Deductive Reasoning
Deductive reasoning is a rhetorical tool as opposed to a literary tool. However, it is utilized in literature as well as philosophy to build arguments.
Rules for Deductive Reasoning
There are three major guidelines in deductive reasoning.
The first is modus ponens, which manner “law of detachment.” This is inference rule in which conclusion is deduced from the primary premise this is situation and 2d premise this is antecedent.
The 2nd rule is modus tollens, which is known as “law of contrapositive”. It is based totally on the primary premise as conditional with the second one premise as a negation of the end result accompanied by end deduced from them.
The third regulation is that of the syllogism, which takes conditionals after which forms a conclusion.
Rule-Based Examples
Premise 1: Johnson is a student.
Premise 2: All students are young men.
Conclusion: Johnson is a young guy.
Premise 1: If it rains, it way that the sky is cloudy.
Premise 2: There is not any cloud within the sky.
Conclusion: Therefore, it approach that it's miles raining.
Premise 1: If it is a York, it method it is a dog.
Premise 2: If it is a dog, it's also a mammal.
Conclusion: If the animal is a York, it way that it is a mammal, too.
Common Examples
If you want to locate peace of mind, you want to identify what you could manage and what you cannot. However, if others assume what isn't under your manipulate is, it is their wondering. Therefore, you want not worry approximately what others think about you.
When there are two humans in this room; Jonny and his brother and that each do not wear spectacles, it manner that Jonny also does no longer put on spectacles. Therefore, both have suitable eyesight.
If there is an after top number and seven is likewise a prime number, it method that every one peculiar numbers between two to 8 are high numbers. (Adopted from Patrick Hurley’s Concise Introduction to Logic)
Examples from Literature
Example #1
Animal Farm with the aid of George Orwell
“A bird’s wing, comrades,” he said, “is an organ of propulsion and not of manipulation. It have to therefore be appeared as a leg. The distinguishing mark of guy is the HAND, the instrument with which he does all his mischief.”
The birds did no longer apprehend Snowball’s long words, however they regularly occurring his explanation, and all the humbler animals started working to learn the new maxim with the aid of heart. FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD, become inscribed on the stop wall of the barn, above the Seven Commandments and in larger letters. When they'd once were given it through heart, the sheep advanced a brilliant liking for this maxim, and regularly as they lay inside the discipline they could all start bleating “Four legs exact, legs bad! Four legs correct, legs bad!” and keep it up for hours on cease, in no way growing tired of it.”
This paragraph from Animal Farm is an first-rate instance of deductive reasoning. Snowball is making an attempt to prove that if wings are like legs, it means they're now not hands. If they may be now not hands, it approach that birds have four legs. Therefore, they have no longer two legs however four legs. Through this deductive reasoning, Snowball has tested that birds are truly animals and now not human beings.
Example #2
The Old Man and the Sea through Ernest Hemingway
“They sat on the Terrace, and a few of the fishermen made fun of the antique man, and he became no longer angry. Others, of the older fishermen, looked at him and were sad. But they did not show it, and that they spoke politely about the modern-day and the depths that they had drifted their traces at and the constant properly climate and of what that they had seen.”
This paragraph from The Old Man and the Sea is also one in all the best examples of deductive reasoning. It suggests the logic that because the fishermen make fun of the old guy, and but the antique man is not indignant. It approach Santiago is not indignant as he is likewise a man. Conversely, it additionally indicates that because the older men do now not display their anger and they may be very patient.
Example #3
The Raven by using Thomas Hardy
Once upon a middle of the night dreary, at the same time as I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious quantity of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, all at once there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“‘Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door –
Only this, and nothing more.”
This stanza from “The Raven” additionally suggests an example of deductive reasoning used in literature. It indicates that while there may be tapping at the door, and it's also gentle, it approach that there's best one visitor. It also approach that there is no other supply of tapping except that visitor.
Functions of Deductive Reasoning
Deductive reasoning proves highly beneficial at some point of discussions, speeches, writings, and literary pieces. They also are protected in logical and argumentative novels or plays. The written pieces often emerge as very persuasive and convincing whilst built with deductive reasoning. The use of deductive reasoning makes it smooth to persuade the audiences, using fashionable examples to reach a particular point. Moreover, deductive reasoning allows the writing and talking clear, rhetorical, and effective. It gets rid of ambiguities and confusions in the arguments and helps a person emerge as a fluent and eloquent speaker and perfect writer.
Popular Literary Devices
- Ad Hominem
- Adage
- Allegory
- Alliteration
- Allusion
- Ambiguity
- Anachronism
- Anagram
- Analogy
- Anapest
- Anaphora
- Anecdote
- Antagonist
- Antecedent
- Antimetabole
- Antithesis
- Aphorism
- Aposiopesis
- Apostrophe
- Archaism
- Archetype
- Argument
- Assonance
- Biography
- Cacophony
- Cadence
- Caricature
- Catharsis
- Characterization
- Cliché
- Climax
- Colloquialism
- Comparison
- Conflict
- Connotation
- Consonance
- Denotation
- Deus Ex Machina
- Dialect
- Dialogue
- Diction
- Didacticism
- Discourse
- Doppelganger
- Double Entendre
- Ellipsis
- Epiphany
- Epitaph
- Essay
- Ethos
- Eulogy
- Euphemism
- Evidence
- Exposition
- Fable
- Fallacy
- Flash Forward
- Foil
- Foreshadowing
- Genre
- Haiku
- Half Rhyme
- Hubris
- Hyperbaton
- Hyperbole
- Idiom
- Imagery
- Induction
- Inference
- Innuendo
- Internal Rhyme
- Irony
- Jargon
- Juxtaposition
- Limerick
- Line Break
- Logos
- Meiosis
- Memoir
- Metaphor
- Meter
- Mood
- Motif
- Narrative
- Nemesis
- Non Sequitur
- Ode
- Onomatopoeia
- Oxymoron
- Palindrome
- Parable
- Paradox
- Parallelism
- Parataxis
- Parody
- Pathetic Fallacy
- Pathos
- Pentameter
- Persona
- Personification
- Plot
- Poem
- Poetic Justice
- Point of View
- Portmanteau
- Propaganda
- Prose
- Protagonist
- Pun
- Red Herring
- Repetition
- Rhetoric
- Rhyme
- Rhythm
- Sarcasm
- Satire
- Simile
- Soliloquy
- Sonnet
- Style
- Superlative
- Syllogism
- Symbolism
- Synecdoche
- Synesthesia
- Syntax
- Tautology
- Theme
- Thesis
- Tone
- Tragedy
- Tragicomedy
- Tragic Flaw
- Transition
- Utopia
- Verisimilitude