Chapter 2

Question 1

Inference

Answer 1

An act or a process of reaching a conclusion from a set of premises, which can express, for instance, known facts or evidence

Question 2

Premise

Answer 2

A statement in an argument that justifies a conclusion

Question 3

Conclusion

Answer 3

A statement that follows logically from premises

Question 4

Direct inference

Answer 4

Inductive inference from a proportion in a sample to a population

Question 5

Generalization

Answer 5

Inductive inference from a sample to a general conclusion

Question 6

Projection

Answer 6

Inductive inference from past samples to future samples. Distinguish from prediction; projection is one way to make predictions

Question 7

Inductive inference

Answer 7

In an inductive inference, the premises support the conclusion but does not guarantee its truth

Question 8

Deductive inference

Answer 8

In a valid deductive inference, true premises necessitate the truth of the conclusion

Question 9

Conditional claim

Answer 9

A claim involving the logical operator “if”, for instance of the form “If A then B”

Question 10

Modus ponens

Answer 10

A deductive inference of the form: (i) If A then B, (ii) A, therefore (iii) B

Question 11

Modus tollens

Answer 11

A deductive inference of the form: (i) If A then B, (ii) not B, therefore (iii) not A

Question 12

Ampliative

Answer 12

Inferences that go beyond what is stated in the premises - in particular, inductive inferences are ampliative

Question 13

Explicative

Answer 13

Inferences that do not go beyond what is stated (implicitly) in the premises - in particular, deductive inferences are explicative

Question 14

Truth preservation

Answer 14

The conclusion must be true if the premises are true, see deductive inference

Question 15

Fallibility

Answer 15

The conclusion can be false even if premises are true

Question 16

Infinite regress

Answer 16

A never ending chain of propositions being justified by other propositions which in turn are justified by other propositions and so on

Question 17

Foundationalism

Answer 17

Propositions are justified by being inferred from foundational premises which do not need additional justification, for instance necessarily true premises

Question 18

Coherentism

Answer 18

Propositions are justified by being compatible with a coherent set of propositions, where each proposition in the set is compatible with every other proposition in the set

Question 19

Falsification

Answer 19

Rejecting a hypothesis as a result of an empirical test

Question 20

Confirmation

Answer 20

Increasing the confidence in a hypothesis as a result of an empirical test

Question 21

Hypothesis (plural: hypotheses)

Answer 21

A proposition that can be true or false but is not necessarily true or false, and that preferably either has some generality or is about something not directly observable

Question 22

Tautology

Answer 22

A proposition which is necessarily true

Question 23

Direct observation

Answer 23

Observations of object and properties that are accessible through the use of human senses

Question 24

Operationalization

Answer 24

A way to measure something which cannot be directly observed or that cannot be observed directly with sufficient precision, by connecting this feature with something causally connected to something that can be observed

Question 25

Asymmetry between falsification and confirmation

Answer 25

No amount of confirming observations can deductively confirm the hypothesis, but one falsifying observation can deductively falsify the hypothesis

Question 26

Falsificationism

Answer 26

The view that science should proceed only through valid falsification, and never use confirmation

Question 27

Falsifiable

Answer 27

A hypothesis is falsifiable if it is possible to show that it is false, even if it has not yet been shown to be false

Question 28

Demarcation of science

Answer 28

Distinguishing science from non-science by providing criteria for counting something as science

Question 29

Corroboration

Answer 29

A hypothesis is corroborated if it has withstood multiple falsification attempts

Question 30

Auxiliary hypothesis

Answer 30

A hypothesis used to test another hypothesis, but which one does not intend to test, for instance background assumptions necessary to infer the empirical conclusion

Question 31

Conjunction

Answer 31

Two propositions joined by the logical operator AND. The conjunction is true if an only if both propositions are true

Question 32

Duhem-Quine thesis

Answer 32

No hypothesis can be tested without the use of auxiliary hypotheses

Question 33

Ad hoc

Answer 33

The modification of a claim is ad hoc if (i) the claim has previously been falsified, (ii) the modification saves the claim from this falsification and (iii) it makes the claim less falsifiable - i.e. it does not allow deriving any new testable consequences

Question 34

Frequentism

Answer 34

Probabilities are frequencies of repeatable observable events

Question 35

Under-determination

Answer 35

An inference is underdetermined if multiple conclusions would be supported by the premises

Question 36

Severe test

Answer 36

A hypothesis test is a severe test if the probability to observe a consequence would be low if the hypothesis were false

Question 37

Base-rate fallacy

Answer 37

Initial confidence in an hypothesis is not taken into account when performing a statistical hypothesis test