Inductive versus deductive reasoning: how to make stronger arguments

Deductive reasoning starts from established facts, then applies logical steps to reach a conclusion. For example, "Bachelors are unmarried men. Jack is unmarried. Therefore, Jack is a bachelor."

Limitations:

• If the premise or the logic applied is flawed, deductive reasoning can lead to the wrong conclusions. For example, "All dogs are animals; all animals have four legs; therefore, all dogs have four legs," is false because injury or species characteristics mean not all animals have four legs.
• It is impractical to use on a daily basis, as it requires a factual premise to start from, which we don't always have access to.
• Building a premise on an outdated hypothesis can lead to the wrong conclusion.

Depending on the nature of the task, inductive and deductive reasoning can be used in combination.

Researchers use inductive reasoning to formulate theories and hypotheses. Then they use deductive reasoning for evaluating their theories in specific situations.