Test 1 Flashcards
(45 cards)
1
Q
Argument
A
- A set of claims wherein some of the claims (the premises) are intended as support for another of the claims (the conclusion)
- Justification for a belief can be expressed as an argument; arguments express proposed justifications for candidate beliefs; a set of statements, some of which attempt to provide a reason for thinking that some other statement is true
- Composed of premises and a conclusion
- Some claims (A) give a justification for believing that something (B) is the case.
- Ex: The weather report said it will reach 105 degrees fahrenheit today. Therefore, it will probably reach 105 degrees fahrenheit today; Though many people have sought immortality, there is no evidence of anyone succeeding. Therefore, it is probably impossible for anyone to live forever.
- The word “argument” is polysemous - we do NOT mean a disagreement or debate
- NOTE: Sometimes the supporting part of an argument can be broken into multiple claims.
2
Q
What is the difference between true beliefs and false beliefs?
A
True beliefs correspond to the world; they describe the world accurately. False beliefs do not correspond to the world and do not describe it accurately.
3
Q
What is the difference between justified beliefs and unjustified beliefs?
A
Justified beliefs are ones that there are good reasons (or evidence or justification) to believe. Unjustified beliefs are ones that there aren’t sufficiently good reasons (or evidence or justification) to believe.
4
Q
What’s good about having true beliefs (in contract with false ones)?
A
True beliefs will help you to interact with the world effectively and they will help you to learn further things. The alternative is to have false beliefs or no beliefs. Having false beliefs could actually mislead you and even put you in danger. If you had no beliefs you would never have a reason to choose one thing over another.
5
Q
What’s good about having justified beliefs (in contrast to unjustified ones)?
A
When beliefs are justified, that’s an indication in favor of their truth. Often we can’t tell which beliefs are true or false just by looking at them. Justification is one of the few ways we have of estimating the (likely) truth or falsity of candidate beliefs. If we want true beliefs, therefore, it makes sense to investigate which of a competing set of candidate beliefs have the most justification, and adopt those beliefs that are best justified.
6
Q
Which part of an argument is the part that is supposed to justify the other?
A
-Premises
7
Q
Which part of an argument is the part that is supposed to be justified by the other?
A
-Conclusion
8
Q
Belief
A
- A statement or claim that a person holds to be true
- Can be true or false
- Each of us has many beliefs
- Ex: “There are chimpanzees in the LA zoo.” “If you drive north on Maryland Parkway, you will reach downtown.”
- Sometimes two people share beliefs (i.e. have the same beliefs) about something. Sometimes they have different beliefs.
- Can be expressed as claims
- All justifications for a belief or claim can be expressed as arguments. Conversely, all arguments can be read as proposed justifications for a proposed belief or claim.
9
Q
Statement
A
- A type of sentence that can be true or false and corresponds to the grammatical category of “declarative sentence”
- A sentence is still a statement even if false
10
Q
Distinctions in Types of Beliefs
A
- (1) True vs. False
- (2) Justified vs. Unjustified
11
Q
True Beliefs vs. False Beliefs
A
- Beliefs are true when they correspond to the way that the world actually is – that is, when they describe the world accurately.
- Beliefs are false when they do not correspond to the way that the world actually is – that is, when they describe the world inaccurately.
12
Q
Truth vs Falsity
A
-Correspondence or non-correspondence with reality
13
Q
Claim
A
- They are declarative sentences. They state the contents of beliefs.
- Can be true or false
- Synonyms: “statement” and “proposition”
- They assert something about the world
14
Q
Justification
A
- Evidence in support of a belief; reasons for thinking that the belief is true
- ”reasons” “evidence” “support”
- Comes in degrees
- Note: justifications for a belief are (usually) themselves beliefs, and they often have justifications too
15
Q
Justified Beliefs vs. Unjustified Beliefs
A
- A belief is justified (to some extent or other) when there are some reasons to think it is true
- A belief is unjustified when there are no reasons at all, or not sufficient reasons, to believe it is true
16
Q
Why is justification important?
A
-It is often the only means that we have for judging whether a candidate belief is true or false
17
Q
Where do our justifications come from?
A
- Observation (ex: sky is blue)
- Reliable written sources
- Values/commitments
- Deduction
- Data
- Absence of evidence
18
Q
4 Kinds of Beliefs
A
- Justified and true - knowledge
- Justified and false - current best estimates
- Unjustified and true - lucky guesses
- Unjustified and false - illusion/make-believe
19
Q
Justified and True
A
- Knowledge
- Reasoned belief that is right about how the world is
- Ex: Scientific theories that are correct about the way the world is
20
Q
Justified and False
A
- Current best estimates; NOT knowledge
- Beliefs one currently has good reason to believe, but are incorrect
- Ex: Scientific theories that are well-supported by evidence of the time, but are later proven wrong
21
Q
Unjustified and True
A
- Lucky guesses; not knowledge
- Beliefs that happen to be right
- Ex: “Crackpot” theories without any solid evidence that nonetheless happen to be correct about the way the world is
- Ex: of gambling – $100 dollars on 4 in roulette because you feel that’s the number, and you win! You’re right, but not justified
22
Q
Unjustified and False
A
- Illusion/make-believe; not knowledge
- Wrong and badly reason, and/or wrong and believed for false reasons
- Ex: “Crackpot” theories without any solid evidence in their support that are also incorrect about the world
- Ex: believing there’s a horse farm on campus, and have no reason to think so.
23
Q
Things to do with Arguments
A
- Identify
- Analyze (ex: Identify their premises and conclusions)
- Evaluate
- Make
24
Q
Polysemous
A
- It has more than one meaning.
- Ex: ball vs. ball
- Ex: paper vs. paper - can be closely related, but still separate things
25
Premises and Conclusions
- Premises: the part of the argument that is proposed as justification; reason for thinking conclusion is true; the supporting claims
- Conclusion: the part of the argument argument that is supposed to be given justification by the premises; the supported claim
- Both premises and conclusions are statements
- NOTE: Sometimes the supporting part of an argument can be broken into multiple claims; it’s okay to keep premises together, but it’s preferable to distinguish separate claims, even if they’re expressed in the same sentence
26
How are arguments expressed?
- In a written or spoken argument, the conclusion could be stated anywhere: at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end
- In a written or spoken argument, a single sentence may express multiple claims
- Arguments can be summarized by labeling each of their premises and their conclusion (i.e. each claim in the argument), and then listing these with the conclusion at the end
27
Standard Form
- Numbered
- Premises first
- Conclusion last
- ”Therefore,”
1.
2.
3. Therefore,
28
Does everything we say or write express an argument?
- No.
- ”I love you. I feel like we’re made for each other.”
- ”I really like that painting. Look at the light on the water!”
- ”The thermometer in the control solution reads 28 degrees celsius. The thermometer in solution A reads 18 degrees celsius. And solution B is at 19 degrees celsius.”
29
Clues to Identifying Arguments
- 1. Is one of the claims being argued for on the basis of the others? (Are some of the claims intended as justification for a candidate belief?)
- If so, the set of claims is an argument
- If not, the set of claims is not an argument
- 2. Are there any “premise indicators” or “conclusion indicators”?
- If so, the set of claims might be an argument
- If not, the set of claims might not be an argument
- Connecting Claims Test
- Substitution Test
30
Premise Indicators
-What follows it is a statement that is intended to be a reason (premise)
- Since
- Because
- For
- As
- Given that
- Seeing that
- For the reason that
- Is shown by the fact that
- Ex: Given that it’s a university event, maybe we shouldn’t engage in illegal activities.
- NOTE: Not every case where one of these words appear is a case where the word marks a premise or conclusion.
- Ex: Since the 1970s, there hasn’t been a single great new rock band.
- In arguments, indicators are grammatically conjunctions, so there has to be 2 separate statements
31
Conclusion Indicators
-What follows it is a statement that someone is trying to establish as true (conclusion)
- Therefore
- So
- Hence
- Thus
- Implies that
- Consequently
- It follows that
- We may conclude that
- Ex: Almonds are high in protein, so they’re excellent energy boosters late in the day.
- NOTE: Not every case where one of these words appear is a case where the word marks a premise or conclusion.
- Ex: She left the project quite suddenly, so it’s possible she was upset about something.
- In arguments, indicators are grammatically conjunctions, so there has to be 2 separate statements
32
Connecting Claims Test
- Does the indicator connect two different claims?
- If yes, the indicator is evidence that there’s an argument
- If no, the indicator is no evidence that there’s an argument
33
Substitution Test
- Can another indicator of the same type (premise indicator or conclusion indicator) be substituted without changing the meaning?
- If yes, the indicator is evidence that there’s an argument
- If no, the indicator is no evidence that there’s an argument
-Substitute another word or phrase from the list of premise or conclusion indicators and see if the resulting sentence still makes sense
34
Explanation
- Some claims (A) give information about why something (B) happened or is the case. (A) usually informs us about the causes of (B).
- Ex: He probably got sick because he didn’t wash his hands before eating.
- Ex: Global warming is occurring largely because of the effects of greenhouse gases.
- We assume that what we are trying to explain (i.e., the conclusion) is true
35
Arguments vs. Explanations
- Arguments: Some claims (A) give a justification for believing THAT something (B) is the case.
- Aim: to persuade, convince the audience to accept B
- Indicators: If you see “should” “ought,” or other normative language in B, the passage is probably an argument [but not all arguments include these words]
- What is taken by audience as true: If the author seems to be trying to prove or support B by appealing to A, it’s probably an argument
- Explanations: Some claims (A) give information about WHY something (B) happened or is the case. (A) usually informs us about the causes of (B).
- Aim: to inform the audience about the causes of B
- Indicators: You will rarely see “should” “ought” or other normative language in explanations
- What is taken by audience as true: If the author treats the audience as already accepting that B is true, and is only appealing to A to provide additional information about B, then it’s probably an explanation
- Some can be read as either or
- Ex: The dog might be injured because he got in a fight.”
-There’s a difference in intentions
36
Different Types of Argument Structures/Arrow Diagrams
- Chain support
- Independent Support (when two or more premises provide direct but independent support for the conclusion
- Joint Support
- Mixed Support
37
Conditional Statements
- (A) and (B) are parts of one claim. The (A)-part gives a hypothetical condition. The (B)-part says what would be the case if that condition holds
- Ex: If we don’t leave in the next 10 minutes, we’ll be late.
- Ex: It’s a great place to eat if you can find a table.
- Ex: Ghostface Killah is a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, so long as he hasn’t been kicked out yet.
38
Arguments vs. Conditional Statements
- Arguments: Some claims (A) give a justification for believing THAT something (B) is the case.
- Conditional Statements: (A) and (B) are parts of one claim. The (A)-part gives a HYPOTHETICAL condition. The (B)-part says what WOULD be the case if that condition holds.
- ”If, then” statements
- Usually just one claim, so not an argument because argument needs at least two claims.
39
Arguments vs. Explanations vs. Conditional Statements
- Argument:
- A → B: Premise (A) → Conclusion (B)
- Characteristics: B-part often includes “should”
- Example: This pen doesn’t work, so we should find another.
- Explanation:
- A → B: Explanans (A) → Explanandum (B)
- Characteristics: A-part often begins with “since” or “because”
- Example: Because the pen doesn’t work, I wasn’t able to take the test.
- Conditional Statements:
- A → B: Antecedent (A) → Consequent (B)
- Characteristics: Always a single claim. Never expressed in more than 1 sentence. Usually includes “if” and “then,” sometimes just “if,” sometimes “unless”
- Example: If the pen doesn’t work, I won’t be able to take the test!; Unless this pen works, I won’t be able to take the test.
40
Main Conclusion
-The statement that depends on other statements as evidence but doesn’t itself provide any evidence for any other statement
41
Intermediate Conclusion
-A statement that acts as a premise for the main conclusion but is also itself the conclusion of further premises (acts as both a premise and a conclusion)
42
Inference Tags
- ”from x” is a way of saying “this statement follows from statement x”
- [from x]
43
Subargument (book, no class notes)
-Part of an argument that provides indirect support for the main argument
44
Main Argument (book, no class notes)
-The argument whose conclusion is the main conclusion
45
Paraphrase
- The use of different words to capture the same idea in a clearer way
- There will always be multiple ways of paraphrasing premises and conclusions, and this means that there will never be just one way of putting an argument into standard form
- It is legitimate to introduce your own paraphrase as long as introducing new terminology helps us clearly express the essence of the premise or conclusion that we’re trying to paraphrase
- There are multiple, equally good ways of paraphrasing the premises and conclusion of an argument
