Discursive thinking (from Latin discursus — reasoning) is a form of thought process in which there is a sequential enumeration of various options for solving a problem, most often on the basis of coherent logical reasoning, where each subsequent step is determined by the result of the previous one. The result of this thought process is a conclusion. The main forms of discursive thinking are deduction and induction.
Discursive thinking is usually contrasted with a folded, intuitive thought process. See →