Phiosophical Logic and Reasoning Flashcards
Define reasoning.
It is the process of forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences from facts or premises.
What is formal logic?
It is the study of deductive arguments.
What are deductive arguments?
It is an argument of which the conclusion is reached through reasoning.
What is a proposition?
Is a statement that is considered true or false.
What is the law of identity?
States that A is A, due to it’s properties, it is recognized as A.
What is the law of non-contradiction?
States that a proposition cannot be true and false at the same time.
What is the law of the excluded middle?
States that a specific proposition is either true or false, there is nothing in between; it is either A or B, there is nothing in between A and B.
What is the principle of sufficient reason?
States that everything must have a reason or a cause.
What is Ockam’s Razor?
It is a rule of thinking that suggests the most simple conclusion is the most logical.
What is an argument?
An argument consists of two premises the arguer claims to be true, followed by a conclusion.
If the conclusion of a deductive argument is logically entailed to it’s premises, it is…?
Valid.
Deductive arguments can either be…
Valid/invalid and true/untrue
What are inductive arguments?
It is an argument that makes a conclusion based on patterns.
Inductive arguments can either be….
Strong/weak
What are abductive arguments?
They are arguments that are based on a “best guess”., goes to the most plausible conclusion
If the premises are true for a deductive argument then the conclusion…
Must be true.
If the conclusion of a deductive argument is valid then the premises…
May or may not be true.
It is unlikely for the premises of an inductive argument to be true and the conclusion….
False.
The Attack on the Person fallacy refers to…
Criticizing the other person rather than their argument.
The Appeal to Tradition fallacy refers to…
Justifying a practice just because it is tradition.
The Attack on the Motive fallacy refers to…
Criticizing the credibility of the other party, accusing them of ulterior motives/biases.
The Bandwagon Argument/Appeal to Popularity fallacy refers to…
Justifying something just because it is accepted by many other people.
The Straw Man fallacy refers to…
Misrepresenting an argument, turning it into something it isn’t.
The Appeal to Ignorance fallacy refers to…
Believing something is simply true or false, due to a lack of evidence.
The Begging the Question/Circular Argument fallacy refers to…
Using the very thing to be proved is assumed in the proof itself.
The Equivocation fallacy refers to…
Using a term that has two meanings in a way that presents the two meanings as one.
The Loaded Term fallacy refers to…
Using a term broadly/narrowly in order to drive a particular conclusion.
The Slippery Slope fallacy refers to…
Attacking an action/policy because it would trigger a chain of events that would lead to a clearly undesirable result.
The Accident fallacy refers to…
Applying a rule that should not be applied in the specific situation it is being applied to.
The Converse Accident/Hasty Generalization fallacy refers to…
Arguing for/undermining a general rule based on only one thing, overlooking accidental/atypical features of the situation.
The Composition fallacy refers to…
Treating the parts of something the same as the whole.
The Decomposition fallacy refers to…
Treating the whole of something the same as the parts of it.
