Defeasible reasoning

Defeasible reasoning is like playing with blocks. Imagine you have a big pile of blocks and you are trying to build a tower. However, sometimes the blocks are not quite the right shape or size, and you have to adjust your tower to make it stronger.

When people use reasoning, they are also playing with blocks. They are putting together different pieces of information to figure something out. But sometimes there are blocks that don’t fit quite right, like maybe there is new information that changes what was already thought before.

So, like building a tower, people may have to adjust their reasoning to make it stronger. They have to make sure that they are considering all the information and not just the easy blocks to use. This is called defeasible reasoning because the reasoning can be changed if new information suggests that it needs to be.

For example, let’s say you are trying to figure out what kind of animal you saw outside. You might think it was a dog at first, because it was furry and had four legs. But then you notice it has a long tail and pointy ears, which makes you think it might be a fox. You adjust your reasoning based on the new information you gathered and perhaps conclude that you saw a fox.

So, defeasible reasoning is just like building a tower out of blocks. You have to adjust and make changes as new information arises to create a strong, accurate conclusion.