Читать книгу Methods in Psychological Research - Annabel Ness Evans - Страница 16

Rational thought is thinking with reason. Rules of logic are applied so that reasonable conclusions are made. Logical reasoning is a more rigorous way of arriving at knowledge. However, logical reasoning requires confirmation from other evidence. A conclusion reached from logical deduction is only as good as the assumptions of the reasoning process. If the assumptions are flawed, the conclusion, although logical, is still flawed.

Consider the following:

All poodles are dogs. (Major premise)

Fido is a poodle. (Minor premise)

Therefore, Fido is a dog. (Conclusion)

The conclusion is logical and follows from the premises.

However, consider the following:

All poodles are afraid of hot air balloons.

Fido is a poodle.

Therefore, Fido is afraid of hot air balloons.

The conclusion is logically valid, but Fido, the dog of one of your authors, is afraid of just about everything except hot air balloons. The premise that all poodles are afraid of hot air balloons must be wrong, or the premise that Fido is a poodle must be wrong. Each premise must be demonstrated to be true in some way other than logical reasoning before the process of logical reasoning will work.