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Philosophy (Philosophy of Ethics (Key Terms (Ethical/Unethical: Good/Bad,…
Philosophy
Philosophy of Ethics
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Study Approaches
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Philosophical Approach
Normative, or Prescriptive, Ethics
Metaethics, or Analytics, Ethics
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Morality
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Good, Bad, Right, and Wrong in Nonmoral Sense
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Philosophy of Logic
Logic
Develop a system of methods and principles that we may use as criteria for evaluating the arguments of others and when we advance arguments of our own.
Argument (inference)
Group of statements:
- one or more premises
- the conclusion
The good argument's conclusion is supported by the premises, and bad argument's conclusion does not
Statements (proposition)
- A sentence that is either true or false (truth values)
- Cannot be both true and false at the same time
Conclusion
- The statement that is claimed to follow from the premises
- Indicators: therefore, accordingly, entails that, wherefore, we may conclude, hence, thus, it must be that, it follows that, consequently, for this reason, implies that, we may infer, so, as a result
Premises
- Set forth the reasons or evidence
- indicators: since, in that, seeing that, as indicated by, may be inferred from, for the reason that, because, as, inasmuch as, for, given that, owing to
Restructuring Argument
- Should remain as close as possible to the original version
- Premises and conclusion has to be complete sentences
- Some arguments may not have indicators
Arguments in passage
It purports to prove something
- At least one of the statements must claim to present evidence or reasons.
- There must be a claim that the alleged evidence support or implies something.
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Types of claims
Explicit claim
Usually asserted by premise or conclusion indicator words
- thus, since, because, hence, therefore, etc.
Implicit claim
There is an inferential relationship between the statements in a passage. No indicator words.
Not Argument
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Expository Passages
Begins with a topic sentence followed by one or more sentences that develop the topic sentence
- Lack an inferential claim
- If the subsequent sentences are to prove it, however, then it can be an argument.
Determine whether the purpose of the subsequent sentences in the passage is merely to develop the topic sentence or also to provide that it is true.
Illustrations
One or more examples that is intended to show what something means or how it is done.
- Can be argument if the example given is intended to prove the truth
Determine whether the passage merely shows how something is done or what something means, or whether it also purports to prove something.
Explanations
An expression that purports to shed light on some event or phenomenon.
- Sometimes can be both argument and explanation
- Explanandum: describes the event or phenomenon to be explained.
- Explanan: purports to do the explaining
Conditional Statement
"if ... then ..."
- A conditional statement as a whole may present evidence.
- Antecedent: immediately following the "if"
- Consequent: following the "then"
Conditional Statements are special in logic
Say "if A then B"
- sufficient condition: A is a sufficient condition for B whenever the occurrence of A is all that is needed for the occurrence of B
- necessary condition: A cannot occur without the occurrence of B
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Deduction & Induction
Deductive argument
Rest on necessary reasoning
- given premises are all true, conclusion cannot be false
Validity of deductive argument
- For a valid deductive argument, It is impossible for the conclusion to be false given the premises are all true. Otherwise, invalid.
- There is no middle ground: It is always either valid or invalid
- Validity is about the relationship between the premises and the conclusion, regardless of their truth values.
Soundness of deductive argument
- Deductive argument sound when the argument is valid and has all true premises.
- Otherwise, it is unsound argument
Inductive argument
rest on probabilistic reasoning
- given premises are all true, it is improbable that the conclusion is false
- Uniformity of nature: the future tends to replicate the past, and regularities that prevail in one spatial region tend to prevail in other regions.
Strength of inductive argument
- For a strong inductive argument, It is improbable for the conclusion to be false given the premises are all true. Otherwise, weak.
- Middle ground does exist, so to decide the strength of inductive argument, we must consider both probabilities, and choose the one that is more likely to happen.
- For a strong inductive argument, look for the conclusion and see if it accords with the Uniformity of nature
Total Evidence Requirement
When we say the premises are true, they must be "true" in a complete sense.
- Premises must not exclude or overlook some crucial piece of evidence that undermines the stated evidence requirement.
Cogency of inductive argument
- Inductive argument is cogent when the argument is strong and has all true premises.
- Any of three cases: 1. one or more false premises, 2. fails to meet the total evidence requirement, or/and 3. the argument is weak
Differentiating deductive and inductive arguments
- Look for special indicator words
- actual strength of the inferential link between premises and conclusion
- form or style
Special indicator words
- Inductive argument: probably, improbably, plausible, implausible, likely, unlikely, reasonable to conclude
- Deductive argument: necessarily, certainly, absolutely, definitely
- If there are conflict, just ignore them
Actual Strength
- Inductive argument: the conclusion does not follow with strict necessity but does follow probably
- Deductive argument: the conclusion actually does follow with strict necessity form the premises
Forms
Finally, look at how argument is formed
Deductive Argument Forms
Argument based on mathematics
the conclusion depends on some purely arithmetic or geometric computation or measurement
- Statistics are not deductive, however
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Argument from definition
the conclusion depends merely on the definition of some word or phrase used in the premise or conclusion.
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Inductive Argument Forms
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Argument from analogy
Depends on the existence of an analogy, or similarity, between two things or states of affairs.
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Generalization
Proceeds from the knowledge of a selected sample to some claim about the whole group.
- Statistics belongs to here; thus, Statistics is an inductive argument
Do not get confused
Arguments in mathematics/geometry is always deductive even if the form is in Argument from analogy or Generalization.
Argument from authority
Concludes something is true because a presumed expert of witness has said that.
Casual inference
Proceeds from knowledge of a cause to a claim about an effect, or, conversely, from knowledge of an effect to a claim about a cause.
Argument based on signs
Proceeds from the knowledge of a sign to a claim about the thing or situation
- "Sign" means any kind of message (usually visual) produced by an intelligent being.
Somewhere in the middle
Scientific arguments
- Arguments aimed at the discovery of a law of nature are usually considered inductive.
- Application of known laws to a specific situation is always deductive
Aristotle's tradition
- Particular statement: makes a claim about one or more particular members of a class
- General statement: makes a claim about all the members of a class
Inductive or Deductive
Inductive: proceeds from the particular to the general
Deductive: proceeds from general to particular
However, in modern logics, this method is no longer used.