Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Inductive Reasoning
Whether we notice it or not, do it intentionally or not, as critical thinkers nowadays, inductive reasoning occurs quite often. It gradually has become our way to reason out many situations that come our way. I can even personally attest to this. For example, the last time I had Sashimi, I got food poisoning from it. Just because it happened once quite recently, it made me arrive to a conclusion that was reasoned out by inductive thinking. In this given situation, I can say that my first premise could be Sashimi is raw food. The second premise could be that raw food gives me food poisoning. Therefore, I can say that Sashimi probably gave me food poisoning. I would say that this is an inductive reasoning because I claimed that my conclusion is not definite and could only possibly be true. Though this form of reasoning is not always right, I can say that it is still an effective way of thinking because it does not immediately assume and rush into possibly wrong conclusions. Even though my example may have a possibility of being true, it does not reassure that Sashimi was the only reason that I had food poisoning.
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I totally agree with you. We do use inductive reasoning a lot in our daily lives. After reading about inductive arguments in chapter 7, it really opened my eyes to be able to see how I break down situations and reason with myself to come up with the best conclusion. I had always thought that the way I reasoned with myself to come up with a conclusion was something everyone did. I did not know that it had a specific name. I also faced food poisoning once when I ate Mexican food. It was really unfortunate so I definitely know how you must have felt.
ReplyDeleteI agree with y ou thst we inductively reason a lot of situations in our daily lives whether we know it or not. When you actually know you're using this type of reasoning is when it's your most thought out decision. I can see why you automatically assumed it was food poisoning that attatcked you since there might be similar symptoms in your last fright. I love sushi and have it periodically. I actually avoid the uncooked seafood in sushi because I'm always afraid of getting some type of sickness from them, Even though this is not always true. As you can see I would've done the same kind of inductive reason in my everyday situation.
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