A heuristic argument is an argument that reasons from the value of a method or principle that has been shown by experimental (especially trial-and-error) investigation to be a useful aid in learning, discovery and problem-solving. A widely-used and important example of a heuristic argument is Occam's Razor.
It is a speculative, non-rigorous argument, that relies on an analogy or in intuition, that allows to achieve a result or approximation to be checked after with more rigor, otherwise the results are of doubt. It is used as a hypothesis or conjecture in an investigation. It can also be used as a mnemonic.
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“A striking feature of moral and political argument in the modern world is the extent to which it is innovators, radicals, and revolutionaries who revive old doctrines, while their conservative and reactionary opponents are the inventors of new ones.”
—Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (b. 1929)