Deductive Vs. Inductive Reasoning

#CriticalThinking #Argumentation #Reasoning



Deductive reasoning is the process by which we come to a certain and specific logical conclusion starting from given general premises.
By contrast, inductive reasoning is the process by which we come to a probable conclusion starting from specific observations.
Here is an example of deductive reasoning:

All fish need water to survive (Premise 1)
My pet- Lulu is a fish (Premise 2)
Lulu needs water to survive (Conclusion)

There are two things which can help you recognize deductive reasoning:
1. 100% Certainty
An important characteristic of deductive reasoning is that the conclusion is 100% certain. If we find that the conclusion is incorrect, then we need to re-visit the premises and figure out which one is false. If Lulu does not need water to survive, maybe Lulu is not a fish? For deductive reasoning to work, all premises must be true.
2. The second characteristic has to do with the concepts of general and specific.

Let’s analyse these 3 sentences by pointing out if they are general or specific:

All fish need water to survive- General premise
My pet- Lulu is a fish- Specific premise
Lulu needs water to survive- Specific conclusion

So, in deductive reasoning, the approach General to Specific is top-down, meaning that we move from general to specific.

Here is an example of inductive reasoning:

Bobo loves reading. (Observation 1)
Bobo is a good student. (Observation 2)
Good students love reading. (Conclusion)
You can probably already see some differences to deductive reasoning:
1. Probability: this conclusion that good students love reading is not certain. At most we can say that it is probable. We might find a couple of good students who do not love reading. Maybe they read because they know it is important.
2. Let’s also look at the phrases from general-specific perspective.

Bobo loves reading- Specific observation
Bobo is a good student- Specific observation
Good students love reading- General conclusion

In inductive reasoning, the approach Specific to General is bottom-up, from specific to general.

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