Deductive Reasoning
Subconscious Fat in Thinking
Mr. Skeptical sighs, “I miss the Carnivore C’s.”
“I’ll likely continue with that in the next newsletter. Today I want to talk about philosophy and deductive reasoning.”
Mr. Skeptical folds his arms and glares at me, like he’s getting ready for a challenge. And of course, he is.
Subconscious Fat at 30,000 Feet
Deductive reasoning is the mental equivalent of barefoot sprinting—clean, primal, and shockingly underused. Start with a general truth, and if your premises are sound, you arrive at an inescapable conclusion. This is one reason my online training is called Occam’s Razor Fitness. William Occam wasn’t just a monk, but also a philosopher.
The origin of deductive reasoning? Ancient Greece. Aristotle, the first logic bro, formalized deductive reasoning through syllogisms. Example: All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal. Boom—clean, crisp, inescapable.
“You just like it because it makes your meat obsession look intellectual,” says Mr. Skeptical. “Give me inductive reasoning—real science. Data, experiments, hypotheses tested a thousand times.”
“Ah, yes, the modern scientific method—an infinite loop of funded studies on mice in mazes. Let’s compare the two, shall we?”
Mr. Skeptical looks even more skeptical and barely nods.
I say, “A perfect example of deduction:
Premise 1: Plants are alive.
Premise 2: Living things don’t want to be eaten.
Conclusion: Since plants can’t run and bite like animals, they evolved toxins to deter being eaten.”
Mr. Skeptical gets up and walks around for a moment, with an air of pompous authority, and in a loud voice as if he’s addressing hundreds at a national convention: “I give a perfect example of inductive reasoning:
Observation: Some people eat vegetables and live to 90.
Conclusion: Therefore, vegetables are good for everyone.”
He beams. “See? That’s how nutrition science works.”
I volley back. “Exactly. That’s also how we got low-fat dietary guidelines, and soy bacon.”
Subconscious Fat at 10,000 Feet
I add, “Deductive reasoning gets even tastier when applied to history:
Premise 1: Humans co-evolved with massive animals (megafauna).
Premise 2: Most of these animals are now extinct.
Conclusion: Humans ate them. A lot.
We didn’t out-philosophize the woolly mammoth. We trapped it, killed it, roasted it—and ate its organs first.”
“Correlation isn’t causation,” Mr. Skeptical grumbles.
"Sure. Maybe the mammoths went vegan and died of anemia.” I say it in an angered tone, for I can never pull off sarcasm like Mr. S can.
Subconscious Fat at Eye-Level
I continue, “Deductive reasoning isn’t just logical—it’s liberating. No more whiplash from media science: "Meat gives you cancer!" "No wait, actually it protects your heart." Instead, we ask: What are we built to eat?”
After rolling his eyes. “Hermann, some people like vegetables.”
“Our short colon, high stomach acid, and hunger for nutrient-dense organ meats suggest a design optimized for meat, not kale smoothies.”
“Stomach acid could also digest a Prius,” Mr. Skeptical mutters.
”Okay, but it’s vegetables that give people gas.”
Practical Suggestions and Conclusions
Use deductive reasoning to evaluate what should be true based on design and evolutionary logic.
Don’t abandon induction—but watch for weak correlations dressed up as science.
If your food needs a peer-reviewed study to justify its existence, maybe it shouldn’t be eaten.
“In the end, deduction helps you think from first principles. Induction helps you find patterns. But when it comes to food, remember: If the pattern is people ate it for millions of years and only stopped when chronic disease exploded, maybe that’s all the deduction you need.”
“Fine,” Mr. Skeptical sighs. “But if you build a syllogism around bacon, I’m out.”
I raise my buttered coffee to toast, but he doesn’t raise his sugared coffee and looks at me with a smirk.
“Great,” I add. “That means more bacon for me.”
Be Aware.
Other links related to this post:
Is Liver a Superfood?
Can Too Much Meat be Bad for You?
Is Portion Control Necessary? PS Links on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Full disclosure: Chat GPT was used to research and enhance this post.
PSS If you missed my Live Online LinkedIn event last Saturday on Cholesterol Clarity, you can view the recording here.