Induction-vs-Deduction

Inductionvs.DeductionInwriting,argumentisusedinanattempttoconvincethereaderofthetruthorfalsityofsomeproposalorthesis.Twoofthemethodsusedareinductionanddeduction.Induction:Aprocessofreasoning(arguing)whichinfersageneralconclusionbasedonindividualcases,examples,specificbitsofevidence,andotherspecifictypesofpremises.Example:InChicagolastmonth,anine-year-oldboydiedofanasthmaattackwhilewaitingforemergencyaid.Aftertheirambulancewaspeltedbyrocksinanearlierincident,cityparamedicswouldn’triskenteringtheDearbornHomesProject(wheretheboylived)withoutapoliceescort.Thus,basedonthisexample,onecouldinductivelyreasonthatthenine-year-oldboydiedasaresultofhavingtowaitforemergencytreatment.Guidelinesforlogicalandvalidinduction:1.Whenabodyofevidenceisbeingevaluated,theconclusionaboutthatevidencethatisthesimplestbutstillcoversallthefactsisthebestconclusion.2.Theevidenceneedstobewell-knownandunderstood.3.Theevidenceneedstobesufficient.Whengeneralizingfromasampletoanentirepopulation,makesurethesampleislargeenoughtoshowarealpattern.4.Theevidenceneedstoberepresentative.Itshouldbetypicaloftheentirepopulationbeinggeneralized.Deduction:Aprocessofreasoningthatstartswithageneraltruth,appliesthattruthtoaspecificcase(resultinginasecondpieceofevidence),andfromthosetwopiecesofevidence(premises),drawsaspecificconclusionaboutthespecificcase.Example:FreeaccesstopubliceducationisakeyfactorinthesuccessofindustrializednationsliketheUnitedStates.(majorpremise)Indiaisworkingtobecomeasuccessful,industrializednation.(specificcase)Therefore,Indiashouldprovidefreeaccesstopubliceducationforitscitizens.(conclusion)Thus,deductionisanargumentinwhichtheconclusionissaidtofollownecessarilyfromthepremise.Guidelinesforlogicalandvaliddeduction:1.Allpremisesmustbetrue.2.Allexpressionsusedinthepremisesmustbeclearlyandconsistentlydefined.3.Thefirstideaofthemajorpremisemustreappearinsomeformasthesecondideainthespecificcase.4.Novaliddeductiveargumentcanhavetwonegativepremises.5.Nonewideacanbeintroducedintheconclusion.