Chapter 1 & 2 Flashcards
Conclusion
the claim the argument is intended to establish.
Premises
reasons that are supposed to support the conclusion.
Arguments
formed by a combination of reasons and the points they are intended to establish.
Reconstructing the argument
the process of interpreting and clarifying an argument
Evaluating the argument:
once we have identified the argument in a passage, we can go on to decide whether the authors have given good reasons in support of their claims.
Argument analysis
consists of reconstruction and evaluation.
Rhetorical power
the ability to present ideas in a very clear, logical, and convincing manner.
Rational strength
when an argument provides a good reason to believe its conclusion, even when it does not always persuade people.
Literary merit
how original, interesting, and well-written an argument is.
The credulous person
agree with virtually everything that is said to them.
Person of contradiction
stands ready to oppose everything that is said.
The Dogmatist
everything to him is certain and incapable of being wrong, pay no attention to new reasons or evidence.
The Skeptic
withhold belief about almost everything out of fear of ever making a mistake.
Relativist
different things are true for different people/groups. Some issues are matters of opinion, about which everyone is right. subjective & social.
Rational thinkers
try their best to understand information they receive and form conclusions based on that information.
Argument stoppers
a variety of quick responses to arguments that have the effect of cutting off discussion and preventing careful analysis.
Ex: “that’s a matter of opinion”
Interrogative sentences
to ask questions.
Imperative sentences
to give commands.
Declarative sentences
to describe things. can be true or false.
True
things really are the way the sentence say they are.
False
things are not the way sentences say they are.
Correspondence principle
sentences are true if they correspond with facts about the world. sentences are false if they do not correspond with facts about the world.
Tokens
specific remarks or inscriptions. such as marks on paper or the chalkboard.
proposition/statement
Types
the patterns that tokens follow; they are types of sentence. sentence type (declarative, interrogative, imperative)
Statement
the specific thought or idea that a declarative sentence token expresses.
Sentences
linguistic representations of propositions.
Context
the particular situation a sentence is used in.
Truth value
(one truth value principle) → a proposition must be either true or false.
Belief Principle (BP)
when a person considers a proposition, they must either believe, disbelieve or suspend judgement about it. they cannot have more than one of these attitudes at a time towards a proposition.
Belief
to conclude that a proposition is true.
Disbelief
to conclude that a proposition is false.
Suspend judgement
to be unsure whether a proposition is true or false.
Evidence
all the information we have concerning a proposition.
Principle of rational belief (RB):
- supporting evidence = rational to believe.
- evidence goes against statement = rational to disbelieve.
- neutral evidence = rational to suspend judgement.
Fallibilism
a belief can be rational even though it is actually false.
Conclusive evidence
evidence so strong that it can never lead to false beliefs.
Principle of proportional belief (PB)
It’s rational to proportion the strength of one’s belief to the strength of one’s evidence. The stronger one’s evidence for a proposition is, the stronger one’s belief in it should be.
Motivational errors
sometimes our hopes or fears lead us to believe propositions not supported by our evidence.
Misevaluation of Evidence
people think that the evidence supports a proposition when in fact it doesn’t.
Not considering the total evidence
people focus on only the part of their evidence that supports a proposition, and fail to consider other parts of their total evidence that count against the proposition.
Total evidence
one’s overall evidence.
Proposition
concept expressed through statements.
Coherence model of truth
A proposition is true if and only if its coherent/consistent with a system of well-supported propositions; otherwise it is false.
Philosophical skepticism
statements have truth-values but we can’t know what most or all of them are.
Propositional knowledge
anything that can be expressed by “ I know that _____”.
Knowledge
belief + justification + truth
Justification
good reasoning behind beliefs.
Realism
truths do not depend upon anyone’s beliefs –> Objective.
Nihilism
there are no truths whatsoever. Statements that are neither true nor false.
Moral nihilism
moral statements are expressions of our emotions.
