Powers of Deduction
Is What Sherlock Holmes Does Possible?
“My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don't know.”
-Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes, the world’s greatest detective and the world’s only consulting detective. When the police are at a dead end and don’t know what to do, they go to him for help. Sherlock has the ability to take the smallest details that you think don’t matter and explain it in a way that makes you feel, for lack of a better word, like an idiot. Dr. Watson, who’s his flat mate and best friend, is awestruck every time. Even when Sherlock explains, “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” (Doyle, The Sign of Four). You are still left wondering. How did he catch that? How did he know? How does he do that so fast? Sherlock has an answer for every question you pose, but whether you understand his methods or reasoning, it still doesn’t seem quite right. Is Sherlock Holmes just lucky?
To understand how Sherlock does his job, you should understand what you would need to do it in his place, aside from an epic name. Michael Parker, Assistant eCommerce Manager at Maplin Electronics and owner of Solomon Survival, put together a list of things you will need to do such a thing. He says you’ll need good observational skills, an understanding of logic, lots of curiosity, a notebook, and study and reflection skills.
No matter who you are or what you do, if you work alongside Sherlock Homes, you can count on him to inform you that, “You see, but you do not observe.” (Doyle, A Scandal in Bohemia). When it comes down to it, you just need to slow down and look for the smallest details; they are often the most important. In BBC’s Sherlock, episode one A Study in Pink, Sherlock displays his observational skills at the crime scene. He sees that the dead woman’s coat is slightly damp and she has an umbrella in her left-hand pocket. He observes that she had been in heavy rain a while ago but it hadn’t been raining in London. The umbrella in her pocket, it was dry, and the underside of her coat collar was also damp. This means that it was too windy to use the umbrella. Sherlock deduces that this woman has traveled a great distance in the rain and that she had traveled from Cardiff, where there had been heavy wind and rain recently. Think of it like a puzzle. You see the pieces in front of you. Until you put those pieces together, you won’t see the whole picture. Observation is not just seeing, it involves all your senses. Think about all the possibilities and discard details that have no value, don’t try to give them value or you will end up with false facts. Stay calm and think clearly.
Logic is the study of valid reasoning. Having a gut-feeling or using your intuition is important but, when you are displaying your knowledge, others are going to speculate if it is not supported by logic. Sherlock would inform you, like he did Watson in A Study in Scarlet, “It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment.” (Doyle). “Logical” thinkers usually dismiss intuition and gut-feelings because they believe them to be unscientific and unreliable but your intuition is considered an “educated counselor”; sending you messages from the subconscious on patterns and connections it detects before you do. Just remember, however, the easiest person for you to fool is yourself.
The famous saying “curiosity killed the cat” is often used to stop people from going out and doing something. If you want to hang with Sherlock Holmes, this better not be a catch phrase. You can’t simply get all the information you need just by sitting around and playing it safe. You have to be willing to go out there and take the risks needed to get that evidence you need. It is also recommended to take notes on everything. Sherlock stores all of his knowledge in what the Benedict Cumberbatch version would refer to as a “Mind Palace” in the episode The Hounds of Baskerville. Where most of us would write it all down like Dr. John Hamish Watson, Sherlock uses this complex mnemonic aid. Anyone can use this aid actually. The basic idea is to take a place you are either familiar with or have created and that you know very well. You put things in a certain place, making it either exaggerated or pictorial. All you have to do is concentrate and navigate back to those collected memories. There are millions of pathways you can take but they are often broken so, it would seem much better to write it all down than risk losing it. These mind places are meant to store relevant information so… If you are like Sherlock, you will discard the fact that the Earth rotates around the sun, because it’s not important, and replace it with information on the latest murder that pulled you out of depression and into the action.
Last but not least, you should know how to study and reflect on information. Study things like signs of lying and honesty, feelings, and body language. Anyone could be trained to be a “skilled people-watcher” actually and most women are better at this than men, unless you’re Sherlock obviously. For example, in the story A Scandal in Bohemia and then in the BBC episode A Scandal in Belgravia, Sherlock proves his superiority over Irene Adler using his knowledge on women’s behavior. Sherlock, in his memoirs and in Watson’s “interrogations” has no training. He is the one to make mistakes that most probably wouldn’t notice, and learn from it immediately. Back to the scandal; Sherlock knows that a woman, when faced with a dangerous situation will go to her child and protect it. Irene Adler doesn’t have any children but, she does have some compromising photos of people of importance; in the book, the King of Bohemia, and in the show, Britain’s Royalty. In both cases, a fire had occurred and she had done what was expected of a woman in possession of something she held important. In both cases, she looked to it and revealed the location of the photos. However, in both cases, Sherlock was against “The Woman,” not the person to think little of and didn’t end up directly the photos. Not only has Irene Adler challenged Sherlock but so has his “rival” James Moriarty and his “arch enemy” and “the most dangerous man you will ever meet” his brother, Mycroft Holmes. Every one of them has proved themselves smarter/ better than Holmes but, follow to the story to the bitter end and you will see that Sherlock always stands on top.
Sherlock Holmes once said, “A complex mind. All great criminals have that.”(Doyle, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes). The first two people who would come into his mind to fill these shoes would be The Consulting Criminal James Moriarty and The Head of the British Government, and his brother, Mycroft Holmes. It is obvious why Moriarty fills these shoes. He is the consulting criminal. He is the guy the criminals go to when they need something taken care of. Plus, he’s a nut job; a few screws are loose in his head. He is Sherlock’s intellectual equal though. This is what makes him so dangerous. Mycroft is Sherlock’s intellectual superior, believe it or not. Many people usually don’t think that Mycroft is the smarter one because he doesn’t advertise it like Sherlock does. Just look at his position of power, his seat in the British Government. His intelligence is recognized by them and that’s what satisfies him. His little brother, on the other hand, loves showing off and that is why he works “with” the police. He wants to jump on the latest crime scene and solve it to prove his intelligence. He is an attention hog. Who knows, perhaps the character Sergeant Sally Donovan from the television show is right, “One day just showing up won't be enough. One day we'll be standing around a body and Sherlock Holmes will be the one who put it there.”
This only leaves one question left,is Sherlock Holmes just lucky? We can deduce the answer to this and probably already have. “Most of us don’t think that Holmes is merely making lucky guesses.” (Johnson, 31). All Holmes does is analyze the evidence, find the truth, and adopt a hypothesis. “We’ve seen that even in very difficult epistemic situations, Holmes somehow manages to keep his head and only form responsible beliefs.” (Johnson, 35). The occupation of “Consulting Detective” must remain in the realm of fiction for now. It’s Sherlock’s skill that gets the job done, not fate or dumb luck. He really is that good.
“If in one hundred years I am only known as the man who invented Sherlock Holmes, then I will have considered my life a failure.”
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Works Cited
Adams, Guy. Sherlock: The Casebook. London: BBC, 2012. Print.
Parker, Michael. "How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes." Dreamspear. N.p., 23 Dec. 2012. Web. 07 June 2013. <http://www.dreamspear.co.uk/michaels-favourites/how-to-think-like-sherlock-holmes/>.
"Sherlock Holmes Quotes." Sherlock Holmes Quotes - Sherlock Holmes Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 June 2013. <http://www.sherlockholmesquotes.com/>.
Steiff, Josef. Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy: The Footprints of a Gigantic Mind. Chicago: Open Court, 2011. Print.
