In higher education institutions, the concepts of "induction" and "deduction" are often used, but rarely explained. Therefore, out of habit, many people use them, talking at the exam about the methods of a particular science (depending on the subject being taken). But if such peppy respondents are asked to give examples, many are lost. It is especially difficult for them to tell the difference between induction and deduction. This is a traditional question for many who drew the number one ticket.
Risky Insights
Induction is a method of cognition when a conclusion is drawn from a multitude of particular cases about general patterns. This is how Newton, Mendel, Tesla made their discoveries. Induction is a productive method, however, very risky. For example, if you have never seen black swans, you can assume that all swans are white. That is, when working with induction, you need to be careful and always remember about the "black swans".
Detective 1's reasoning
Deduction is another matter. This is work with already established patterns. Many people recognize this word from books about Sherlock Holmes. Sometimes you can meet the opinion that he actually worked by induction. And yet the science of deduction taught to Watson lives up to its name. Before embarking on the investigation of the crime, Holmes carefully studied forensic anatomy, the color of sand in different regions of London, and reports. That is, he got acquainted with the general laws. And then, having seen specific facts, he connected them with general provisions. That is, he did not establish new "theories" at the stage of investigation, he went from his knowledge of the general to the particular. It turns out that there was also an induction in his work, but at the stage of general preparation of himself as an expert. And when faced with a crime, Holmes used deduction.
On a simple example
But what is deduction? This is a discussion from the general to the particular. Since school, each of us remembers qualitative reactions that allow us to determine the presence of a particular substance in a test tube. What's with the deduction? An example of a qualitative reaction, when a student has the knowledge that, for example, there should be a “silver mirror” if there are aldehydes in the test tube, is an example of general knowledge. And the student sees a film of a characteristic color! Private is a fact. With the help of deduction, the student concludes that there is aldehyde in the test tube.
Discoverer and user
That is, induction and deduction are not just reasoning, they are ways of obtaining new knowledge. When it comes to chemistry,who discovered the reaction of the silver mirror, then for him the establishment that it is possible to calculate the aldehyde in this way is an inductive conclusion. But for the student, knowing what exactly is in the test tube is deductively established knowledge.
Deduction is often accused of being unproductive, saying that it does not help establish new things about the world. In fact, it is also impossible to explore the world without it, because when discovering, a scientist usually takes into account already known patterns, that is, he uses both deduction and induction. Our thinking is very complex, and various operations are needed to understand everything correctly. After all, the world is not at all simple, so we have to complicate the models of its understanding.
