L02 - Evidence Adds Up

Question 1

Abductive Reasoning

Answer 1

Pulling together facts, making sense of them, and arriving at conclusions based on what they seem to suggest as a set.

Question 2

Ampliative Reasoning

Answer 2

Reasoning whose conclusion goes beyond what is expressed in the premises.

Question 3

Analogical Reasoning

Answer 3

Reasoning that purports to exploit relevant similarities between a familiar, undisputed case and a case that is being argued.

Question 4

Cogency

Answer 4

A property of arguments consisting in the fact that the premises of that argument make the conclusion reasonable or rationally believable.

Question 5

Defeasibility

Answer 5

The quality of ampliative reasoning that leaves it open to amendment in light of new information.

Question 6

Inductive Reasoning

Answer 6

Reasoning that draws upon what is known about observed cases to make conjectures about unobserved cases.

Question 7

Mill’s Methods

Answer 7

Five methods developed by John Stuart Mill to explore the various levels of causation and correlation: method of agreement; method of difference; joint method of agreement and difference; method of concomitant variations; method of residues.

Question 8

Enthymemes

Answer 8

Invalid arguments with unstated premises, which the audience is supposed to understand based on context. Applies to both deductive and non-deductive arguments.

Question 9

Inductive Base

Answer 9

The supply of information on which an inductive argument is based. In general, the larger and more representative the inductive base, the stronger the argument for the conclusion.

Question 10

Method of Agreement

Answer 10

Suppose some effect E is produced in two situations, S1 and S2. If there is only one factor F common to S1 and S2, then F is (or is integral to) the cause of E.

(E.g., Public health investigation to determine cause of disease.)

Question 11

Method of Difference

Answer 11

If S1 and S2 share every factor except that S1 contains F and S2 does not, then if E occurs in S1, F is (or is integral to) the cause of E.

(E.g., Experiment with control group.)

Question 12

Joint Method of Agreement and Difference

Answer 12

Combines the first two methods. We look for a pattern that has some factor in common to all circumstances in which the effect occurred and absent from all the circumstances in which the effect did not occur.

Question 13

Method of Concomitant Variations

Answer 13

Look for co-variation (coordinated changes) in the degree to which some factor is present and the degree to which an effect is present in various circumstances.

Question 14

Method of Residues

Answer 14

If we know that a particular range of factors causes a particular range of effects, and we notice that all those factors minus F cause all those effects minus E, then F is (or is integral to) the cause of E.

Question 15

Proximate Cause

Answer 15

A cause occurring just prior to some event or effect.

Question 16

Remote Cause

Answer 16

First cause in a chain of causes.

Question 17

Efficient Cause

Answer 17

The direct event leading to some outcome.

Question 18

Structuring Cause

Answer 18

The framework of factors that enables a chain of efficient events to occur at all.

Question 19

State of Information

Answer 19

The total evidence at our disposal when we consider the proposition or some course of action.