Term Paper on "Inductive and Deductive Reasoning in Richard Connell's the Most Dangerous Game"

Term Paper 4 pages (1322 words) Sources: 3

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Dangerous Game

Richard Connell's the Most Dangerous Game: Inductive and Deductive Reasoning

In Richard Connell's the Most Dangerous Game (1924), both inductive and deductive reasoning are used. Here, it is important to address the use of both of these types of reasoning, define them, and also analyze how they relate to reason vs. instinct in the story - and how that can be expanded to address the same issues in the majority of people. While Connell's story is an enjoyable read, there is much more to it from a psychological standpoint. Everyone looks at the world differently, but when people attempt to reason something out there is only two ways they can do that: inductively and deductively (Gray, 2011). While one form of reasoning may work very well for certain situations, the other form of reasoning may be a far better choice in other situations. The understanding of which kind of reasoning to use, and the determination of how to employ that reasoning, is a large part of the reason vs. instinct argument and whether a person will be successful in determining what to do in a situation.

Inductive Reasoning

Inductive reasoning involves taking a specific example and using it to arrive at a general proposition (Carlson & Heth, 2009). This took place in Connell's (1924) work when Rainsford was told what General Zaroff was doing on the island. He was hunting the biggest game of all: people (Connell, 1924). Immediately, Rainsford took this specific example of the hunt and stated that it fit into the broad, general category of murder. Zaroff, on the other hand, saw it not as murder but as a hunt and a hobby. Rainsford's inductive reasoning in this particular scenario is understandable, because the majority of civilized people would think that hunting human beings would be murder. However, there are people who would not share this view, because they would not make the same leap from hunt to murder (Carlson & Heth, 2009). This would generally be because they do not see hunting animals as murder, and humans are, technically, just animals. So it is not murder when a person is being hunted in the same way that a big game animal would be hunted, according to Zaroff (Connell, 1924). While that might not be the opinion of too many people, it is a valid inductive reasoning argument.

Deductive Reasoning

Unlike inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning takes a general proposition and turns it into a specific example. In Connell's (1924) work, this occurred when Rainsford and General Zaroff were discussing the hunt. The general proposition of Rainsford (that the hunt of a human being is murder) was taken and deductively reasoned by Zaroff to be not the case. Zaroff took this view because he was not going out and murdering people on the street at random, nor was he going after individuals who had wronged him and trying to murder them for vengeance. Instead, he was hunting a specific person as big game in the same manner that a person would hunt a tiger, a bear, or another large animal: for sport (Connell, 1924). One, in his eyes, did not equal the other. The general proposition that hunting a person is murder was taken to a specific example by Zaroff, and he failed to see how his hobby of hunting a person as big game equated to actually murdering a person. The discrepancy would not be one that would be seen by every person, but it is one that would be seen by the majority of people. No matter the discussion, Zaroff and Rainsford were never going to see eye-to-eye based on what was hunting and what was murder where human beings were concerned.

Reason vs. Instinct

Reason vs. instinct is a strong theme in Connell's (1924) work. This is seen in several places throughout the story, including early on when Rainsford is trying to get a better feel for where the sound of gunshots… READ MORE

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