REASONING AND

INFERENCE
REASONING
 third mental phase or act of the mind
 it is the mental operation wherein the mind
infers a new truth drawn out from previous
judgment.

INFERENCE
 a process of drawing a consequent
(conclusion) from an antecedent or a
combination of antecedents (premises)
 reasoning process
 .All left-handed people are honest.
. Christian is left-handed.
. Therefore, Christian is honest.
PREMISE 1
PREMISE 2 (MIDDLE TERM)
CONCLUSION
REVIEW!
 INDUCTIVE REASONING
SPECIFIC Specific Premises – General Conclusion
1. Alakdan is a Filipino.
2. Maria is a Filipino.
SPECIFIC 3. Alakdan and Maria are also Asians
Therefore, all Filipinos are Asian.

GENERAL

DEDUCTIVE REASONING
General Premises – Specific Conclusion GENERAL
1. Board passers are professionals
2. But nurses are professionals
Therefore, nurses are professionals. SPECIFIC
1. All men are mortal
2. But, Juan is a man
Therefore, Juan is mortal. SPECIFIC
REASONING SCHEME

REASONING

DEDUCTIVE INDUCTIVE

INDUCTIVE
IMMEDIATE MEDIATE GENERALIZATIONS
PREDICTION OR PROBABILITY

LOGICAL
SYLLOGISMS
OPPOSITION
IMMEDIATE
INFERENCE
IMMEDIATE INFERENCE
 draws the conclusion from only one proposition.
 pass directly from a single premise to a conclusion

PROCESS:
✓ there are only the subject term and predicate term
✓ no middle term

EXAMPLES:
1. All sins are evil acts.
Therefore, all evil acts are sins.

2. No bees are flies

So, No flies are bees.
TYPES OF IMMEDIATE INFERENCE
1. Oppositional Inference
2. Conversion
3. Obversion
4. Possibility
5. Actuality
OPPOSITIONAL
INFERENCE
OPPOSITIONAL INFERENCE
▪ a type of immediate inference in which we deduce
the truth value of another proposition from a given
truth value between two propositions having the
same subject and predicate but different from
quantity and quality, or in both quantity and quality
of a proposition of the same structure.

FOCUS:
▪ opposition or relation existing between
A, E, I and O propositions.

“All men are mortals” is true.

Therefore, “No men are mortals” is _______.
DIAGRAM OF SQUARE OF OPPOSITION:

CONTRARY
PROPOSITIONS
✓ A vs. E

SUB-CONTRARY
PROPOSITIONS
✓ I vs. O

SUB-ALTERN
PROPOSITIONS
✓ E vs. O
✓ A vs. I
CONTRADICTORY PROPOSITIONS
✓ A vs. O
✓ E vs. I
LAW OF CONTRARY
It is the opposition between (A) and (E) propositions.
CANNOT BE BOTH TRUE.
RULES:
• If one is true, the other is false.
• If one is false, the other is unknown.
(A)All men are mortals. – TRUE ▪ If (A) is true, (E) is false.
(E) No men are mortals. – ______ ▪ If (E) is true, (A) is false.
▪ If (A) is false, (E) is unknown.
(A) All men are angels. – FALSE ▪ If (E) is false, (A) is unknown.
(E) No men are angels. – ______
(E) No men are angels. – TRUE
(A)All men are angels. – ______
(E) No men are mortals. – FALSE
(A) All men are angels. – ______
LAW OF SUB-CONTRARY
It is the opposition between (I) and (O) propositions.

RULES:
• If one is true, the other is unknown.
• If one is false, the other is true.
(I) Some animals are mammals. – TRUE
(O) Some animals are not mammals. – _______
(I) Some animals are flowers. – FALSE
(O) Some animals are not flowers. – _______
(O) Some animals are not mammals. – TRUE
(I) Some animals are mammals. – _______
(O) Some mammals are not animals. – FALSE
(I) Some mammals are animals. – _______
LAW OF CONTRADICTORY
It is the opposition between (A) and (O) propositions & (E)
and (I) propositions.

RULES: ▪ If (A) is true, (O) is false. v/v

▪ If (O) is false, (A) is true. v/v
• If one is true, the other is false.
▪ If (E) is false, (I) is true. v/v
• If one is false, the other is true.
▪ If (I) is true, (E) is false. v/v
(A)All men are mortals. – TRUE
(O) Some men are not mortals. – ______
(O) Some men are not angels. – ______
(A) All men are angels. – TRUE
(E) No men are strong. – ______
(I) Some men are strong. – FALSE
(I) Some women are strong-willed. – FALSE
(E) No women are strong-willed. – ______
LAW OF SUB-ALTERN
It is the opposition between (A) and (I) propositions & (E)
and (O) propositions.

RULES:
• If the universal proposition is true, the particular
proposition is true.
• If the universal proposition is false, the particular
proposition is unknown.
• If the particular proposition is false, the universal
proposition is false.
• If the particular proposition is true, the universal
proposition is unknown.
SUMMARY
OPPOSITIONS
INFERENCES IF TRUE IF FALSE
BETWEEN
CONTRARY A vs. E False Unknown

SUB-CONTRARY I vs. O Unknown False

CONTRADICTORY A vs. O
False True
E vs. I

SUB-ALTERN IF UNIVERSAL IF PARTICULAR

A vs. I True True ✓ FIRST

✓ SECOND
False Unknown

E vs. O False False

Unknown True
CONVERSION
CONVERSION
a form of immediate inference in which the subject and
predicate of a given proposition are transposed without
changing the quality and truth of the proposition
 CONVERTEND – old proposition
 CONVERSE – new converted proposition
CONVERSION IS LIMITED ONLY TO:
✓ A proposition to I proposition
✓ E proposition to O proposition
RULES:
1. The convertend must be in logical form or reduced to logical
form.
2. The quality and truth of the convertend must be preserved.
3. No term shall be distributed in the converse unless it is
distributed in the convertend. If a term is uses only as
particular in the convertend, it should not be used as
universal in the converse.
TYPES OF CONVERSION
1. SIMPLE CONVERSION- the subject and predicate terms
are interchanged except for its quantity. EXAMPLES:
All dogs are mammals ➔ Mammals are all dogs.
Some IT students are male. ➔ Some male are IT students.
No man is an animal. ➔ No animal is a man.

2. ACCIDENTAL CONVERSION- the quantity of either

predicate and subject terms is lessened.
EXAMPLES:
All singers are performers. ➔ Some performers are singers.
All mothers are woman. ➔ Some women are mothers.
All actors are celebrities. ➔ Some celebrities are actors.
EXAMPLE:
CONVERTEND: No horse is a dog
CONVERSE: ______________________.

CONVERTEND: Some students are good athletes.

CONVERSE: ______________________.

CONVERTEND: All dentists are professionals.

CONVERSE: ______________________.

CONVERTEND: Some snakes are poisonous animals.

CONVERSE: ______________________.

CONVERTEND: No horse is a dog

CONVERSE: ______________________.
OBVERSION
OBVERSION
A process of immediate inference whereby an affirmative
proposition is stated negatively and a negative proposition
may be stated affirmatively.

RULES:
1.Retained the subject of the obvertend
2.Change the quality of the obvertend.
3.Retain the quantity
4.Contradict the predicate of overtend by giving the
negative form of the original predicate or prefixing it by
“non”
Example:
A–E All S is P OBVERTEND
E–A No S is non-P OBVERSE
I–O Some S is P OBVERTEND
O–I Some S is non-P OBVERSE
1. Most businessmen in the Philippines are
Chinese.
2. Some members of the Philippine Azkals are
foreigners.
3. No fish are mammals
4. All language teachers are expert in grammar.
5. All celebrities are not good singers.
POSSIBILITY AND
ACTUALITY
POSSIBILITY
– it signifies a perfection not as yet possessed or realized. It refers to
condition, situation, or state of being that does not yet exist but can exist.

RULES FOR POSSIBILITY AND ACTUALITY

1. From possibility to actuality, inference is not valid.
Example: You can earn degree from the university or college; therefore
you have to earn it.
2. From actuality to possibility, inference is valid.
Example: Some men are married; therefore, marriage is possible
3. From non-actuality to impossibility, inference is not valid
Example: You are not yet married; therefore, you cannot marry.
4. From impossibility to non-actuality, inference is valid
Example: A square circle is impossible. Therefore, we can logically
conclude that a square circle is nowhere to be found.