Would it be preferable if we could live life and make pressing decisions on a purely deductive basis? Suppose I’m wondering whether today is actually Saturday, thus whether I should get busy with my laundry as per my rule. I might create a perfect syllogistic chain to answer this question. By my count, such a chain requires three premises and one definition. For example: P1) In this neighborhood, every day on which the trash collectors arrive is a Friday. P2) Yesterday was a day on which the trash collectors arrived. C1) Thus, yesterday was a Friday. D1) “Yesterday” means the day that immediately preceded today. C2) By (C1) and (D1), The day that immediately preceded today was a Friday. P3) Every day that was immediately preceded by a Friday is a Saturday. C3) By (C2) and (P3), Today is Saturday, QED. Now … where is my hamper? Obviously, we don’t think like that. Nor is it a desideratum. Life would be a very ponderous business if we did. So when ar...