Vocabulary

Question 1

Statement

Answer 1

A sentence that is either true or false.

Question 2

Truth Value

Answer 2

A quality of statements. Every statement is either true or false. No statement can be both true and false and no statement can be neither true nor false. If it is not known whether a statement is true or false, then the truth value is said to be “undetermined”.

Question 3

Argument

Answer 3

A group of statements, one or more of which are claimed to provide support for or reasons to believe that ONE of the others. An argument is an attempt to prove THAT something is the case, not an attempt to explain WHY something is the case.

Question 4

Premise

Answer 4

A statement that functions as reason in an argument. The premise(s) of a good argument provides evidence or reasons that make the conclusion of the argument true. Example, in the following argument “You will succeed in the PHIL 12 because you are super smart”, the statement “you are super smart” being true is the reason why I think the statement “you will succeed in PHIL 12” is also true.

Question 5

Conclusion

Answer 5

A statement that is claimed to be true because of the premises offered. An argument has only ONE conclusion. In the previous example, the statement “you will succeed in PHIL 12” is the conclusion.

Question 6

Premise Indicator

Answer 6

A word or phrase that usually indicates that the statement that follows is a premise. Common premise indicators are “because” “since” “for” “as” “given that” “for the reason that” and “seeing that”.

Question 7

Conclusion Indicator

Answer 7

A word or phrase that usually indicates that the statement that follows is a conclusion. Common conclusion indicators are “thus” “consequently” “hence” “so” “accordingly” and “for this reason”.

Question 8

Inference

Answer 8

The reasoning process that allows one to draw a conclusion from a given premise(s). Example, given the premise “jack is holding his head in hands, sobbing, and saying over and over, I can’t believe this is happening” one would likely mentally draw and inference like “Jack is upset” or “something bad has happened to Jack”

Question 9

Explanation

Answer 9

A statement or group of statements that attempt to explain WHY something is the case but do not attempt to prove THAT something is the case.

Question 10

Conditional Statement

Answer 10

A statement that has the form “If A, then B” - which means if A is the case, then B will also be the case. Conditional Statements are not arguments, but can be used as parts of arguments.

Question 11

Antecedent

Answer 11

The statement that follows “if….” in a conditional statement.

Question 12

Consequent

Answer 12

The statement that follows “then…” in a conditional statement.

Question 13

Sufficient Conditions

Answer 13

A condition or set of conditions that alone indicates an additional condition or set of conditions. Condition A is said to be a sufficient condition whenever the occurrence of A is all that is required for the occurrence of B.

Question 14

Necessary Conditions

Answer 14

A condition or set of conditions that are required but not alone sufficient to indicate an additional condition or set of conditions. B is said to be a necessary condition if A cannot occur without B.

Question 15

Opinion

Answer 15

A statement of belief about what is true about reality. Because beliefs are comprised of statements, and all Statements are either true or false. All opinions are either true or false.

Question 16

Preference

Answer 16

A psychological or biological predilection toward something. Because preferences express the unique experiences of each individual, one statement of preference may be true for one person, and at the same time, false for another.