Dr. Watson, the sidekick of Sherlock Holmes,was often found to be congratulating Holmes on his investigative detective skills by using the phrase, "Brilliant deduction!" If we wanted to be sticklers about it, we would note that what should have been said is "Brilliant induction!" Holmes and Watson were always busy gathering evidence from a crime scene and putting the pieces together to reach their conclusion as to who had committed the crime. So they were really engaged in inductive reasoning.
Remember that inductive reasoning involves examining the particulars that one has witnessed or experienced in some way, evidence that has been gathered in, and moving toward a general conclusion that may or may not be true. Depending upon the kind of evidence and the amount of evidence, the probability of a true and certain conclusion will rise or fall. Technically speaking, deductive reasoning involves moving from a general principle that is accepted as true or assumed to be true and concluding that it has application to particular instances as well. We might need to give Sherlock and Dr. Watson a break, though, because sometimes the term "deduce" is used to mean only that a conclusion has been reached through reasoning. For our purposes, we will keep the terms as we defined them in class today. Knowing the difference will help you to discern whether or not an argument and its conclusion are sound and reliable no matter how logical they may first appear.
Just for fun, I'm including the link to a Sherlock Holmes mystery that I just watched myself. It's about 30 minutes long; check with your parents and make sure you're caught up on all your homework first!
See you next week. . .Mrs. H.
Remember that inductive reasoning involves examining the particulars that one has witnessed or experienced in some way, evidence that has been gathered in, and moving toward a general conclusion that may or may not be true. Depending upon the kind of evidence and the amount of evidence, the probability of a true and certain conclusion will rise or fall. Technically speaking, deductive reasoning involves moving from a general principle that is accepted as true or assumed to be true and concluding that it has application to particular instances as well. We might need to give Sherlock and Dr. Watson a break, though, because sometimes the term "deduce" is used to mean only that a conclusion has been reached through reasoning. For our purposes, we will keep the terms as we defined them in class today. Knowing the difference will help you to discern whether or not an argument and its conclusion are sound and reliable no matter how logical they may first appear.
Just for fun, I'm including the link to a Sherlock Holmes mystery that I just watched myself. It's about 30 minutes long; check with your parents and make sure you're caught up on all your homework first!
See you next week. . .Mrs. H.
2 comments:
That was a Great movie! There was mixed deductive and addductive reasoning!
Not to mention that Sherlock seems to have an almost omniscient way of putting the pieces of the crime puzzle together! I agree - some of the old movies are among the best!
Post a Comment