The roles of inductive and deductive reasoning can be seen as polar opposites, but they can actually be complimentary to one another. There are situations where these two reasonings merge, such as criminal investigations. There is also many signs of these two ways of reasoning being complimented infamous mystery novels, such as Sherlock Holmes. One example of this is the Sherlock Holmes tale, “The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier”. This tells a story of a Veteran James M. Dodd, who served in the Boer War. He goes to Sherlock Holmes to discover what has happened to a close friend he has made during this war, who suddenly disappeared after returning home. Later on, Sherlock Holmes finds out that James Dodd’s friend, Godfrey, was hidden away
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The reader begins to see Sherlock use inductive reasoning near the beginning when he stops to ask James what was the person reading in the Cabin that he was spying in. James acts annoyed at this, seeing as this was just a minor fact of his …show more content…
This is a prime example of inductive reasoning because it’s not based on so much of an apparent logical connection. The conclusion of an inductive reasoning can be seen as more easily false than deductive reasoning. However, there is a role in deductive reasoning in this. Sherlock follows the premise that Godfrey is alive because of James’ story. Then it follows that Godfrey is on the estate and in hiding. Therefore, Godfrey is hiding for some reason that is left up inductive reasoning. Sherlock talks about this, as he comes up with 3 ways this deductive reasoning ends. First, that he is hiding away after committing a crime. This is proven false because there was not an unsolved reported crime in the area recently. Next, he could be mentally unstable, which would explain why Godfrey has locked away. However, this is again proven false as it wouldn’t make sense for the secrecy. Finally, the third possibility is the fact that he has obtained some sort of illness. This is proven likely because of James reporting that Godfrey’s face is a blanched color. This story shows how the interesting combination of inductive and deductive reasoning and how effective it can actually
The reader begins to see Sherlock use inductive reasoning near the beginning when he stops to ask James what was the person reading in the Cabin that he was spying in. James acts annoyed at this, seeing as this was just a minor fact of his …show more content…
This is a prime example of inductive reasoning because it’s not based on so much of an apparent logical connection. The conclusion of an inductive reasoning can be seen as more easily false than deductive reasoning. However, there is a role in deductive reasoning in this. Sherlock follows the premise that Godfrey is alive because of James’ story. Then it follows that Godfrey is on the estate and in hiding. Therefore, Godfrey is hiding for some reason that is left up inductive reasoning. Sherlock talks about this, as he comes up with 3 ways this deductive reasoning ends. First, that he is hiding away after committing a crime. This is proven false because there was not an unsolved reported crime in the area recently. Next, he could be mentally unstable, which would explain why Godfrey has locked away. However, this is again proven false as it wouldn’t make sense for the secrecy. Finally, the third possibility is the fact that he has obtained some sort of illness. This is proven likely because of James reporting that Godfrey’s face is a blanched color. This story shows how the interesting combination of inductive and deductive reasoning and how effective it can actually