Test 1 Flashcards
The ability to think abstractly to form arguments and make inferences
Reason
(384-322 bc) Greek philosopher and scientist. A student of Plato and tutor to Alex the great, a founded a school (the Lyceum) outside Athens.
Aristotle
(429 347 bc) Greek philosopher. A disiciple of Socrates and teacher to Aristotle, he founded the academy in Athens. His theories of “ideas” and “forms” contrasts abstract entities or universals with their objects or particulars in the material world. “The Republic”
Plato
Deduce or conclude (information) from evidence and reasoning rather than from explicit statements
Infer
A thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof
Assumptions
A principle that is assumed as a precondition for whatever else one believes which itself may remain unexamined and uncriticized throughout the argument.
Presuppositions
Buddha
The “way” in Confucianism the “way “ to be a gentleman for example following the rituals, in Damian the underlying and ineffable “way” of nature of reality
Dao
Intellectual independence and freedom from authority.
Autonomy
Plato
The process of reasoning from one claim to another.
Argument
Assertions
Explanations, justifications, evidence, or some other basis for accepting a proposition
Reasons
An orderly formulation of principles (together with reasons, implications, evidence, methods, and presuppositions) that is comprehensive, consistent, and coherent and in which the various principles are interconnected as tightly as possible by logical implications
System
a sequence of steps, each according to an acceptable rule of inference, to the conclusion
Proof
To think about something, to put it in perspective.
Reflection
“The awakened one”
Buddha
A cultural and philosophical movement in the eighteenth century in Europe defined by a new confidence in human reason and individual autonomy
Enlightenment
An approach and strategy for resolving philosophical problems.
Method
A philosophical belief that knowledge is not possible, that doubt will not be overcome by any valid arguments
Skepticism
A self-contradictory conclusion drawn from seemingly acceptable premises.
Paradox
Lack of certainty; lack of reasons to believe and perhaps having reasons not to believe.
Doubt
Beyond doubt
Certainty
The test or standard according to which a judgement or an evaluation can be made.
Criterion
Those axioms and assumptions from which a philosophy begins. Sold and indisputable
First principles
A principal that is generally accepted from the beginning and so may be used without further debate
Axioms
Obvious without proof or argument
Self - evident
Descartes technique for discovering those principles of which we can be “perfectly certain”, namely doubt everything, until you discover those principles that cannot be doubted
Method of doubt
The study of the rules of valid inference and “rational argument” in general, a sense of order
Logic
The persuasive use of language to convince other people to accept your beliefs
Rhetoric
An apparently persuasive argument that is really an error in reasoning; an unsound or invalid argument
Fallacies
Usually, a proposition about all of a group or set of things on the basis of a limited acquaintance with some of its members.
Generalization
Refers to an argument that correctly follows agreed-upon rules of inference. Always applies to arguments, not statements
Valid
The principle or one of the principles upon which an argument is based. The starting point of an argument
Premises
Refers to an argument whose premises are true and that is valid
Sound
A three-line deductive argument, the best known examples are those arguments of this form
(Major premise)
(Minor premise)
(Conclusion)
Syllogism
A statement or declaration, taking a position.
Assertion
A provisional conclusion, accepted as most probable in the light of the known facts or tentatively adopted as a basis for analysis
Hypothesis
An example that contradicts a generalization
Counterexanple
A form of argument in which one refutes a statement by showing that it leads to self contradiction or an otherwise intolerable conclusion
Reductio ad absurdum
The logical relation of two principles in which the truth of one requires the falsity of the other
Contradictory
Merely restating as the conclusion of an argument one of its premises. For example, “why do oysters give me indigestion? Because they upset my stomach”
Begging the question
The use of two propositions or arguments to support one another with no other supports
Vicious circle
One statement logically follows from another. Statements imply one another. We infer one from the other
Implications
Logical connection.
Coherent
That which is asserted or denied of a thing, to which refers to a property of a thing
Predicate
