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Deductive reasoning involves drawing conclusions from specific statements called premises. Learn more about deductive reasoning and test your knowledge with a quiz.

 

Defining Deductive Reasoning

Suppose that you wanted to find a fruit to eat. You look through the refrigerator and find a celery stick, a Granny Smith, and a cup of beans. You know that neither celery nor beans are fruits. You also know that all apples are fruits, and a Granny Smith is an apple. Therefore, the Granny Smith has to be a fruit.

This is an example of a syllogism, a form of deductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is a type of logic where general statements, or premises, are used to form a specific conclusion. The other type of deductive reasoning is the conditional reasoning.

 

Syllogisms

Syllogisms are deductive arguments that are written in the form:

A is B
C is A
Therefore, C is B

Let's take the example above. If we broke down the syllogism into premises and conclusions, we would get:

Premise: All apples are fruits.
Premise: A Granny Smith is an apple.
Conclusion: Therefore, a Granny Smith is a fruit.

According to the first premise, all items that are classified as apples are also classified as fruits. According to the second premise, Granny Smith is classified as an apple. The first premise is a general statement, while the second premise refers to a specific case. The conclusion says that a Granny Smith has to be a fruit because of its inherent properties as an apple. This deductive argument is also valid, which means that the conclusion necessarily follows from the premises. So, does a valid deductive argument mean that the premises and conclusions are true? Suppose I formed this deductive argument:

Premise: All dogs have long ears.
Premise: Puddle is a dog.
Conclusion: Therefore, Puddles has long ears.

Given the premise that all dogs have long ears and Puddles is a dog, it is logical to assume that Puddles has long ears. After all, in this example, long ears are an inherent quality of dogs. The argument is valid. Does that mean it is also true?

Not all dogs have long ears. Certain breeds, like Yorkies or pugs, have small ears. Because the conclusions are based on the premises and one of the premises is not true, it follows that the conclusion is not true, even though it is valid. You can see from this example that if one of the premises is not true, the conclusion is also not true.

 

Conditional Reasoning

So what is conditional reasoning? Conditional reasoning uses if-then statements that are true to form a true conclusion. The conclusion can be either valid or invalid, even though the premises are true.

This chart shows the four types of conditional reasoning:

 

 

You can see that affirming the antecedent and denying the consequent are the only valid forms of conditional reasoning. That is, the conclusions logically follow from the premises.

Deductive Reasoning

Drawing Conclusions

Analyzing the Characters

A frog, a bird, a dog, a sheep, a pig, a cow. That sounds like the diet for something that eats all kinds of animals, but it's just a list of some characters we can find in stories we read. When we read a story, it is very important we identify who is part of it and their role.

We want to approach character analysis through three basic steps. Do not skip or change the order of any steps because that will take away your ability to analyze the text properly. You can remember them with the acronym CID. These are the three steps:

  1. Comprehend: Gain a basic understanding after reading the story

  2. Interpret: Dig deeper into the details

  3. Draw conclusions: Using what was learned from steps one and two, you can draw analytical conclusions

 

Let's read about the three little pigs and the big bad wolf and then analyze the characters.

Once upon a time, there were three little pigs who lived with their grandmother. As they grew older, the youngest and yet most mature, decided they should all build houses for themselves. The other two brothers decided that would be a great idea. The oldest, who didn't like to work and was lazy, built a house of hay. The middle brother, who wanted to play all day built a house of wood. The youngest, and wisest, built a house of brick.

 

One day, the big bad wolf came out of the forest and knocked on the door of the house of hay. Then he blew the house down. The pig escaped and ran to the house of wood. Next, the wolf blew down the house of wood. The two pigs escaped and ran to the house of brick. The wolf, assuming the third house was as weak as the other two, blew and blew with no avail. He then tried the chimney. The wisest pig built a fire at the bottom of the chimney and burnt the wolf, who then ran far away and never returned.

 

 

Comprehend

To comprehend means gaining a basic understanding. To comprehend the characters, we can ask questions like:

  • Who are the characters?

  • Who is the protagonist?

  • Who is the antagonist?

In The Three Little Pigs, there are three pigs, a grandmother pig, and a wolf. The youngest pig is the protagonist, and the wolf is the antagonist. The protagonist is the main character that represents the hero, and the antagonist is the one that opposes the protagonist (the bad guy).

 

 

Interpret

To interpret the characters, we want to dig a little deeper into the details than in the comprehension stage. We can ask questions about their traits, behavior, perception, and purpose.

Character traits ask questions like:

  • What can we tell about the character's personality?

  • What does the character look like, and how do they dress?

  • Where are the characters from?

  • What are their social status and economic background?

 

The youngest pig is wise, patient and mature. The middle pig is playful. The oldest pig is lazy and shuns hard work. The wolf is described as big and bad. He seems hungry and persistent with a healthy set of lungs.

Character behavior asks questions like:

  • How does the character respond to obstacles?

  • How does the character interact with other characters?

  • Why does the character behave that way?

 

The youngest pig, when faced with an obstacle, thinks of a good solution and takes action. He builds a strong brick house and also builds a fire in the chimney to deter the wolf because he is the wise pig. The middle pig takes the easy way when building a house and runs away from his problem (the wolf) because he isn't focused enough to do things well. The oldest pig also takes the easy way when building a house and runs away from his problem (the wolf) because he is too lazy. The wolf uses his strong force when facing obstacles because he is big and bad.

Character perceptions ask questions like:

  • How does the character perceive himself or herself?

  • What do other characters say about him or her?

  • What does the author or narrator say about the character?

 

This version of the story doesn't give insight into the characters thoughts or perceptions. An example could be if the story said ' . . . and the youngest pig, who thought he was the best ... .' We can tell the author's perceptions through descriptive words in the story and actions the characters take. The author portrays the youngest pig as wise, young and mature. The middle pig is portrayed as wanting to play all day, and the oldest pig is described as lazy. The author created the wolf to be big and bad.

Character purpose asks questions like:

  • What is the purpose of the character in the story? and more.....

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