Lecture Flashcards
Critical Thinking
Being able to detect fallacies
Reflective Skepticism
Not taking things as given
Rationality
Using most efficient means to achieve goals (gathering evidence)
Knowledge
Need evidence, objective reasons, and some measure of rationality
Faith
Cannot produce empirical evidence (ontological argument, argument from evil)
Logic
Precise rules for reasoning
Informal Logic
Looking at words and meanings
Formal Logic
Structure (symbols)
Proposition
Statement about world
Conclusion
Thing affirmed (claim)
Premise
Reasons for conclusion (grounds)
Non-Arguments
Warnings, advice, opinion, conditionals, explanations, predictions
Truth
True and only true if corresponds w/ nature; facts; no middle ground
Analytic Truth
Self-evident w/o going out and testing
Synthetic Truth
Observed and tested
Syllogism
Standard form (2 prem, 1 conc, ded logic)
Internal Claim
Is argument valid
External Claim
Is what is being said true
Sound Argument
Internally and externally true
Dependent Premise
Does not provide good reason by itself but totality of premises do
Independent Premise
Provides good reason by itself
Mutually Exclusive
Cannot overlap
Jointly Exhaustive
Give all possibilities
Definition Functions
Puts limits on concepts
Stipulative
Create new def for something brand new; used in particular situations for specific purpose
Lexical
Established dictionary def over time
Precising
Make def more precise, more details
Persuasive
Move someone emotionally
Demonstrative
Define by pointing to something
Enumerative
Give examples
Operational
Particular procedures
Denotation
Pointing/giving examples, describing
Connotation
Emotive characteristics
Vague
Not enough info, imprecise
Ambiguity
Too much info
Lexical Ambiguity
Word meaning
Syntactic Ambiguity
Word order
Contextual Ambiguity
Must know context of situation
Equivocal
Two meanings
Loyalty
Own community/group beliefs more favorable
Provincialism
Narrowing view to identify w/ ideas and interests only of own group
Disbelief
Don’t believe in something
Nonbelief
Haven’t thought about topic or indifferent
Evaluating Evidence
Reliability, expertise, objectivity, consistency, recency, relevance, access, citation
Assuring
Reasons can be produced; strength of own belief; abuse
Guarding
Weaken; probability phrase; hedge; disappearing hedge
Discounting
Dismissal of argument w/o real reason
Rhetorical Question
No formal answer expected
Loaded Question
Presume unjustified assumption
Irony
Imply contrary to what is said
Sarcasm
Critical, ridicule, mockery
Satire
Ridicule w/ intent to shame; social criticism
Types of Deception
Lies and exaggeration, half-truth, hedge, selective techniques, loaded language, euphemisms/dysphemisms; innuendo; obfuscation, doublespeak, jargon, stereotype
Fallacies
Arguments that look convincing but contain error in reasoning; not factual error-structure itself is problem
Formal Fallacy
Errors in structure of form of argument
Informal Fallacy
Errors in reasoning not related to form
Fallacy of Subjectivism
Can’t assume something true just because you belief it to be true
Appeal to Majority
Most people approve so must be true; argument from tradition, novelty
Appeal to Emotion
Sway people by manipulating emotions (argumentum ad populum); no logical argument; special case-pity (ad misericordiam)
Appeal to Force
Argument has implied threat (ad baculum)
Appeal to Authority
Assuming person telling the truth, may not be credible (ad verecundian)
Ad Hominem
Against the person; personal attack (person’s background irrelevant)
Abusive
Arguments against someone’s character or ability
Tu quoque
Dismiss someone’s argument because of hypocrisy (say one thing, do another)
Circumstantial
Arguments against someone on basis of circumstances (job, political affiliation, religion, etc)
Poisoning the Well
Unfavorable info about person presented so any claim made by them must be false (preemptive)
Straw Man
Distort what person claims, refute, therefore claim false
Genetic Fallacy
Claim true/false or supported/discredited on grounds of origin
Appeal to Ignorance
Never been proved false, so must be true-incorrect; burden on person making claim (ad ignorantium)
Begging the Question/Circular Reasoning
Premise depends on conclusion, conc on prem, etc
Negative Pregnant
Two negative choices given (law)
Non Sequitor
Linking two or more ideas that in fact have no logical connection
Red Herring
Distract/divert: Topic A under discussion, Topic B introduced under guise of being relevant even though it is not, Topic A abandoned
Post hoc Fallacy
Assuming A preceded B, A must have caused B
Single Cause Fallacy
Assume only one cause when actually more complex
Equivocation
Word has more than one meaning, change in middle of argument
Amphiboly
Syntactic (word order)
Composition
Individual things have certain characteristics, therefore entire group has those characteristics
Division
What is true of whole is true of parts
Accident
Rule mistakenly applied to exception
Phantom Distinction
Different wording to avoid being accused of threatening
Self-sealers
So vague can’t refute
False Dilemma
Either X or Y is true, Y is false so X must be true (could both be false)
Fallacy of Opposition
Someone you don’t like supports, so oppose position
One-way Fallacy
Compare two things where argument could go either way but argue only one way
Slippery Slope
Forecasting series of events (usually disastrous) that will befall one if first step is taken
Continuum (Sorites)
No certain point where one thing changes to other (Rich, take $1, etc); series of insignificant changes adds up to be significant
Snowball (Domino)
A acceptable, cause B1, B2, B3, etc, leads to C (undesirable), so don’t do A (good v bad domino arguments)
Precedent
Permit something, set precedent, rule weakens (depends on circumstances)
