--11--INDUCTIVE REASONING AND INDUCTIVE FALLACIES:HOW DO I REASON FROM EVIDENCE?

       

 How Do I Reason From Evidence?

   Inductive reasoning is a method used to discover new information or to supply missing information .

   when we use inductive reasoning ,we observe ,test ,and check things out in some systematic fashion .Although it is an open ended method of learning and discovering ,it is not hit and miss or trial and error ,but has it own rules for arriving at the most reliable answer.

  Reasoning From Sensory Observation 

    " Sensory observation is the awareness of self and of the word though the basic senses of sight ,touch ,taste ,smell,and hearing .Ancillary senses include a sense of time ,weight ,energy,pressure,motion ,balance,direction ,color,darkness,cold and lightness... "

     The ability to observe and infer will always remain the primary  skills of a scientist.Even a scientist who employs instruments such as a computer ,microscope or  X-ray machine still depends primary on personal skills of reasoning  from sensory information.Moreover,some of the most dramatic discoveries in the history of science resulted from simple observing of the right  thing at the right  time .

  Reasoning From Enumeration 

"  Enumerate  means ;To  count off or name one by one or to determine a number from counting ."

  Induction uses enumeration in a range from simple counting to gathering statistics .The rules for good induction  are concerned with how to draw the most likely  and probable conclusions about wholes on the basis of a controlled sampling  of parts.

  Analogical  Reasoning 

  " Analogy means to find a correspondence of similarity  between things that seem different or an inference that if two things are a like  in some respect  ,they will be like in other respect... 

  Inductive reasoning ca be also be based on analogies ,which are a from of comparisons .All of us learn from  making comparisons .
  Analogical reasoning also severs as a mainstay of legal argumentation in countries  such as Canada,England and ,the United States,where the decisions depend on precedents;the rules of precedents  means that similar  cases must be decide in a similar  manner ..

  Reasoning With Hypotheses 

   "Hypothesis comes from the Greek word hypothesis,meaning a proposal ,suggestion ,or supposition .A hypothesis is the name given to a conclusion reached through inductive reasoning ;a hypothesis  is a trial idea, a proposal or a theory."   

  A conclusion derived from inductive reasoning is called a hypothesis.You found a number of them in the story of humphrey the whale ...

Fallacies Of Inductive Reasoning Covered In This Chapter 

1. Hasty Generalization 
2. Either or Fallacy 
3. Questionale Statistic 
4. Inconsistencies And Contradictions
5. Loaded Question 
6. False Analogy 
7. False Cause 
8. Slippery Slope