Philosophy final Flashcards
Analogues
Items being compared.
Have primary and secondary analogues
Analogical reasoning
Reasoning that depends on a comparison of instances. If instances are sufficiently similar, the decision reached in the end is usually a good one. But if they are not sufficiently similar, the decision may not be good.
Principles useful for evaluating most arguments from analogy
- Relevance 2. Number of similarities 3. The nature and degree of diasanalogy 4. Number of primary analogues 5. Diversity among the primary analogues 6. Specificity of the conclusion
Aalogical arguments in law
Based on precedents
Differences of analogical arguments used inlaw
- Smilarity is more elusive and is up to creativity of lawyers to find similarities in cases
- Not all primary analogues (ex. Previous cases) hold up same weight
Is an analogical argument inductive or deductive?
Inductivd
Two things being compared in ‘argument from analogy is’
Called analogues
Primary analogues
Analogue mentioned in the premise
Secodnary analogue
Aalogue mentioned in the conclusion
Moral reasoning
Analogues are useful in consteucting arguments
Three kinds of cause
Sufficient condition
Necessary condition
Sufficient and necessary condition
Mill’s methods
Method of agreement Method of difference Join menthod of agreement and difference Method of residues Method of concomitant variation
Mill’s methods and science
Te methods of agreement, difference, and concomitant variation resemble the methods used by scientists to identify casual connections
Method of agreement
Identifies necessary conditions
Method of difference
Identifies sufficient conditions
Join method of agreement and difference
Identifies sufficient and necessary conditions
Method of residues
Ientifies generic casual connections
Mthod of concomitant variation
Ientifies generic casual connections
Hypothetical reasoning
Used to solve a problem when solution is not readily apparent
Four basic stages of hypothetical reasoning
Occurance of a problem
Formulating a hypthesis
Drawing implications from the hypothesis
Testing the implications
Four examples of hypothetical reasoning from science
Radium by marie curie
Neptune by adams and leverrier
Atmospheric pressure by torricelli
Refutation of spontaneous generation by louis pasteur
Kinds of hypothesis
Empirical
Theoretical
Empirical hypothesis
Can be proved true or false
Theoretical hypothesisq
Can be confirmed in various degrees
Criteria that bear on the tentarive acceptance of hypothesis
Adequacy (does the hypothesis fit the facts?) Internal coherence (are the component ideas with other hypotheses?) External consistency (ads there conflicts withother hypothesis?) Frutifulness (are new ideas suggested for future analysis?)
Criteria that bear on the distinction between science and superstitipn
Evidentiary support, objectivity, integrity
Evidentiary support
Superstitious hypothesis
- tend to lack supporting evidence
- evidence is based on observations of the natural world
- anecdotal evidwnce is usually not acceptable
- experiemnts must be replicable
- hypothesis must framed in precise language
- hypothesis mustne disconfirable
- ad hoc modifications must be avoided
- simple explanations are better than complex ones
- best hypotheses lead to predictions that turn out to be true
- superstitious hypothesis never lead to striking, new insights that turn out to be true
Objectviity
- beliefs grounded in emotion are not well founded
- well founded beliefs are not rooted in the preachings of a guru
- mental laziness and magical thinking must be avoided
- media is responsible for reinforcing magical thinking
- placebo effect is responsible for many apparent cures
- perceptuons are affected by expectstions
- hallucinations can distort the content of perception
- confabulAtion can distort the content of memory
Integrity
- superstition often rests on fake evidence
- practitoners of superstituon ignore bad predictions that arise in connection with their practice
- they ignore coherence problems in their hypothesis
- they ifnore conflicts between their hypotheses and other well confirmed hypotheses
- scientists work on such problems until they are solved
