Deductive and Inductive reasoning
For my final blog for the term I am going to present an
example of deductive and inductive reasoning.
This morning I woke to news of an apparent “terrorist
attack” in London where a soldier was killed by two people who were then shot
by armed police.
As the story unfolds the details are getting more and more
accurate however I will base this part of the blog on the initial report I read
first thing this morning.
There are several good examples in the article of Inductive
reasoning in the initial story I will give the best example
The victim was a soldier (Reported by the reporter)
How did the reporter come to this conclusion?
PREMISE: soldiers wear soldier’s uniforms
PREMISE: The victim was wearing a soldier’s uniform
CONCLUSION: Therefore the victim was probably a solider.
The inductive reasoning uses the word probably as it cannot
be proven without a shadow of a doubt that the victim was a soldier. The
reasoning is relatively weak as soldier’s uniforms can be purchase anywhere by
anyone.
Searching through the news articles on yahoo.com.au and
news.com.au at the moment it is apparent that a majority of the media’s
arguments are based on inductive reasoning. As yet I have not found any with
deductive reasoning.
The example of deductive reasoning come from a Coroner’s
report on a boating incident that I was involved in the search and rescue for in
2009. http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/170339/cif-robinson-nk-tschannen-s-20121210.pdf
The deductive reasoning comes from a statement by a medical
survival expert Dr Paul Luckin.
“A medical survival
expert, assessed the prospect of a person surviving in a vessel submerged at
50m even if there was an air pocket. He considered there was no prospect due to
the pressure that would be experienced at that depth.”
PREMISE: No possibility of surviving at a depth
of 50m
PREMISE: The vessel was submerged at 50m
CONCLUSION: No survivors were present in the vessel.
This is a valid argument as all premises are true which
means the conclusion must also be true.
Deductive reasoning is rarely seen in media/news articles.
