Description

Inductive and Deductive reasoning are methods of logic which help us to draw inferences and conclusions from
specific propositions. Inductive reasoning refers to the act of drawing inferences from existing instances that
are specific to other instances and to generalizations. The earliest philosophers, such as John Stuart Mills of the
nineteenth-century described induction, inductio in Latin and epagoge in Greek as the act of reasoning from
partial generalizations to more comprehensive ones. We use inductive reasoning formally or informally, and the
categories of inductive reasoning are five.

1. Inductive generalization

2. Statistical generalization

3. Causal reasoning

4. Sign reasoning

5. Analogical reasoning

Inductive generalization
Inductive generalizations use observations about a sample to come to a conclusion about the population the
sample is selected from. Another name for

Inductive generalization is induction by enumeration.

Examples of Inductive generalization

i. The Palm trees in Nigeria are all tall.

ii. All Palm trees I’ve ever seen are tall.

iii. All Palm trees must be tall.

Statistical generalization
Statistical generalizations use specific numbers to make statements about populations, while non-statistical
generalizations are not as specific. These generalizations are a subtype of inductive generalizations, and they’re
also called statistical syllogisms.

An example of a statistical generalization contrasted with a non-statistical generalization is as follows:

Causal reasoning
Causal reasoning refers to the act of making cause-and-effect links between different things. A causal reasoning
statement often follows a standard setup.

Examples of causal reasoning include:

i. All of my white clothes turn pink when I put a red cloth in the washing machine with them.

ii. My white clothes don’t turn pink when I wash them on their own.

iii. Putting colorful clothes with light colors causes the colors to run and stain the light-colored clothes.

Good causal inferences meet a couple of criteria:

Direction: The direction of causality should be clear and unambiguous based on your observations.
Strength: There’s ideally a strong relationship between the cause and the effect.

Sign reasoning
Sign reasoning involves making correlational connections between different things. Using the sign inductive
reasoning, deduction is made based on a purely correlational relationship where nothing causes the other thing
to occur. Instead, one event may act as a “sign” that another event will occur or is currently occurring.

Examples of sign reasoning

i. Every time Punxsutawney Phil casts a shadow on Groundhog Day, winter lasts six more weeks.

ii. Punxsutawney Phil doesn’t cause winter to be extended six more weeks.

iii. His shadow is a sign that we’ll have six more weeks of wintery weather.

One needs to be careful when making correlational links between variables by building one's argument on
strong evidence and eliminating possible confounding variables, to avoid a shaky position.

Analogical reasoning
Analogical reasoning means drawing conclusions about something based on its similarities to another thing.
this type of reasoning involves linking two things together and then conclude that some attribute of one thing
must also hold true for the other thing. Analogical reasoning can be literal (closely similar) or figurative
(abstract), but you’ll have a much stronger case when you use a literal comparison. Analogical reasoning can
also be referred to as comparison reasoning.

Examples of analogical reasoning include

i. Humans and laboratory rats are extremely similar biologically, sharing over 90% of their DNA.

ii. Lab rats show promising results when treated with a new drug for managing Parkinson’s disease.

iii. Therefore, humans will also show promising results when treated with the drug.
 1. Deductive Reasoning
In deductive reasoning, you make inferences by going from general premises to specific conclusions. One can
start with a theory and then, develop a hypothesis that in testing the theory empirically. Data can be collected
from many observations and through the use of a statistical test to come to a conclusion about the
hypothesis. Also in deductive reasoning, one can start with the general idea, for instance, that a friendly working
environment office can affect quality of life for workers. By this, it is believed that significant motivation of
employees within the workplace can improve the performance of workers. In a follow-up experiment, this
hypothesis can be tested using a deductive research approach.