Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or based on deduction.
  • adjective Involving or using deduction in reasoning.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Consisting of deduction; of the nature of or based on inference from accepted principles.
  • Deduced; derived as a conclusion from accepted principles; relating to inference from a principle to the results of that principle in any special case.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to deduction; capable of being deduced from premises; deducible.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of, pertaining to, or based on deduction.
  • adjective logic Based on inferences from general principles.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective relating to logical deduction
  • adjective involving inferences from general principles

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Deductive inconsistency so defined determines one kind of incoherence in belief, which I refer to as deductive incoherence.

    Bayesian Epistemology Talbott, William 2008

  • And I don't think Fido or neurons have concepts and hence my view that they are not the sorts of thing that engage in deductive inference.

    Backing Into an Evidentiary Standard for ID 2007

  • Now the method which was almost exclusively employed until Bacon's time is commonly called the deductive method; that is, some principle or premise was assumed to be true, and reasoning was made from this assumption.

    Beacon Lights of History John Lord 1852

  • I second the motion, i watch all of them and then i decipher the bs, its called deductive reasoning!

    Propeller Most Popular Stories 2009

  • There are two ways that the laws of deductive logic have been thought to provide rational constraints on belief: (1) Synchronically, the laws of deductive logic can be used to define the notion of deductive consistency and inconsistency.

    Bayesian Epistemology Talbott, William 2008

  • Those who propound the deductivist stance argue that it eliminates the need to make the sometimes difficult decision whether a particular argument should be classified as deductive or inductive, that it greatly simplifies the structure of informal logic, and that it is useful to reconstruct the assumptions it recognizes as implicit premises (see Groarke [1999]).

    Informal Logic Groarke, Leo 2007

  • Therefore, using our trusty friend, aka deductive reasoning, evolution MUST be considered as valid scientific fact.

    Our Scientific Output - The Panda's Thumb 2006

  • The constraint of necessity is not sufficient to settle the notion of deductive validity, for the notion of necessity may also be fleshed out in a number of ways.

    Logical Consequence Beall, JC 2005

  • We are more sure of Truth by the so-called deductive than by the so-called inductive ladder, and it was not without meaning that she was represented as dwelling at the bottom of a well, for she is more surely reached by descending to her abode from the so-called abstract, than by climbing with our feet on the slippery concrete.

    The Education of American Girls Anna Callender Brackett

  • This so-called deductive method of Aristotle assumed as a starting-point some general of principle as a premise or hypothesis and thence proceeded, by logical reasoning, to deduce concrete applications or consequences.

    A Political and Social History of Modern Europe V.1. Carlton J. H. Hayes 1923

Comments

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  • Holmes uses this reasoning when he is working on a case.

    June 18, 2012