Understanding the Deductive Method
Understanding the Deductive Method
When developing a theory using the hypothetical-deductive method, a series of steps must be followed.
steps or stages. First the induction process to obtain a summary or compilation
descriptive of the facts that were observed; second, the process of deduction appears
where they generalize the explanations and descriptions driven to be able to or try to
apply them to circumstances and facts not even observed; thirdly, the possible hypotheses or
the theories resulting from the previous phase will be tested in real or concrete conditions; and the
The fourth stage is organized into general principles, the theories that have been validated.
which may be related in order to then give way to a personal theory.
This method is not something that modernity brought with it, far from it, but rather it
It is about a method that was already referenced in classical antiquity by philosophers of the
size of Aristotle.
On the other hand, deduction always starts from a question or general law to reach the conclusion.
in particular, that is, it goes from the general to the particular and this is what confronts it with the method
inductive that moves on the opposite side: from the particular to the general.
According to the deductive method, the conclusion is found within the premises themselves.
referred or, in other words, the conclusion is a consequence of these.
The origin of the deductive method is attributed to the ancient Greeks, with the philosopher
Aristotle's syllogism, and later developed by Descartes, Spinoza and
Leibniz.
In this type of logical reasoning, given a generalization, it allows us to infer the
characteristics. Generalizations are always affected by the
processinductiveand particularities by deductive. Deductive reasoning is
presentan las conclusiones que necesariamente debe ser cierto si todas las premisas son
true.
Its basis is rationalist and assumes that only reason can lead to the truth.
knowledge. Therefore, the idea behind the deductive method is to have a principle
recognized as true and unquestionable, that is to say, a major premise from which the
the researcher establishes relationships with a particular proposition, the minor premise.
Both are compared with logical reasoning, reaching the truth of what is.
propose, or conclusion.
It is important to clarify that deduction does not provide new knowledge, as it always
it leads to the particularity of a previously known general law.
The deductive method only organizes and specifies the knowledge that they already possess.
from an intelligible point, that is to say, the general truth, has already been established, to go to another point
the interior of this plan. deductive starts from a general hypothesis without referring to the
real world, but with the scientist, philosopher or thinker reflecting on the world. The source of
The truth for a deductivist is logic, for an inductivist it is experience.
Direct deductive method, which is one in which the judgment is produced from a
unique premise, without it being compared to others, and
Indirect deductive method, which is the one in which the first premise contains the
universal proposition, and the second one of a particular nature. The conclusion, in
consequence, it will be the result of the comparison between both.
Axiomatic-deductive method
The deductive axiomatic method consists of a set of premises or axioms of
which can be extracted through the application of a series of procedures
deductive, other statements called theorems.
Hypothetical-Deductive Method
The hypothetico-deductive method involves the observation of a phenomenon and the consequent
formulation of hypotheses that explain it, to then proceed to verification
of this hypothesis. It is the method that is generally followed in research
scientific.
It takes me an hour to get to the mall. If I leave at 5:00, I arrive at the mall.
commercial at 6:00.