{cite journal|last1=Brodsky|first1=Stanley J.|last2=Ellis|first2=John|last3=Karliner|first3=Marek|title=Chiral symmetry and the spin of the proton|journal=Physics Letters B|volume=206|issue=2|year=1988|pages=309–315|doi=10.1016/0370-2693(88)91511-0|bibcode=1988PhLB..206..309B |osti=1448514|url=http://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-wrap/getdoc/slac-pub-4519.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/http://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-wrap/getdoc/slac-pub-4519.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live}}