Question

A medical example of a sound or unsound deductive argument: Provide the argument and the premises. Please relate it to the health care world.

Answer 1

Deductive arguments

A process of reasoning that moves from the general to the specific, in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the premises presentsed so that the conclusion can't be false if the premises are true.

Sound deductive argument

A deductive argument can be a sound argument when all of its premises are true. For example:

All mammals give birth to the babies ( premise)

All human beings are mammals ( premise)

Therefore, all human beings are mammals ( conclusion)

Here all the premises are true and the argument is valid. Hence it is a sound argument.

Unsound deductive argument

A deductive argument is called an unsound argument, when it is either invalid or some its premises are false.

For example:

No mammals give birth to the babies(premise)

No humanbeings are mammals(premise)

Therefore, no human beings give birth to the babies.(conclusion)

Here the conclusion is invalid and the premises are alse false.

Healthcare field: deductive reasoning

Suppose a physician knows that appendicitis causes fever. Then when he see a person with appendicitis. He can conclude with the use of deductive reasoning that the patient got or going to get fever .

Sound argument:

No drugs are without side effects

Analgesics drugs are painkillers

Therefore, all painkillers have side effects.