The Art of Logical Thinking: Inductive, Deductive and Hypothetical Reasoning and the Use of Syllogisms and Fallacies

By William Walker Atkinson

William Walker Atkinson, an attorney by trade, explains different kinds of logic and reasoning - deductive, inductive and hypothetical.

The author begins by describing how the mind forms ideas and concepts, and then subjects these to the mental processes of higher reasoning. The memory stores a repository of terms, which are different from concepts in that they apply exclusively to the name of things. Through reasoning the mind can arrive at a judgment of a given thing or idea, and through simple distinction can reject what is false - for instance, the notion that a horse is a cow.

Moving on from these simple examples, Atkinson describes how complex judgments and analyses are formed by the mind. Piecing together an accurate chain of events forms a kind of inductive reasoning - for example, if several people enters a store empty-handed, and later emerge with bags of fruit and vegetables, is it sensible to infer that it is a grocery store. Deriving conclusions from facts and events is forming a hypothesis; with the use of information, assertions can be made to arrive at a sensible conclusion - without personally entering said store, based on known facts it is credible to hypothesize that it sells groceries.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1789872979
• ISBN13: 9781789872972
• Release Date: January 1909
• Publisher: Pantianos Classics
• Length: 86 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"