CHAPTER 12 DEDUCTIVE REASONING: HOW DO I RESON FROM PROMISES?

Deductive reasoning is the process of starting with one or more statements called premises and investigating what conclusions necessarily follow from these premises. Deduction is the subject of formal logic, whose main concern is whith creating forms that demonstrate reasoning. Syllogisms allow logicians to determine what is being said, to identify hidden premises, and to find out if the argument makes sense. Deductive and inductive resoning are not isolated pursuits but are mentally interwoven both in major and mundane problem solving.