Deductive reasoning is the same as top-down reasoning, where someone looks at generalizations first and then figures out what the details of those would be.
Often it could just be a guess what the details are since you might be inferring the details instead of finding evidence.
I would say that this type of logic can apply to any type of thinking. For instance, even if I am just moving the mouse of a computer I could think of it in two ways (deductive or inductive). The deductive way of thinking would be something like 'I am moving the mouse of the computer, my arm causes it to move and those are the movements it makes' and the inductive way would be 'these are the movements my computer mouse is making, I must be deciding to move the mouse - I am directing its movements'. With the deductive method, the idea of you came before the realization you were making detailed movements, and with the inductive method the opposite occurred.
My example is different from more obvious or straightforward examples of deductive and inductive reasoning, where it is clear what the generalization is and what the details are. I would say that it is still a good example, however, it is just more subjective. The idea 'I am moving the mouse' is the main idea, and the detail is 'the mouse is moving, those are the movements it is making'. The reason the movements of the mouse are the details is because that is where more description can be described.
That example of deductive reasoning is subjective, however. A more typical example would be one with a concretely broad idea and it would be clear that detail was inferred from it. With my example, however, you could say that the opposite is true and that the general idea is that 'the mouse is moving', and the detail is that 'I am moving the mouse' (instead of the opposite). It looks like it depends on which idea comes first. Whichever idea comes first the human mind would assess is the more generalized idea that needs to be supported. - That idea itself is significant because people could form delusions, or imagine what the details are or what the other side of the story is simply because they heard one idea first.
Things can be viewed in more than one way
A fundamental element of reasoning is that a different idea can be viewed many different ways. This is different from simply listing the significant factors - viewing something differently means changing the subjective perspective you have on something, while listing significant factors could be categorized under one perspective. Therefore the two elements of information is content and angle (subjectivity). This painting is an example - the dramatized colors change how the painting is perceived.
All art is subjective
All of art is subjective, actually since it is highly dependent on subjective opinions. This doesn't mean that art isn't scientific and conveys information, however. Notice how in the image below there are obscure, abstract patterns yet the detail works together to convey more complex patterns and images.
- 4267 reads