General Logic Flashcards
Thinking
Thinking is a cognitive process we use in the attempt to gain knowledge or to understand something
, as distinct from our emotional responses to things.
Thinking is
Purposive
Logic is
Both science and art
What is reasoning
Reasoning is a process of thought in which we make inferences: Starting with information we already have, an inference draws some further conclusion based on that information.
What is Logic
Logic is the study of the methods and standards of inference.
THREE TECHNIQUES WE WILL LEARN
- How to detect the presence of arguments
- How to diagram the structure of arguments
- How to evaluate the quality of arguments
What is critical thinking
Critical thinking is the systematic evaluation
or formulation of beliefs/propositions
by rational standards.
Critical thinking involves what?
Careful judgement or judicious evaluation
What is fundamental concern of critical thinking?
How you think
Systematic is because
• Systematic: because it involves distinct procedures and methods.
• Evaluation and formulation: is because
used to assess existing beliefs/propositions and devise new ones.
Rational standards:
beliefs/propositions are judged by how well they are supported by reasons.
Critical thinking is not psychology because
Psychology studies how people in fact think—habits, prejudices, opinions, statistical patterns, etc.
Psychology is an empirical, descriptive science.
Critical thinking studies the most basic principles of rational thinking: it studies how people ought to think, whether or not that is how they actually think.
Critical thinking is a conceptual, normative science.
What are three ways to evaluate argument
a) Are the supporting statements/premises true? Is the conclusion true?
B. b) Is the argument persuasive?
c) Do the assumptions rationally support the conclusion?
What is argument?
A group of propositions in which some of them (the premises or
reasons) are intended to support another of them (the conclusion).
What is a proposition
A proposition (or statement) is a sentence that asserts that something is or is
not the case
What are two main elements of arguments
Premise: a proposition given in order to support the truth of another proposition.
Conclusion: a proposition that premises are intended to support.
What is critical thinking aim at
Critical thinking aims to evaluate the rationality of accepting/believing conclusions: the degree to which they are supported by premises.
What is essential feature feature of the arguments?
Inference.:The process of reasoning from the premise to conclusion.
What is the declaration?
The declaration is simply preposition (reasoning), though it can often look like an as argument
What is an argument?
An argument offers reasons, premise for thinking that a preposition is true, without assuming the truth of supported proposition
What is an explanation?
An explanation assume that some preposition is true and try to explain why the preposition is true
What is deductive argument
Deductive arguments are intended to provide conclusive support for their conclusions.
• A deductive argument is valid just in case: if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true.
What is the alternative definition of validaty?
Alternative definition of validity: in a deductively valid argument it is not possible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be false.
What are some important features of valid deductive argument
- Valid arguments are truth-preserving.
A deductive argument is valid in virtue of its logical form or structure, not its content.
Validity of deductive argument is not about the actual truth of either the premises or conclusion of the argument: it is about the relationship between the premises and conclusion.
- A deductively valid argument with true premises is.
Sound
- A deductive argument intends to make explicit the information implicit in the premises.
Dependent premise
There are some kind of relationship between reasons . A reason can only to provide support for the conclusion only with the help of at least one other reasoning.
Independent promise
A reason that to provide at least some kind of support for the conclusion without the help of any other reasoning.
Begging the question
trying to support a statement with an argument in which that statement is a reason/assumption
Equivocation fallacy
Trying to use two complete different concepts to make them look like
key terms in arguments Iare use it differently , with one meaning in one portion of the argument, and another meaning in the other portion of the argument.
Appeal to ignorance
using the absence of a proof for a reason as evidence for the truth of the opposing reason.
Diversion
trying to support one proposition by arguing for another proposition.
Subjectivism
using the fact that one believes or wants a proposition to be true as evidence of its truth:
Appeal to the majority
Appeal to the majority
Appeal to emotion
Appeal to force
Ad hominem:
using a negative trait of the speaker as evidence that his statement is false or his argument weak.
Appeal to Authority
False dichotomy: excluding relevant possibilities without justification
Post hoc ergo propter hoc: using the fact that one event preceded another as sufficient evidence for the conclusion that the first event caused the second event.
Hasty generalization: inferring a general proposition from a sample of particular cases.
Accident: applying a generalization to a special case in disregard of qualities or circumstances that make it an exception to the generalization.
Slippery slope: arguing against a proposed action or policy by claiming, without sufficient evidence, that it will lead to a series of increasingly bad consequences.
Composition: inferring that a whole has a property merely because its parts have that property.
Division: inferring that a part has a property merely because the whole has that property.
Explanation
Goal: why a statement is true
Went to looking for implicit premise
when there is a very large gap between premise(s) and conclusion.
How to look for implicit premise
look for a premise that (i) closes the logical gap between the stated premise(s) and the conclusion and (ii) does not commit the speaker to more than is necessary.
Straw man: the distorting, weakening, or oversimplifying of someone’s position so it can be more easily attacked or refuted.
The purpose of an explanation is to show others why something that is known to be true is true;
The purpose of an argument is to
Convince others to accept something not known to be true to be true ,
establish that something is true that is not already acknowledged as true.
