Philosophy: Weeks 1-3

Damer's Rules of Rational Discussion

1) Fallability: if there are competing principles, one is incorrect 2) Truth-Seeking: each should be committed to the task of searching for the truth 3) Clarity: be as clear as possible 4) Burden of Proof: is on the believer 5) Charity: always give the arguer the benefit of the doubt 6) Relevance: should attempt to stay on topic 7) Acceptability: should be mutually acceptable 8) Sufficiency: provide sufficient reasons to support conclusion 9) Rebuttal: should provide effective rebuttal 10) Resolution: provides standards for adequate solutions 11) Suspension of Judgement: believe what is adequately supported 12) Reconsideration: one must reopen consideration if problems arise

How to Analyze Analogical Reasoning

1) Identify what the conclusion is 2) Put argument into standard form 3) Figure out what is being compared (A and B) 4) Figure out how many points of comparison are asserted 5) Figure out how many instances are compared 6) Use guidelines to assess

Four Methods of Fixing Belief by Pierce

1) Method of Tenacity: chooses belief to stick to and avoid contrary evidence 2) Method of Authority: some authority decides what people should believe 3) A Priori Method: fix beliefs because of what they find agreeable; cites self evident reasons 4) Scientific Method: method of experience and reasoning in fixing beliefs

Types of Non-Inferential Passages

1) Statement of Beliefs: states what someone or ones happen to think 2) Report: statements that convey info. about a topic or event 3) Illustration: A group that gives examples of particular phenomena 4) Explanations: group that wants to shed light on event/phenomena

Doubts

1) dont produce habit of mind 2) is an "uneasy, dissatisfied state" and struggle to free ourselves from it 3) are like a nervous irritation and reflex action is therein produced 4) stimulate us to inquiry until it is destroyed 5) are teleological (offers ends on oriented explanation, so the concept belief is explained in terms of goal of psychological state)

Beliefs

1) produce habits of mind which determines our actions 2) puts us in dispostional state 3) feels calm 4) we cling to believing just what we do believe

Fallacy of Equivocation

A feather is light. What is light cannot be dark. Therefore, a feather can't be dark.

3 Main Benefits of Studying Philosophy

A) by examining and assessing meaning of common terms, one increases ones powers of conceptual clarity. This may increase clarity of basic beliefs B) by evaluating and understanding what counts as good standards of reasoning and by thorough examination of ones beliefs; leads to greater assurance the reasonableness of ones beliefs C) philosophical thinking forces each of us to see whether his fundamental beliefs in different areas form a logically, coherent whole

Learning How to Think

David Foster Wallace; 1) means learning how to exercise some control over how/what you think 2) means being conscious/aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience 3) is constituted of knowing how to keep from going through adult life unconscious 4) requires learning how to be well adjusted (you get to decide consciously what has meaning and what doesn't)

Argumentum ad Baculum

Force Appeal; uses fear of force to get listener to accept a conclusion

Affirming the Consequent

If the horizon is on fire, the building is on fire. The horizon is on fire. Therefore, the building is on fire.

Fallacy of the Heap

If you have only one penny, you are not rich. If you are not rich and I give you one penny you are still not rich. It doesn't matter how many pennies I give you you still wont be rich.

Question Begging

It is always wrong to murder human beings. Capital punishment involves murdering human beings. Therefore, capital punishment is murder.

Argumentum ad Poplum

People Appeal; uses desire for respect, esteem, acceptance to make listener agree

Guidelines to Assess

Strengthened by: a) the larger the number of instances b) a larger variety of instances c) number of qualities that show similarity d) relevance of those qualities Weakened by: e) dissimilarities f) competing counter analogies g) holding more specific conclusions

Fallacy

a defect in an argument that consists in something other than false premises

Critical Thinking

a set of intellectual skills and psychological habits that you need to solve problems, discover truths and communicate clearly

Straw Man Fallacy

arguer distorts other's position to more easily attack, then demolishes argument, then says argument is demolished

Argumentum ad Hominem

attack against person's character

David Foster Wallace

believes: -the conflict between the subjective centrality of our own lives vs our awareness of its objective significance -thinking about ones attitudes and thoughts is important because ones natural way of thinking is solipsistic

Inferential Passages

contain arguments

Philosophical Man

contemplates great concepts, considers many possibilities, has increased knowledge, has sustained sense of wonder

Lexical Definitions

definitions based on common use of word, term or symbol

Informal Fallacy

fallacy that is defective because of something wrong with the content

Fallacies of Relevance

have common characteristic of having premises that are logically irrelevant to the conclusion

Fallacies of Weak Induction

if argument is inductive and gives insufficient evidence; 1) Appeal to Unqualified Authority: authority's argument, is not credible 2) Hasty Generalization: reasonable likelihood sample is not representative 3) Weak Analogy: analogy is not strong enough to support drawn conclusion

Practical Man

is considered with material needs such as food and water only, is imprisoned by compromises, sees world as finite, definite, and obvious

Truth

is discovered by a community of inquirers; an accurate representation of reality in language

Bertrand Russel's Value of Philosophy

is valuable because it encourages questioning, particularly speculative questions

Non-inferential Passages

non-reasoning passages

Counter analogies

offers new, competing inference. Use the same analogy, but support conclusion opposed to the original conclusion

Disanalogies

points out differences that are relevant to the conclusion between what is being compared

Premise

presents evidence/reasons

Charles Pierce

said the correct method for understanding philosophical terms is to consider the term in light of actions, or practical consequence

Statement

sentences that are stating something about the world that is either true or false (bivalency)

Argument

text/speech that makes a claim that particular reasons support a particular conclusion

Conclusion

that which is supported by the premises

Philosophy

values truth and good methods of inquiry

Predicate Phrase

what is claimed about the subject

Subject Phrase

what the sentence is about

Monroe and Elizabeth Beardsley

wrote on how philosophy is intellectually beneficial; discuss questions as being: 1) very general, 2) about fundamental beliefs