A Class Room Logic / Deductive and Inductive, with Special Application to the Science and Art of Teaching

by George Hastings McNair

Second. Reasoning from general to general.

ILLUSTRATION:

All growing things die,

All living things are growing things,

∴ All living things die.

It may be observed that all of the propositions in traduction are co-extensive “A’s” or “E’s”; hence all theterms are distributed. This eliminates any possibility of committing fallacies of distribution. Further, the propositions may be interchanged at will, without invalidating the particular conclusion selected. To illustrate we may change the last argument to this:

All growing things are living things,

All things that die are growing things,

∴ All things that die are living things.

From the viewpoint of authenticity traduction is the most, and induction the least dependable; whereas the certitude of deductive reasoning lies somewhere between the two. On the other hand, when looked at from the ground of serviceableness the order is reversed, induction being the most useful form of inference and traduction the least.