Critical Thinking & Arguments Flashcards
What is an argument?
A group of premises that support a position or conclusion
What is a claim?
statements that are either true or false, an assertion that something is or is not true
What is a conclusion?
The statement that the premises are supposed to support in an argument
What is critical thinking?
The systematic evaluation of the formulation of beliefs or statements by rational standards
What is an explanation?
A statement or statements intended to explain why or how something is the case
What are indicator words?
Words that are frequently found in arguments and signal that a premise or conclusion is present
What is an inference?
The process of reasoning from a premise to a conclusion based on those premises
What is logic?
The study of good reasoning, or inference, and the rules that govern it
What is a premise?
In an argument, the statement or reason given in support of the conclusion
What are bad arguments known as?
fallacies
Do good arguments have to be perfect?
no
What matters when determining if an argument is good?
the structure not the content
What is the difference between a dispute and an argument?
dispute is between significant others, not always rational, can be just contradictions, associated with emotions
What can make opinions more trustworthy?
if they hold up to scrutiny from other people
What are two classes of beliefs?
objective and subjective
Why is critical thinking considered systematic?
because it involves distinct procedures and methods
Why does critical thinking involve evaluation and formation?
because it is used to assess existing beliefs and to arrive at new ones,
Why is crititcal thinking according to rational standards?
rational standards because it involves beliefs that are judged by how well they are supported by reasons
What are cognitive biases?
errors in reasoning
Are all errors in reasoning cognitive biases?
no
What is deductive reasoning?
logic where you progress from general ideas to specific conclusions
What is inductive reasoning?
logic where you progress from specifics to a general idea
Are rhetorical sentences claims?
no but they can eaasily be rewritten as a claim
What are implications?
premises that imply a conclusion
Are explanations arguments?
no
Are descriptive passages arguments?
no
How can you recognize an argument?
lcoate the premise and conclusion, look for indicator words
Whaat are some premise indicator words?
because, as indicated by, since, given that, in view of the fact
What are some conclusion indicator words?
therefore, hence, consequently, which means that, as a result
Are indicator words required for an argument?
no
What are some obstacles to critical thinking?
psychological obstacles, bias, conformation bias, overconfidence, halo effect, philosophical obstacles, conspiracy theory
What is self interested thinking?
accpeting a claim because it coincides with our intersts or advances them
What are some groups that exert pressure?
friends, classmates, social media, cultural, religious
What is peer pressure?
group pressure to accept or reject a claim based solely on what your peers think
What is appeal to popularity?
fallacy of arguing that a claim must be true merely because a substantial amount of people believe it
What is appeal to common practices?
wanting to be in line with other people
What does mob appeal use?
patriotism, innuendo, sarcasm, theatrical performance, appeals to emotion
What is availability error?
we rely on evidence that is memorable, striking, or psychologically available
What are types of personal bias?
overconfidence effect, confirmation bias, halo effect
What are types of illegitimate bias?
vested interst, conflict of interest, slanting by omission, slanting by distortion
What is a world view?
philosophy of life, set of fundamental ideas
What is not a requirement of critical thinkers?
faith
What does self intersted thinking leave you vulnerable to?
propoganda and manipulation
What is the best advice for anyone trying to uncover or dissect arguments?
find the conclusion first
Which term refers to drawing conclusions about people without sufficient reasons?
stereotyping
What is implied in subjective relativism?
truth is different for everyone
What is “Adam stole the money because he needed it to buy food”? (argument/explanation, etc)
explanation
What is fake news?
False information that masquerades as news, with the intent to deceive
What is sometimes required to distinguish an argument from an explanation?
knowledge of context
When you are unable to assign any substantial weight at all to the reasons for or against a statement, what should you do?
suspend judgement
What are some traits of inductive arguments?
premises are meant to provide probable support for the conclusion, not considered truth preserving (typically empirical, science probability)
What are some traits of deductive arguments?
premises are meant to provide conclusive support for the conclusion, considered truth preserving (math, logic, and conceptual arguments)
What is a sound argument?
deductively valid argument that also has true premises
What is a cogent argument?
inductively valid argument that if the premises are true than the conclusion is true
Can deductively valid arguments have false premises and a true conclusion? Are deductively valid arguments sound?
yes
not all
What is the four step process for determining if an argument is deductive or inductive?
- find the conclusion then the premises
- is it the case that if the premises are true than the conclusion must be true?
- is it the case that if the premises are true its conclusion is probably true?
- is it the case that it tried to offer conclusive or probable support but failed?
If your professeur said that all students in my section fail what is the unstated conclusion?
that you will fail
If someone argues that all humans are mortal, therefore plato is mortal what is the unstated premise?
plato is human
What are two reasons premises might be unstated?
believed to be common knowledge, controversial
What is the three step process for investigating unstated premises?
- search for a credible premise that would make the argument valid
- search for a credible premise that would make the argument as strong as possible
- now you can evaluate
(some arguments are bad, not missing premises)
What is the principle of charity?
we should interpret people in a way that makes sense, give argument the best chance
What is the straw man’s fallacy?
distorting/weakening or simplifying someones position to win the argument
When evaluating validity/cogent what are we looking at?
the form
What are some valid forms of conditional arguments?
affirming the antecedent, denying the consequent, hypothetical syllogism, disjunctive syllogism
What is the structure of affirming the antecedent?
P1: if p then q
P2: p is true
C: therefore q
What is another name for affirming the antecedent?
modus ponens
What is the structure of denying the consequent?
P1: if p then q
P2: q is false
C: therefore not p
What is another name for denying the consequent?
modus tollens
What is the structure of hypothetical syllogism?
P1: if p, then q
P2: if q, then r
C: therefore if p, then r
What are some invalid conditional arguments forms?
denying the antecedent, affirming the consequent
What is the structure for denying the antecedent? Why is it invalid?
P1: if p then q
P2: p is false
C: therefore not q
both premises can be true and the conclusion could still be false
What is the structure for affirming the consequent? Why is it invalid?
P1: if p then q
P2: q is true
C: therefore p is true
premises can be true and the conclusion could still be false
What is the structure of disjunctive syllogism?
P1: either p, or q
P2: p is false
C: therefore q
What is the letter symbol for premises, subpremises, main conclusions, and sub conclusions?
P, SP, MC, SC
What is the problem when arguments fail?
Premises are false, or the reasoning is faulty, or both
What are the two broad categories of fallacies?
Unacceptable premises and irrelevant premises
Why do we study fallacies?
We need to be able to detect them (logical self defense)
What is positive relevance?
When premise works to prove conclusion
What is negative relevance?
When premise works to disprove the conclusion
When are premises irrelevant?
When they don’t prove or disprove the conclusion
What is the genetic fallacy?
Arguing that a claim is true/false based solely on its origin
Who can commit this fallacy?
the creator and the evaluator of the argument
What is the appeal to the person fallacy?
Rejecting claim by criticizing the person who makes it rather than the claim itself
What is another name for appela to person fallacy? What is it a subtype of?
ad hominem, genetic fallacy
What are the two most common types of ad hominem attacks?
abusive and circumstantial
What do abusive ad hominem include? Example?
personal attack
I don’t believe that, he is an idiot
What do circumstantial ad hominems include? Example?
reject based on person’s circumstances
The ceo of a company said there was no issue with there product, he must be lying, hes the ceo
What is tu quoque?
version of ad hominem, involves hypocrisy
X says this but doenst do this so it must be false
What is poisoning the well?
don’t beleive a word X says (jus tbecause smthg is false doens’t mean everything they say is)
What is fallacy of composition?
arguing that what is true of the parts must be true of the whole
When is the fallacy of composition often used?
statistical arguments
What is the fallacy of division?
arguing that what is true of the whole must be true of the parts
What is the fallacy of equivocation?
using a word in two different senses in an argument
What is ambiguity?
when a term, phrase, or sentence has two or more distinct meanings and it is not clear which is meant in the given context
What are the two types of ambiguity?
syntatic and semantic
What is syntactic ambiguity?
When language is grammatically confusing, missing punctuation can cause this
What is semantic ambiguity?
when words w/more than 1 meaning are used without care, can be used in puns
What is the appeal to popularity fallacy?
arguing that a claim must be true because a substantial number of people believe it
What is the difference between appealto populairty and appeal to authrotiy?
popularity refers to general publics beleifs, authority refers to an experts beleifs
What is appeal to common practice? What is it a sub-fallacy of?
When argument is not about what people believe but rather what many people do, appeal to popularity
What is appeal to tradition?
arguing that a claim must be true because its part of a tradition or has always been believed
What is appeal to ignorance?
thinking that a claim is true because it hasnt been proven false
What is burden of proof?
Weight of evidence or argument required by one side in a debate or disagreement, needs to be placed on right side
Who does the burden of prrof usually rest on?
person making a posititve claim (proponent of an argument0
What is appeal to emotion?
Use of emotions in place of relevant reasons as premises in an argument
What is rhetoric? Example?
Rhetoric is the use of non-argumentative, emotive words and phrases to persuade or influence an audience, appeal to emotion
What is appeal to pity?
apeal to emotion using pity to try to win arguemtne, aka ad misericordiam
What is appeal to fear?
using fear/fear of consequences to sway person
What are euphemisms?
Opposite to emotional charged languages
Hide or disguise warranted emotional force by replacing a term with negative connotations with a term with positive/no connotations
What is red herring?
Deliberately raising an irrelavant issue during an argument
What is straw man?
Distorting, weakening, or oversimplifying someone’s position so it can be more easily attacked or refuted
What are examples of fallacies of irrelevance?
genetic, ad hominem, composition, division, equivocation, appeal to popularity, appeal to emotion, appeal to ignorance, appeal to tradition, red herring, straw man
What is begging the question?
Attempting to establish the conclusion of an argument by using that conclusion as a premise (aka arguing in a circle)
What is false dilemma?
2 options: Asserting that there are only two alternatives to consider when there are actually more than two
Asserting that there are two distinct alternatives that are not mutually exclusive
What is slippery slope?
Arguing without good reasons that taking a particular step will inevitably lead to further undesirable steps
What is hasty generalization?
Drawing a conclusion about a target group on the basis of a sample that is too small
What is categorical logic?
Form of deductive reasoning whose focus is categorical statements, which make assertions about categories/classes/or things
What is the subject in categorical logic?
thing you are talking about (usually 1st)
What is the predicate in categorical logic?
the thing that you are saying about the subject in a conclusion (usually 2nd)
In the example, all cows are vegetarians, what is the subject/predicate?
cows=subject
vegetarians=predicate
Why is this type of logic still around after 1000s of years?
part of everyday reasoning, understanding its rules leads to clearer thinking
What are the names of the 4 standard forms of categorical statements?
A-statement/universal affirmative, E-statement/universal negative, I-statement/particular affirmative, O-statement/particular negative
What is the standard form for an A-statement?
all S are P
What is the standard form for an E-statement?
no S are P
What is the standard form for an I-statement?
some S are P
What is the standard form for an O-statement?
some S are not P
What types of words can be subject/predicates?
nouns, pronouns, noun phrases
What are the four parts of categorical statements?
subject, predicate, copula, quantifier
What is the copula?
Linking verb that joins subject and predicate
What is the quantifier?
All, some, no etc
What are the steps for translating categorical statements to standard form?
identify the terms, reword terms so they name classes (if needed), Put the subject and predicate terms in standard order
Translate all dogs are loyal to standard form?
all dogs are loyal animals
Translate none of my friends can play the saxophone to stadnard form?
no friends of mine are people who can play the saxophone
Translate Tara plays the violin to standard form?
all people identical to Tara are people who play the violin
Translate hamburgers are the only real junk food to standard form?
all real junk foods are hamburgers
Where do the words “only” and “only if” go in an A-statement?
before the predicate
What do you use to diagram categorical statements?
venn diagram
What does venn diagram for A-statement look like?
The part of diagram where the S circle does not overlap the P circle is empty, we shade it to show its empty
What does venn diagram for E-statement look like?
part where the circles overlap is shaded (empty)
What does venn diagram for I-statement look like?
put X in overlap between two circles, shows that something is there
What does venn diagram for O-statement look like?
X is in S but not P, shows that at least 1 S is not a P
