Reasoning is the process of thinking about things in a logical, rational way. It is considered an innate human has been formalized by fields such as l ogic, mathematics and artificial intelligence.
The process of reasoning is used to make d ecisions, solve problems and evaluate things. It can be formal or down or bottom-up and differs in terms of handling of uncertainty and partial truths.
The following are a few major types of reasoning.
Inductive Reasoning
Inductive reasoning is bottom-up logic that seeks theories to explain observations. It is exploratory in nature for uncertain but likely results.
Abductive Reasoning
Like induction, abductive reasoning seeks theories to explain observations. It is less rigorous and allows for Abductive Reasoning is typically used in the context of uncertainty. It is associated with decision making an troubleshooting.
Backward Induction
Backward Induction is a top-down approach that starts with theories or end-states and works backwards to explain them.
It allows for uncertainty and is commonly used in artificial intelligence. For example, it’s a classic way for a play chess by considering game end-states and working backwards to evaluate moves.
Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking is a process of rational thought that seeks to draw conclusions in an objective, thorough an manner. It’s a product of human thought and is influenced by factors such as culture and language. Human t based on natural language that allows for a great range of ideas to be contemplated. For example, humans ca process partial truths, commonly known as grey areas, that t end to be a challenge in the field of logic. Critic can also examine complexities such as emotion. For example, critical thinking can be used to critique a film
Counterfactual thinking
Counterfactual thinking is considering things that are known to be impossible. The most common example o evaluating past decisions that were once possible but are now impossible as their time horizon has passed. Considering how past decisions might have worked out is a common human thought process that may improve decision abilities.
Intuition
Intuition are judgements that are made by the mind that are perceived by the unconscious. Such judgements intelligence but the processes by which they are generated aren’t well understood. Although intuition is some lightly, it has played a significant role in scientific discovery.