Reasoning: What Does It Mean to Reason in Science and Everyday Life?

Follow this pathway to explore the concept and crucial functions of reasoning in science and everyday life. You’ll acquire basic vocabulary for discussing reasoning and arguments, and practice translating examples of reasoning from everyday life into precisely stated arguments. There are two main kinds of reasoning: deducing and theorizing. You’ll explore the connection between an argument's logical form and its deductive validity, and will apply these concepts to clarify some of the key steps of the scientific method. 

Topics

  • affirming a disjunct
  • affirming the consequent
  • applying general principles
  • argument
  • argument form
  • argument structure
  • argumentation
  • causal reasoning
  • claims
  • combining conditionals
  • combining rules
  • complex argument
  • comparing
  • components of an argument
  • conclusion
  • conclusion indicator
  • confirming
  • constructing proofs
  • critical thinking
  • decision-making
  • deduction
  • deductive argument
  • deductive reasoning
  • denying the antecedent
  • deriving logical
  • consequences
  • deriving predictions
  • disconfirming
  • disjunctive syllogism
  • essential content
  • essential premise
  • explicit conclusion
  • explicit premise
  • evidence
  • falsifying hypotheses
  • generalizing
  • high school
  • hypothesis testing
  • hypothetical syllogism
  • implicit conclusion
  • implicit premises
  • invalid
  • kinds of argument
  • kinds of reasoning
  • limits of deduction
  • logic
  • logical form
  • logical symbol
  • modeling
  • modus ponens
  • modus tollens
  • non-deductive argument
  • non-deductive reasoning
  • non-essential content
  • ordinary language argument
  • perspectives
  • premise
  • premise indicator
  • premises
  • process of elimination
  • rational thinking
  • reasoning
  • reasons
  • ruling out possibilities
  • scientific thinking
  • self-knowledge
  • sound argument
  • soundness
  • standard form
  • sufficient condition
  • synthesizing
  • theorizing
  • translating an argument
  • uncovering an argument
  • understanding
  • unstated conclusion
  • unstated premise
  • valid
  • valid argument
  • validity
  • Venn diagram