Test 1 Flashcards
Kinds of Statements
Factual (deals with facts)
Evaluative (deals with values)
Deductive Arguments
Valid (true)
Invalid (untrue)
Sound
Unsound
Viking Age
appx. 800-1000/1050
Year 793
Viking raid of Lindisfarne monastery. Considered the beginning of the Viking Age.
Year 1066
Harald Hardrada of Norway failed at conquering England. Considered to be the end of the Viking age.
Why did the Viking Age begin?
- Limited resources in Scandinavia
- Gift exchange economy
- Monasteries were vulnerable targets
- Development in ship-building techniques
- Ambition, desire for fame/glory
Why did the Viking age end?
- Scandinavians integrated with the rest of Europe
- Intermarriage (not best reason)
- Many converted to Christianism, they couldn’t justify raiding fellow Christians.
- Raiding became more difficult since European cities began to defend themselves much better.
Key Features of the Viking Age
- Lots of raiding and trading
- Norway, Sweden & Denmark became more unified and powerful
- The conversion of many Scandinavians to Christianity
Changing Perceptions of the VIking Age
- They were relatively neglected by historians
- 19th they gained more attention and praise
- Scandinavian nations embraced their Viking heritage, part of their identity.
Sources of information
- Archaelogy
- Grave sites
- Textual sources
Fallacy
An argument from that is both common and defective; a recurrent mistake in reasoning.
Genetic Fallacy
Arguing that a claim is true or false solely because of its origin. Ex: my teacher told us that the Vikings had horns on their helmets, so it must be true.
Ad hominem attack Fallacy
Rejecting a claim or criticizing the person who makes it rather than the claim itself. Ex: the king criticized Viking =s of brutality but he mistreated his people too.
Fallacy of composition
Arguing that what is true of the parts must be true for a whole. Ex: I noticed there are a lot of mountains in Norway. Scandinavia must be a mountaneous region.
Fallacy of division
Arguing that what must be true of the whole must be true of the parts. Ex: Scandinavians were usually taller than average. Bjorn was Swedish so he must’ve been pretty tall.
Appeal to popularity
Arguing that a claim must be true merely because a substantial number of ppl belive it. Ex: Historians tend to exagerrate the barbarity of the Vikings. Everyone says so.
Appeal to tradition
Arguing that a claim must be true just because it’s part of tradition.
Appeal to Emotion
Using emotions in place of relevant reasons as premises in an argument. “We must drive the Danes out! They’re monsters, they’ll eat your children!”
Straw Man
Distorting, weakening, or oversimplifying someone’s position so it can be more easily attacked or refuted.
Ex: Viking age scandinavia had some positive aspects. So bon here, just doesn’t care that the Vikings raped their way through Europe. Real nice, bob, real nice.
Begging the question
The attempt to establish the conclusion of an argument by using that conclusion as a premise.
Ex: Attacking unarmed villagers was really like a crime against humanity because it is inhumane to attack people who can’t defend themselves.
False dilemma
Asserting that there are only two alternatives to consider when there are usually more than two.
Ex: Either you give me all your silver, or tonight the ravens will feast on your flesh.
Slippery slope
Arguing without good reason that taking a partivular step will inevitably lead to a further underisable step(s).
If we let Danes take over York, they’ll soon take all over of England, and then the world.”
Discovery & Settlement of Iceland
- Irish monks were its first inhabitants
- Iceland settled primarly by Norwegians. Some were from Ireland and England, as well as from other Scandinavian countries.
- book of icelanders recounts settlement of Iceland
Ingolf Arnasom
- First norwegian outlaw to settle in Iceland
Ari Thorgilsson
- aka Ari the Learned
- wrote sagas of Icelanders
King Harald Fair-hair
- Harald I of Norway
- Wanted to unify Norway in his rule
- Many resented his attempts to excert authority over them and they decided to settle in Iceland.
Icelandic Sagas
- Family sagas are decribed to be the feuds with central events
- Sagas depict some real people and some real events, as well as some invented ppl and events.
Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241)
- Rich and powerful Icelander
- Twice served as the lawspeaker
- Wrote the King’s Saga
- Wrote the Prose Edda
Skaldic poetry
Skals= poet in icelandic
- Icelanders celebrated poets and many served as court poets for Scandinavian kings and Earls
Herodotus
- Ancient Greek historian
- Father of history
- Created interesting narratives
- Not always reliable; included lots of unconfirmed information
Thucydides
- Ancient Greek Historian
- More accurate than Herodotus
- Didn’t include folk tales or attribute events to the interference of the Greek gods.
Leopold von Ranke
- 19th century German historian
- regarded as first modern historian
- tried to make history scientific and completely objective
- his views are now regarded as naive and too optimistic
Historiography
- principles, theories or methodologies of scholarly historical research and presentation.
- The writing of history is based on a critical analysis, evaluation, and selection of authentic source materials into a narrative subject to schrolarly methods of criticism
- body of historical literature
Sources
can be
- Remains
- Testimonies
Testimonies
can be
- Primary
- Secondary
The Althing
Iceland’s national assembly that met every summer
Lawspeaker
Person who recited the law at the national assembly in Iceland
