e, to be
arrived at mediately, or by a process of reasoning. Reasoning is of two
forms, deductive, or syllogistic, reasoning, and inductive reasoning.

DEDUCTION

=Nature of Deduction.=--In deduction the mind is said to start with a
general truth, or judgment, and by a process of reasoning to arrive at a
more particular truth, or judgment, thus:

Stone is heavy;
Flint is a stone;
.'. Flint is heavy.

Expressed in this form, the reasoning process, as already mentioned, is
known as a syllogism. The whole syllogism is made up of three parts,
major premise, minor premise, and conclusion. The three concepts
involved in the syllogism are known as the major, the minor, and the
middle term. In the above syllogism, _heavy_, the predicate of the major
premise, is the major term; _flint_, the subject of the minor premise,
is the minor term; and _stone_, to which the other two are related in
the premises, is known as the middle term. Because of this previous
comparison of the major and the minor terms with the middle term,
deduction is sometimes said to be a process by which the mind discovers
a relation between two concepts by comparing them each with a third
concept.

=Purpose of Deduction.=--It is to be noted, however, as pointed out in
Chapter XV, that deductive reasoning takes place normally only when the
mind is faced with a difficulty which demands solution. Take the case of
the boy and his lost coin referred to in Chapter II. As he faces the
problem, different methods of solution may present themselves. It may
enter his mind, for instance, to tear up the grate, but this is rejected
on account of possible damage to the brickwork. Finally he thinks of the
tar and resorts to this method of recovery. In both of the above cases
the boy based his conclusions upon known principles. As he considered
the question of tearing up the grate, the thought came to his mind,
"Lifting-a-grate is a-thing-which-may-cause-damage." As he considered
the use of the tar, he had in mind the judgment, "Adhesion is a property
of tar," and at once inferred that tar would solve his problem. In such
practical cases, however, the mind seems to go directly from the problem
in hand to a conclusion by means of a general principle. When a woman
wishes to remove a stain, she at once says, "Gasoline will remove it."
Here the mind, in arriving at its conclusion, seems to apply the
principle, "Gasoline removes spots," directly to the particular