SSH 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Soundness, Logical Reasoning, Deductive Reasoning
28 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
A deductive argument is intended to show conclusive reasons for accepting the conclusion. These are the kinds of arguments you see lawyers and police using. In a deductive argument the premises should be definitive, undeniable, evidence for the conclusion. Structured correctly, a deductive argument will guarantee the truth of the conclusion. It follows then, that if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true. This is why deductive arguments are said to be truth preserving. Deductive arguments use deductive reasoning, one of the most basic forms of reasoning. Deductive reasoning goes from a general case to a specific case. In other words, on the basis of broad experience, allowing that such experience is accurate, we can know something about a specific instance. Deductive reasoning gives us excellent evidence, and on the basis of excellent evidence, the conclusions follow, necessarily. The terms used to describe deductive arguments are valid or invalid, sound and unsound.
