Q.Differentiate between deductive and inductive reasoning, giving one original example of each.

The chapter distinguishes two broad kinds of reasoning using the example of a person seen running desperately on a railway platform. Deductive reasoning begins with a general assumption that is taken to be true, and from that assumption draws a specific conclusion - it moves from the general to the particular. The chapter is careful to point out the main pitfall of deductive reasoning: people frequently assume that their starting premise is true without actually verifying it, and if that underlying assumption turns out to be false, the conclusion, however logically it was arrived at, ends up invalid or simply wrong. This is illustrated with a cartoon mouse who reasons, 'All cats have four legs, I have four legs, therefore I am a cat' - a conclusion that follows the correct deductive form but is false, because the underlying premise does not actually hold.

Inductive reasoning works in the opposite direction: it is reasoning based on specific facts and observations, from which a general conclusion is drawn - moving from the particular to the general. The main risk with inductive reasoning, as the chapter notes, is jumping to a conclusion without first knowing all the relevant, possible facts. The chapter also notes that most scientific reasoning is inductive: scientists consider a number of individual instances and try to work out what general rule covers all of them. In short, deductive reasoning tests or applies a general rule to a specific case, while inductive reasoning builds up a general rule from a collection of specific cases.