Midterm Short Answer Flashcards
What are Socrates’ two favorite questions?
- What do you mean by that?
- What is the evidence for your claim?
What is an argument?
one or more statements, premises, offered as evidence or reason to believe that a further statement, called a conclusion is true
Define ‘truth’ according to the Correspondence theory of truth
correspondence with reality, the way things really are
What is an oracle?
someone who believed to be channeling the Gods
What is an elenchus? and what is its purpose?
Elenchus is an argument form and it is used to show someone’s thoughts are logically inconsistent
Why is the elenchus also called Socratic irony?
He would often already know the answers to the questions and would only ask to get the person to realize their logical inconsistencies
What are the two steps of the Socratic irony?
Elenchus and Midwifery
What did the Greeks mean by ‘democracy’? (etymological definition)
Demos- the people
Kratia - power/Roma
What do we mean when we say that P and Q are ‘logically inconsistent?’
P and Q can not be true at the same time
What do we mean when we say that they are ‘logically consistent?’
P and Q can be true at the same time
In what sense was Socrates a ‘midwife?’
He was the midwife of ideas as he gave birth to the ideas and truth
“The unexamined life is not worth living,” said Socrates. What is the examined life?
a life enriched by thinking about things that matter: values, aims, society
Character Traits of critical thinkers: Give ten (p. 47-48) based on the following 10 keywords/phrases: truth, ignorance, criticism, listening, questions, biased thinking, ambiguous thinking, Delphic injunction, “Know thyself,” inquirers-informers.
- Have passion for the truth.
- Are willing to admit their own ignorance.
- . Welcome constructive criticism and are willing to admit error if proven wrong.
- Actively listen to others and seek to learn from them.
- Ask good questions that that advance the discussion.
- Notice biased thinking and will challenge it when necessary.
- Do not accept vague and ambiguous thinking.
- Are very self-aware and take seriously the Delphi injunction “Know thyself.”
- Are inquirers rather than informers.
Ethnocentrism
an irrational belief in the innate superiority of one’s own society, culture, or ethnic group
Bandwagon or Conformism Bias
tendency to adopt certain beliefs simply because many others hold them
Availability Bias
tendency to base a conclusion on evidence not because it is good evidence but simply because it is easily available
Negativity Bias
he unconscious tendency to attach much greater weight to negative information than an objective look at the evidence would justify
False Consensus
unconscious tendency to think that our own beliefs
and attitudes, and those of our friends, are representative of the larger society
Externalize
having an unconscious tendency to externalize responsibility whenever we make a mistake,
“Man is the measure of all things….” Whose quote is this?
Protagoras
What is alethic relativism?
The claim that what one believes to be true is and must be true. Everyone’s truth is right
What is ‘global alethic relativism?
the claim that ALL truth, in ALL subjects, is relative
What are the logical implications of alethic relativism?
If alethic relativism is true, then everybody is infallible – nobody has ever been mistaken about anything
