Logical reasoning is concerned with the correctness of arguments. A key distinction is between deductive and non-deductive arguments.
Logical reasoning is a mental activity that aims to arrive at a conclusion in a rigorous way. It happens in the form of inferences or arguments by starting from a set of premises and reasoning to a conclusion supported by these premises. The premises and the conclusion are propositions, i.e. true or false claims about what is the case. Together, they form an argument. Logical reasoning is norm-governed in the sense that it aims to formulate correct arguments that any rational person would find convincing. The main discipline studying logical reasoning is logic.
Distinct types of logical reasoning differ from each other concerning the norms they employ and the certainty of the conclusion they arrive at. Deductive reasoning offers the strongest support: the premises ensure the conclusion, meaning that it is impossible for the conclusion to be false if all the premises are true. Such an argument is called a valid argument, for example: all men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal. For valid arguments, it is not important whether the premises are actually true but only that, if they were true, the conclusion could not be false. Valid arguments follow a rule of inference, such as modus ponens or modus tollens. Deductive reasoning plays a central role in formal logic and mathematics.
For non-deductive logical reasoning, the premises make their conclusion rationally convincing without ensuring its truth. This is often understood in terms of probability: the premises make it more likely that the conclusion is true and strong inferences make it very likely. Some uncertainty remains because the conclusion introduces new information not already found in the premises. Non-deductive reasoning plays a central role in everyday life and in most sciences. Often-discussed types are inductive, abductive, and analogical reasoning. Inductive reasoning is a form of generalization that infers a universal law from a pattern found in many individual cases. It can be used to conclude that "all ravens are black" based on many individual observations of black ravens. Abductive reasoning, also known as "inference to the best explanation", starts from an observation and reasons to the fact explaining this observation. An example is a doctor who examines the symptoms of their patient to make a diagnosis of the underlying cause. Analogical reasoning compares two similar systems. It observes that one of them has a feature and concludes that the other one also has this feature.
Arguments that fall short of the standards of logical reasoning are called fallacies. For formal fallacies, like affirming the consequent, the error lies in the logical form of the argument. For informal fallacies, like false dilemmas, the source of the faulty reasoning is usually found in the content or the context of the argument. Some theorists understand logical reasoning in a wide sense that is roughly equivalent to critical thinking. In this regard, it encompasses cognitive skills besides the ability to draw conclusions from premises. Examples are skills to generate and evaluate reasons and to assess the reliability of information. Further factors are to seek new information, to avoid inconsistencies, and to consider the advantages and disadvantages of different courses of action before making a decision.
Logicalreasoning is a mental activity that aims to arrive at a conclusion in a rigorous way. It happens in the form of inferences or arguments by starting...
self-evident axioms and tries to build a comprehensive logical system using deductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is the psychological process of drawing deductive...
as deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, and abductive reasoning. Aristotle drew a distinction between logical discursive reasoning (reason proper)...
of automated reasoning, which itself led to the development of artificial intelligence. A formal proof is a proof in which every logical inference has...
study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines...
invalid, while an informal fallacy originates in an error in reasoning other than an improper logical form. Arguments containing informal fallacies may be formally...
It is designed to assess reading comprehension, analytical reasoning, and logicalreasoning. The test is an integral part of the law school admission process...
conclusions. Analytical skill consists of categories that include logicalreasoning, critical thinking, communication, research, data analysis and creativity...
defaults. In order to represent and assess defeasible reasoning, it is necessary to combine the logical rules (governing the acceptance of a conclusion based...
Circular reasoning (Latin: circulus in probando, "circle in proving"; also known as circular logic) is a logical fallacy in which the reasoner begins...
Inductive reasoning is any of various methods of reasoning in which broad generalizations or principles are derived from a body of observations. This article...
Abductive reasoning (also called abduction, abductive inference, or retroduction) is a form of logical inference that seeks the simplest and most likely...
thinking is reducible to logical thinking". There are three types of logicalreasoning. Informally, two kinds of logicalreasoning can be distinguished in...
syllogismos, 'conclusion, inference') is a kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two propositions...
of sentences in logical form, representing knowledge about some problem domain. Computation is performed by applying logicalreasoning to that knowledge...
Logical consequence (also entailment) is a fundamental concept in logic which describes the relationship between statements that hold true when one statement...
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and LogicalReasoning and Quantitative Ability.The exam is taken online over a period of...
Inferences are steps in reasoning, moving from premises to logical consequences; etymologically, the word infer means to "carry forward". Inference is...
is a more reliable method of finding the truth than purely using logicalreasoning, because humans have cognitive biases and limitations which lead to...
term "logical form" itself was introduced by Bertrand Russell in 1914, in the context of his program to formalize natural language and reasoning, which...
Comprehension Current affairs including General Knowledge Legal ReasoningLogicalReasoning Quantitative Techniques (Maths) All the questions will be paragraph-based...
pp. 2066–2069, LogicalReasoning and Learning Dowden 2020, pp. 432–449, 470 Douven 2022 Koslowski 2017, pp. 366–368, Abductive Reasoning and Explanation...
some reasoning of the form "p because p" is acceptable, namely, in cases where p is self-justifying. In other cases, the same (logical) reasoning commits...
from Chemistry, 54 from Physics, 18 from English language, 6 from Logicalreasoning. Only in 2021 the total score was increased to 210. The next year...
Diagrammatic reasoning is reasoning by means of visual representations. The study of diagrammatic reasoning is about the understanding of concepts and...
other certifications. Examples of aptitude tests include; Logicalreasoning tests: Logicalreasoning tests examine how you come to see the difference or similarities...
SymPy is an open-source Python library for symbolic computation. It provides computer algebra capabilities either as a standalone application, as a library...
information technology a reasoning system is a software system that generates conclusions from available knowledge using logical techniques such as deduction...
premise or starting point for reasoning. In mathematics, an axiom may be a "logical axiom" or a "non-logical axiom". Logical axioms are taken to be true...
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