FD-EDR: Empirical and Deductive Reasoning

NOTE: Students who started taking classes at Northwestern in Spring 2023 or earlier should refer to the Area II: Formal Studies page. The information below pertains to students who start at Northwestern after Spring 2023.

ABOUT EMPIRICAL AND DEDUCTIVE REASONING

We learn about the world in two main ways: empirically, from observations, and by making logical deductions from what we already know or conjecture. Courses in this discipline teach students to use these two modes of inference.

Empirical conclusions, derived from observations about the world, come with uncertainties or probabilities. Courses in empirical reasoning teach students to apply statistical reasoning to interpret evidence, to estimate the uncertainties inherent in their conclusions, and to build theoretical models based on data.

We also reason by deduction from axioms we take as certain, or from conjectural models of the real world. Courses in this discipline teach students both the power and limitations of such formal reasoning. Students will learn to create and analyze chains of mathematical or logical deductions, or computational algorithms.

choosing courses

Students may complete the empirical and deductive reasoning foundational discipline by completing two approved courses with a grade of D or higher. Courses are approved by the Weinberg College faculty committees and can be identified in the Undergraduate Catalog and the quarterly CAESAR class listings. Each year some courses are added to the list and others are deleted; a course must be on the approved list for the year you take it to be applicable to the requirement.

A course that is applied to the empirical and deductive reasoning foundational discipline may at the same time be applied towards a different requirement (such as a major requirement, minor requirement, advanced expression, or perspectives on power, justice and equity) but may not double-count in a second foundational discipline area.

2024-2025 FD-EDR Courses

 See Empirical and Deductive Reasoning  in the Undergraduate Catalog for learning objectives and a list of courses. Some courses on the list will not be offered in 2024-25, but in a future year. Some courses on the list have prerequisites.

Mid-year updates will appear below as they become available.