D265 - WGU - Critical Thinking - Reason and Evidence Guaranteed Success
PROPOSITIONS
- Propositions are statements that can be evaluated as true or false.
NON-PROPOSITIONS
- Non-propositions are sentences that do not make factual claims and thus cannot be true or false.
SIMPLE PROPOSITIONS
- Simple propositions lack internal structure and are true or false independently. Examples include
"Harry Potter wears glasses" and "The sky is blue."
COMPLEX PROPOSITIONS
- Complex propositions are composed of simple propositions, and their truth depends on the truth
values of their parts. Examples include "The sky is blue, but it does not look blue to me right now" and
"The GDP of Canada is either $3 trillion or $12 trillion."
,Words used to identify Independent Propositions
- AND, OR, EITHER, BUT, IF, THEN.
CONCLUSION INDICATORS
- Therefore, so, it follows that, hence, thus, entails that, we may conclude that, implies that, wherefore,
and as a result.
PREMISE INDICATORS
- Because, for, given that, as, since, as indicated by.
DEDUCTIVE ARGUMENTS
- Deductive arguments guarantee or necessitate the conclusion, such as mathematical, logical, and
arguments from definition.
INDUCTION ARGUMENTS
, - Inductive arguments make the conclusion probable, including analogies, appeals to authority, causal
inferences, and extrapolations.
INFERENCE TO THE BEST EXPLANATION OR ABDUCTION
- Arguments where the best available explanation is chosen as the correct one.
FORMAL FALLACY
- Concerns errors in the structure of an argument.
INFORMAL FALLACY
- Concerns errors in the content or reasoning of an argument.
A FORMAL FALLACY IS A TYPE OF
- Bad argument structure.