In higher education, the concepts of “induction” and “deduction” are often used, and rarely explained. Therefore, many out of habit use them, telling on the exam about the methods of a particular science (depending on the subject being handed over). But if such peppy respondents are asked to give examples, many are lost. It is especially hard to tell them how induction and deduction differ . This is a traditional question for many who have drawn out the number one ticket.
Risky insights
Induction is a method of cognition when, from many special cases, a conclusion is drawn about general laws. That is how Newton, Mendel, Tesla made their discoveries. Induction is a productive method, however, very risky. For example, never having seen black swans, we can assume that all swans are white. That is, when working with induction, you need to be careful and always remember the “black swans”.
Reasoning Detective No. 1
Another thing is deduction. This is work with already established patterns. Many people recognize this word from books about Sherlock Holmes. Sometimes you can find the opinion that he actually worked by induction. And yet the science of deduction taught to Watson justifies its name. Before proceeding with the investigation of the crime, Holmes carefully studied judicial anatomy, the color of sand in different regions of London, reports. That is, he got acquainted with general patterns. And then, upon seeing concrete facts, he connected them with general provisions. That is, he did not establish new “theories” at the stage of investigation, he went from his knowledge of the general to the particular. It turns out that induction was also in his work, but at the stage of general preparation of himself as an expert. And faced with a crime, Holmes used deduction.
On a simple example
But what is deduction? This reasoning is from general to particular. Since school, each of us remembers qualitative reactions that allow us to determine the presence of a substance in a test tube. What does deduction have to do with it? An example of a qualitative reaction when a student has knowledge that, for example, there should be a “silver mirror” if there are aldehydes in the test tube, is an example of general knowledge. And the student sees a film of a characteristic color! Private is a fact. With the help of deduction, the student concludes that there is aldehyde in the test tube.
Discoverer and user
That is, induction and deduction are not just reasoning, they are ways of gaining new knowledge. If we are talking about a chemist who discovered the reaction of a silver mirror, then for him the determination that aldehyde can be calculated this way is an inductive conclusion. But for the student, knowledge of what exactly is in vitro is deductively established knowledge.
Deduction is often accused of being unproductive, saying that it does not help establish a new one about the world. In fact, without it it is also impossible to explore the world, because usually a scientist, when opening, takes into account already known patterns, that is, uses both deduction and induction. Our thinking is very difficult, and various operations are necessary to understand everything correctly. After all, the world is not simple at all, and it is necessary to complicate the models of its understanding.