Argument - answer-•An argument is a set of determinately true or false sentences with three elements:
1. One or more PREMISES, which provide evidence or support.
2. One CONCLUSION, which follows from or is supported by the premises.
3. A CLAIM about the connection between the premises and the ...
Argument - answer-•An argument is a set of determinately true or false sentences with three elements:
1. One or more PREMISES, which provide evidence or support.
2. One CONCLUSION, which follows from or is supported by the premises.
3. A CLAIM about the connection between the premises and the conclusion.
Putting an argument in standard form - answer-To put an argument in standard form you take the following steps:
1. Circle all premise and conclusion indicator words ["since," etc.].
2. Bracket and number every statement (note: statement ̸= sentence).
3. Identify the premises and conclusions, including intermediate conclu- sions.
4. Write the argument using numbers for bracketed statements and writing out any implicit premises or conclusions.
Deductive argument - answer-A deductive argument is an argument in which the premises are claimed to
lend absolute support to the conclusion.
Inductive argument - answer-An inductive argument is an argument in which the premises are not claimed to lend
absolute support to the conclusion. Instead, the premises are claimed to make the conclusion probable or likely.
Counterexample - answer-A counterexample for an argument is a possible situation (or possible world) in which all of
the premises of the argument are true, and the conclusion false.
Deductively valid/invalid - answer-An argument is deductively valid if it has no counterexamples, otherwise it is
deductively invalid.
Inductively strong/weak - answer-An argument is inductively strong or has high inductive probability if the truth of the
conclusion is very likely, given the truth of the premises; otherwise it is inductively weak or has low inductive probability.
Sound - answer-An argument is sound if it is deductively valid and all of its premises are in fact true.
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, Monotonic - answer-A kind of reasoning is monotonic if adding new premises will not make an argument that succeeds
in providing the claimed support for its conclusion fail to do so.
Non-monotonic - answer-A kind of reasoning is non-monotonic if adding new premises could make an argument that
succeeds in providing the claimed support for its conclusion fail to do so.
Fallacy - answer-A fallacy is a faulty argument or a faulty kind of argument.
Fallacy of relevance - answer-A person commits a fallacy of relevance if she supports her conclusion with premises that
are not relevant to the truth of the conclusion.
semantic fallacy - answer-A person commits a semantic fallacy if her argument relies on words or phrases with
ambiguous or vague meanings.
deductive fallacy - answer-A person commits a deductive fallacy if she claims that the truth of her premises would
provide absolute support for the truth of the conclusion when in fact the truth of the premises would not.
inductive fallacy - answer-A person commits an inductive fallacy if she claims that the truth of her premises would
provide a certain degree of support for the truth of the con- clusion when in fact the truth of the premises would only
provide some sig- nificantly weaker degree of support.
Ad hominem argument - answer-(Fallacy of relevance)
A person gives an ad hominem argument when she claims to support a conclusion by attacking the person who asserts
the opposite.
EX: Some people say that the Citizens United decision was wrong. But that's just the sort of thing that liberals from the
Democratic party say, and they hate America and are too weak to stand up for real freedom of speech. Therefore, the
Citizens United decision was right.
EX:Von Daniken's books about ancient astronauts are worthless because he is a convicted forger and embezzler.
Appeal to ignorance - answer-(Fallacy of relevance)
A person gives an appeal to ignorance when she claims to support the truth of a conclusion by arguing that no one can
disprove it.
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