EDUCE
(ih-DOOS)
Deduce;
also, to elicit, or bring out Common clues: Elicit; Extract;
Infer;
Draw out; Figure out; Bring out; Draw forth; Develop; Construe;
Draw out something latent Crossword
puzzle frequency:
3 times a year Video: Watson
tries deduction
Deductive
reasoning is reasoning whose conclusions are intended to
necessarily follow from its premises. It is more commonly
understood as the type of reasoning that proceeds from general
principles or premises to derive particulars, although this is a
less precise understanding. Deductive reasoning "merely"
reveals the implications of propositions, laws, or general
principles, so that, like some philosophers claim, it does not
add to truth.
Aristotle
Deductive
reasoning was developed by Aristotle, Thales, Pythagoras, and
other Greek philosophers of the Classical Period (600 to 300
B.C.). Aristotle, for example, relates a story of how Thales used
his skills to deduce that the next season's olive crop would be a
very large one. He therefore bought all the olive presses and
made a fortune when the bumper olive crop did indeed arrive.
Deductive
reasoning is dependent on its premises. That is, a false premise
can possibly lead to a false result, and inconclusive premises
will also yield an inconclusive conclusion.
Alternative
to deductive reasoning is inductive reasoning. The basic
difference between the two can be summarized in the deductive
dynamic of logically progressing from general evidence to a
particular truth or conclusion; whereas with induction the
logical dynamic is precisely the reverse. Inductive reasoning
starts with a particular observation that is believed to be a
demonstrative model for a truth or principle that is assumed to
apply generally.
Deductive
reasoning applies general principles to reach specific
conclusions, whereas inductive reasoning examines specific
information, perhaps many pieces of specific information, to
impute a general principle. By thinking about phenomena such as
how apples fall and how the planets move, Isaac Newton induced
his theory of gravity. In the 19th century, Adams and LeVerrier
applied Newton's theory (general principle) to deduce the
existence, mass, position, and orbit of Neptune (specific
conclusions) from perturbations in the observed orbit of Uranus
(specific data).
Deductive
reasoning is supported by deductive logic (which is not quite the
same thing).
For
example:
All
apples are fruit.
All
fruits grow on trees.
Therefore
all apples grow on trees.
Or
All
apples are fruit.
Some
apples are red.
Therefore
some fruit is red.
Intuitively,
one might deny the major premise and hence the conclusion; yet
anyone accepting the premises accepts the conclusion.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Deductive reasoning".
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