Ways of Knowing Lesson 3

Some examples of Inductive reasoning

1. If my neighbour’s dog has been friendly to me in the past, I am confident that it will not bite me today.

2. Since my chair has supported my weight in the past, I expect it to continue to do so.

3. Since no human being has ever lived beyond the age of 125, I know that human beings are mortal.

4. Language: based on inductive generalisation. When we give things labels, we implicitly organise them into general classes so that we can make predictions about them.

5. Science: uses inductive reasoning- formulates general laws on the basis of a limited number of observations.

Can you think of any more examples?

Examples of Deductive Reasoning

Truth and Validity

Premises Logic Conclusion

True Valid Must be T.

True Invalid Could be T. or F.

False Valid Could be T. Or F.

False Invalid Could Be T. or F.

Deductive vs. Inductive

Deduction Induction

Definition Goes from general to particular

Goes from particular to the general

Example 1. All dogs are mammals

2. Fido is a dog3. Therefore, Fido is a

mammal

In history, people I know and know of have died.CONCLUSION: all humans are mortal.

Value More certain, but less informative.

More informative but less certain.

Hypothetico Deductive Reasoning

Inference and Implication Example

4. Flawed cause:

(a) Post hoc

(b) Confusion between correlation and cause

5. ‘Straw Man’ – this is the misrepresentation of an opponent in an argument in the following possible ways:

Straw Man cont..

Reason vs Emotion

Some Optional Reasoning Puzzles!!

Solutions!

Faith

Four Ideas of FaithIdea 1

Idea 2

Idea 3

Idea 4

How is faith connected with the following images?

Case Study

Reflections