Discussion Forum

Inductive and deductive reasoning “is not exclusively used by biologists but can be applied to
almost all fields of study as a logical, rational problem-solving method” (Rye et al., 2017, p. 8).

In short, inductive and deductive reasoning is the art of problem-solving in many aspects of life.
The comparison in them is that in one it could be logically correct, but realistically incorrect,
based on a specific argument, to a general conclusion. Contrary to that, on the other hand, a
general argument is taken and a specific conclusion is given, and it is always logically and
realistically correct.

In inductive reasoning, a conclusion is made using specific situations. For example, I have a she-
cat and becomes pregnant, and sometime after giving birth, the first kittens are male, and they
are black. I could conclude that the other kittens will be male and black, in this case, it could be
logically correct, but it could or could not be realistically correct, this is called "inductive
reasoning".

Another example is that I could have two full-breed German shepherd dogs, a male, and a
female. I can conclude that after breeding them, the puppies would be German shepherds and
that they would be full breed. There it would be logically and realistically correct, and that is
called “deductive reasoning.

Reference

Rye, C., Wise, R., Jurukovski, V., Desaix, J., Choi, J., & Avissar, Y. (2017). Biology. Rice

University. https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/1274548/mod_page/content/6/

Biology_Chapters_1-10.pdf