TEST #1 Flashcards
arguments
a groups of statements in which some statements (the premises) are intended to support another statement (the conclusion)
- the conclusion is what the speaker wants you to accept/believe
- premises state the reasons/evidence for believing/accepting the conclusion
- arguments are all around us
premise
a statement/reason that is offered as evidence to support a conclusion
good argument
a good argument is one that provides good reason for believing its conclusion is true
statement/claim
an assertion that something is, or is not, the case
*literally just a declaritive sentence that can be true/false
ex. “Today is Friday” “it is not raining” “She will win the race”
proposition
- the idea/thought behind the statement
- either correctly or incorrectly describes the world
lalala me:
- its the context of a declarative sentence
- it is when a declarative sentence can be claimed as either true or false
a note about statements + propositions
-all propositions are statements, but not all statements are propositions
-a statement can only be a proposition if that statement can be described as true or false
-it’s possible for different statements to have the same proposition (ex. “il neige” and “It’s snowing both have the proposition/idea that it’s snowing
-it’s possible for the same statements to have different propositions (depending on the CONTEXT; who states it, when, where, etc.) (ex. “im hungry”, “it will rain tomorrow”)
conclusion
a statement that is held to be supported by one or more premises
-the claim that the argument is intended to establish / wants you to believe/accept
inference
the process of reaching a conclusion based on the evidence/premises
the steps of argument analysis + details
0) figure out if it really is an argument or not (the following are NOT arguments)
- A. some texts are merely descriptive (ex. news story, description of a thing)
- B. some texts merely offer the author’s opinion without trying to provide reasons to accept it
- C.an “if-then” statement by itself is not an argument
1) reconstruct the argument
- not all arguments are presented in the clearest way
- means to clarify/interpret an argument
2) evaluate the argument
- evaluating the RATIONAL STRENGTH (premises provide good reasons to accept the conclusion as true) of an argument
- we are NOT evaluating LITERARY MERIT (ex. original, interesting, organized, vocabulary, grammar, structure, etc.) nor the RHETORICAL POWER (ex. power of an argument to persuade; confidence, strength in voice, honesty, etc.)
critical thinking
the system/analysis/coming up with of arguments by rational standards
-it’s SYSTEMIC (involves distinct and technical procedures/methods)
-used to analyze arguments of others, your own, and to create your own
-it evaluates arguments in terms of their rational strength
why should we think critically?
-because we do/should care about the truth and getting things right and gaining knowledge and avoiding false beliefs
-our beliefs (and our habits of argument formation) affect our choices, actions, and the person we are
knowledge (3 types) + declarative sentence
*knowledge by acquaintance
*knowledge-how (how to…)
*propositional knowledge (knowledge-that)
- declarative sentences express propositions, unlike interrogative or imperative sentences
3 key ingredients in knowledge
- belief
- to believe a claim, is to think that it is true/corresponds with reality
- its me agreeing with the truth of a claim (even though not all beliefs are true)
- belief is compatible and required with knowledge - truth
- truth is somewhere out there in the world
- to believe that something is true, and it is true
- truth corresponds with the way things really are
- if something is known by you yo be true, then it’s knowledge - justification
- evidence/reason to support a claim
- not all true beliefs are justified/ based on good reason (ex. you believe every third answer is true, just for fun, and even tho it is true, you dont have good reason for it)
you BELIEVE something, that belief is TRUE, and that belief is JUSTIFIED by good reason
ways people respond to arguments
- the credulous person
- ready to accept any statement as true without any evidence
- resigns his own opinion - the person of contradiction
- ready to oppose every thing that’s said
- agrees with a conclusion that is opposite of what is said to be true
- judges every opposite premise as weak and isn’t open to its validity - the dogmatist
- believes all their opinions are INFALLIBLE (unable to be proven wrong) and certain, regardless of new reasons/evidence
- asserts their opinion in an overly confident positive manner - the skeptic
- believes nothing
- establishes that they believe no conclusion
- is afraid to agree with anything
(5. relativists )
- insist that different things are true for different people
- therefore insisting that every statement can be both true and false (which is untrue)
rational thinkers
evaluate arguments based on the evidence provided, and form conclusions based on that evidence/info
abilities and attitudes of rational thinkers
they have the ability to:
- distinguish genuine arguments from others (ones with provided reasons/evidence)
- interpret/understand arguments
- evaluate arguments
they have a willingness to:
- examine arguments with an open mind
- change one’s mind when the argument calls for it
- give up popular beliefs when the argument calls for it
- go along with popular views if the argument calls for it
- form beliefs even when matters are uncertain
impediments to good reasoning
- lack of adequate vocabulary
- not learning the vocabulary of argument analysis can make it difficult to analyze the argument clearly - the desire to be tolerant and open-minded
- judgment of others opinions/premises is urgent in rational thinking - misunderstanding the point of argument analysis
- debate mindset
- focusing on the literary merit/rhetorical power of an argument rather than the rational strength - misconceptions about truth and rationality
- “there are no truths, just beliefs”
- the idea that “no truth can be more reasonable than another” - the use of ARGUMENT STOPPERS
- comments that cut off discussion (“agree to disagree”, “thats your opinion”)
another impediment could be being influenced by our desire to be right in what we believe is true/false, therefore not focusing on relevant evidence
realism
involves two claims:
- there are truths/facts in a given subject area
- the truths/facts are objective (independent on anyone’s beliefs about them)
subject areas we can be realists in vs can’t
CAN:
-ex. we’re all realists about the jellybean scenario (we agree there’s an objective fact about the amount of jellybeans in the jar, and it doesnt depend on what we believe)
- ex. mathematics, mortality
CAN’T:
-morality
-religion
-love
Pros and cons of realism
PROS:
- when unable to figure out the truth about something, an objective truth is a good default
- can facilitate decision making
CONS:
- ignores subjectivity
- you can’t 100% say something is really wrong
Nihilism + Moral nihilism
there are just no truths whatsoever in that subject area
the view that moral statements have no truth-value (they are neither true nor false)
Pros vs Cons of nihilism
PROS:
- in some areas its difficult to know whats true/false (ex. beauty)
CONS:
- self-contradictory (if you’re saying there is no facts about anything, then you’re also saying its a fact that there are no facts/that nihilism is true)
- extremely implausible in many subject areas (propositions in many subject areas do have truth values) (ex. implausible to think there’s zero truth in math, science, history, etc.) (ex. it is a 100% given fact that people are hungry sometimes, so….)
Relativism (subjective + social)
- there are truths in that subject area
- what the truths are depend upon what someone believes them to be (subjective)
-ex. “its true for you that… but its true for me that…”
SUBJECTIVE RELATIVISM=
-what the truths are depend upon individuals
-“thats true for me”
SOCIAL RELATIVISM=
-what the truths are depend upon what a society or culture believes
-“thats true for us”
(ex. its true for you that men and women are equal before the law, but not for us)
Pros vs Cons of relativism
PROS:
- makes it easier to co-exist and tolerate other views on ethics and morality (settle that everyone has individual truths is better than fighting about what the objective truth is)
- subjective matters such as humour, perception of beauty, taste in food, etc.
CONS:
- there are truth values not subjective to individuals or societies feelings/thoughts
- there are counter-examples (ex. teacher feels its their truth to give out F’s when the students deserved A’s) (ex. “it’s tuesday”, criminal justice system)
- isn’s as tolerant as it sounds (in examples such as social relativism about racism, how are we supposed to solve it without a broader appeal?)
- suggests individuals are infallible (there’s no benchmark to say which is wrong and which is right)
philosophical skepticism
- statements have truth-values but…
- we dont know what most or all of them are
- we lack knowledge / knowledge is impossible
- this doesn’t deny that there is truth or belief, it just denies that there’s justification
-a skeptic shows that if your beliefs arent justified, you dont have knowledge
ex. according to a skeptic, your belief that it’s tuesday is not justified