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The mental process of forming deductive deductions is known as deductive reasoning. The result of a deductive argument flows logically from the premises, i.e. it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be wrong. For instance, the conclusion “Socrates is mortal” can be deduced from the premises “all men are mortal” and “Socrates is a man.” If an argument is valid and all of its premises are true, it is said to be sound. Some theorists define deduction in terms of the author’s intentions: the premises must be intended to provide deductive support for the conclusion. It is possible to separate valid from invalid deductive reasoning with the help of this modification: it is invalid if the author’s trust in the deductive support is erroneous, but even invalid deductive reasoning is a type of deductive reasoning.
Inductive reasoning is a form of thinking that involves analysing a set of data to arrive at a general premise. It entails drawing broad conclusions from specific observations. Deductive reasoning is not the same as inductive reasoning. If the premises are correct, the validity of a deductive argument’s conclusion is ensured; whereas, the truth of an inductive argument’s conclusion is plausible depending on the evidence offered.
Reasoning by deduction Definition
The psychological process of making deductive deductions is known as deductive reasoning. A set of premises and a conclusion make up an inference. This psychological process begins with premises and reasoning and leads to a conclusion that is based on and supported by these premises. If the reasoning is done correctly, a valid deduction is reached: the truth of the premises secures the truth of the conclusion. The conclusion of the syllogistic argument “all frogs are reptiles; no cats are reptiles; thus, no cats are frogs” is true because both premises are true. However, if this principle is followed, even arguments with incorrect premises can be deductively legitimate, as in “all frogs are mammals; no cats are mammals; thus, no cats are frogs.” The premises of a valid argument must be true for an argument to be sound.
Deductive Reasoning Examples
- Ears are present in all dogs, and golden retrievers are no exception.
- All racing cars must exceed 80 mph; because the Dodge Charger is a race car, it can exceed 80 mph.
- Christmas is usually on December 25th; since today is December 25th, it is Christmas.
Definition of inductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning is a form of thinking that involves analysing a set of data to arrive at a general premise. It entails drawing broad conclusions from specific observations. Deductive reasoning is not the same as inductive reasoning. The truth of a deductive argument’s conclusion is assured if the premises are right; whereas, the truth of an inductive argument’s conclusion is probable based on the evidence presented.
Inductive Reasoning Example:
- A basket contains a total of 20 apples and oranges. I took five out of the basket, four apples and one orange, for a total of 16 apples and four oranges.
- Coaches are the most common baseball players. Eduardo will become a baseball coach because he is a baseball player.
- Rocky is going to get a PhD because he graduated from Oxford. 95% of Oxford graduates go on to get PhDs.
Generalisation, statistical generalisation, anecdotal generalisation, prediction, inference of previous events, inference of present occurrences, statistical syllogism, argument by analogy, and causal inference are all examples of inductive reasoning, as discussed below.
Generalisation through induction
A generalisation (or, more precisely, an inductive generalisation) goes from a sample premise to a population conclusion.
The findings from this sample are extrapolated to the entire population.
The sample proportion Q has the property A.
As a result, the population proportion Q possesses attribute A.
Generalisation from statistics
A statistical generalisation is an inductive argument that uses a statistically representative sample to draw a conclusion about a population. For instance:
Measure Z is supported by 66 percent of a large random sample of voters polled.
As a result, roughly 66 percent of voters back Measure Z.
Generalisation from anecdotes
A non-statistical sample is used to deduce a conclusion about a population in an anecdotal generalisation. To put it another way, the generalisation is founded on hearsay. For instance:
His son’s Little League club has won six of ten games so far this season.
As a result, they will have won almost 60% of the games by the end of the season.
Conclusion
To summarise, inductive and deductive reasoning are the two types of logic that are used in the field of research to develop a hypothesis in order to arrive at a conclusion on the basis of information that is believed to be true. These two types of reasoning are used to arrive at a conclusion based on information that is believed to be accurate. When using inductive reasoning, occurrences are taken into consideration before a generalisation is made. In contrast, deductive reasoning utilises generalisations as a foundation to build off of in order to arrive at a specific conclusion.
