Chapter 15: Comprehensive Overview of Deductive Reasoning

This assignment delves into the concept of deductive reasoning, defining it as a form of reasoning where communicators support their claims using facts, statements, and theories to deduce relevant ideas. The document provides an example using Copernicus, who, based on observations of the sun and star systems, inferred that the Earth revolves around the sun, challenging the then-popular geocentric view. The explanation clarifies how Copernicus employed observational data to support his argument, leading to the conclusion that the Earth, not the sun, is the center of the solar system. The assignment highlights the importance of using information and reasoning to support claims and offers references to relevant academic sources, Rothe et al. (2018) and Hellwing et al. (2016).

DEDUCTIVE REASONING
CHAPTER 15

DEDUCTIVE REASONING
DEDUCTIVE REASONING IS A FORM OF REASONING IN WHICH THE
COMMUNICATOR ARGUES TO SUPPORT HIS CLAIMS, WITH THE
SUPPORT OF OTHER STATEMENTS, FACTS OR THEORIES,
DEDUCTING RELEVANT IDEAS FROM THEM THAT PERFECTLY
COMPLY WITH HIS ARGUMENTS (Rothe et al. 2018).

EXAMPLE
COPERNICUS REFERRED TO THE MOVEMENT OF THE SUN IN THE
SKY, AND THE OBSERVABLE STAR SYSTEMS AT THAT TIME TO INFER
THAT IT IS IN FACT THE EARTH THAT GOES AROUND THE SUN, AND
HENCE CANNOT BE THE CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE, THUS
OPPOSING THE POPULAR PREACHINGS OF THE CHURCH .

EXPLANATION
THE EXAMPLE STATED IN THIS CONTEXT IS JUSTIFIED BY THE FACT THAT
COPERNICUS USED THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE MOVEMENT OF THE SUN
ACROSS THE SKY, AND THE OBSERVABLE STAR SYSTEM TO SUPPORT HIS CLAIM
THAT WHAT IS NORMAL IS TO RATHER BELIEVE THAT IT IS THE EARTH THAT
GOES AROUND THE SUN. FROM THAT, HE FURTHER REASONED THAT THIS IS
WHY IT CANNOT BE THE CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE (Hellwin et al. 2016).

REFERENCES
Rothe, A., Kachergis, G.E., Raijmakers, M.E.J., Kalish, C., Rau, M., Zhu, J. and Rogers, T.T., 2018. The
development of deductive reasoning in Mastermind. In Kalish, C.; Rau, M.; Zhu, J.(ed.), Proceedings of the
40th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci 2018) (p. 2889). Madison, WI: Cognitive
Science Society.
Hellwing, W.A., Frenk, C.S., Cautun, M., Bose, S., Helly, J., Jenkins, A., Sawala, T. and Cytowski, M., 2016.
The Copernicus Complexio: a high-resolution view of the small-scale Universe. Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society, 457(4), pp.3492-3509.