Inductive Vs Deductive Arguments

What is the three way test for determining the believability of unsupported claims?

1) Is the claim sensible and understandable? 2) Does it come from a reliable source? 3) Is the claim consistent with your background knowledge?

What are the factors that determine the reliability of the source?

1) area of expertise or position of observer 2) education, training, or experience 3) record of reliability 4) possible ulterior motive 5) possible bias 6) reputation among peers 7) possibility of 'getting away with' a lie or error

What is a statistical induction?

A certain percentage of a sample of individuals from a population is observed to have a particular property and from this it is inferred that the same percentage of individuals in the entire population have that property. Example:In a recent survey of one thousand adult Americans, 57% approved the Presidents performance in office. ______________________________________ 57% of adult Americans approve of the presidents performance in office.

Sorites

A collection of arguments.

What is a mechanistic explanation?

A phenomenon is explained either in terms of mechanisms, phenomena, or causes that produce it or in terms of the law-like behavior of the object involved.

What is a narrow scope to broad scope induction?

A type of inductive generalization where the observed cases are mentioned without listing all the particular instances observed. Example: All the swans I have ever observed have been beautiful white birds. ____________________________________________ All swans are beautiful white birds.

What is an induction by enumeration?

A type of inductive generalization where the premises of the argument state that the relation between two things holds in a number of specific cases, so it probably holds in all cases. Example: The crow I saw yesterday was a big black bird. The crow I saw this morning was a big black bird. The crow I saw an hour ago was a big black bird. __________________________________________ All crows are big black birds

Truth value and premises

Adding premises to a deductive argument doesn't change the truth value of the conclusion. But adding premises to an inductive argument can strengthen or weaken the probability of the truth of the conclusion.

An example of a deductive argument

All men are mortal. (premise) Socrates was a man. (premise) _________________________________ Socrates was mortal. (conclusion)

(D) Categorical

All premises as well as the conclusion assert a relationship between classes or asserts that an individual is or is not a member of a class. Example: All spiders are Arachnids All Arachnids are invertebrates ______________________________ All spiders are invertebrates Could also be worded that: Everything in the class of spider is in the class of Arachnids

(I) Argument from Authority

An arguer claims that an authority says a statement is true. Example: (Authority) says that (argument) is true _____________________________________ (argument) is true. Example 2: Plato considered knowledge to be a kind of justified true belief. ______________________________________ Knowledge probably is a sort of justified true belief

(I) Inductive Generalization

An arguer infers the truth of a generalization from the observation that the generalization is consistent with what has been seen to hold true in a limited number of cases. There are three types: Induction by Enumeration Narrow scope to broad scope induction. Statistical induction

Reasonable

An argument that is either Valid or Strong.

Refutation

An argument that the argument is not cogent.

Description

An author describes the features of something or details the nature of something to inform an audience about a subject without: a) attempting to convince or b) explain how or why something is, was, or will be the case.

Illustration

An author presents one or more instances of a generalization or applies the generalization to one or more specific cases, in order to help the audience understand the generalization or appreciate its significance.

Weak

An inductive argument where the premises do not provide inductive support for the conclusion, and does not increase the probability of the truth of the conclusion.

Strong

An inductive argument where the premises do provide inductive support for the conclusion, and the more likely the truth of the conclusion becomes.

Name the five types of inductive arguments

Argument from (by) analogy Argument from Authority Inductive Generalization Statistical Syllogism Argument from the Evidence

Explanation

Complexes of statements that do not comprise of arguments. The purpose a speaker or writer has in giving an argument is to convince the audience that something is the case. The purpose of an explanation is to tell the audience why or how something is, comes, will come, or came to be the case.

Valid/Invalid

Deductive Arguments are ____ or _______. Because of the nature of deductive arguments, there is no degree of this.

Name the types of non-arguments:

Description Narrative Illustration Explanation

Valid

In a deductive argument, if all the premises are true, then the conclusion MUST be true. Thus the argument is ______. This is dealing with the relationship between the premises and the conclusion and not the actual truth-value of the statements. The argument is ____________ when the truth of the premises 100% entails the truth of the conclusion.

Invalid

In a deductive argument, if it is possible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false, then the argument must be _____.

Strong <--> Weak

Inductive Arguments can be ______ or ______. Because of the nature of inductive arguments, there is a scale (degree) of this.

Degree of Strength

Inductive arguments exist on a scale. The degree of strength can vary. There is no degree of validity (deductive arguments) because a deductive argument is either valid or invalid.

Cogent

Reasonable+Sound=_____ or Deductive: Valid+Sound=_______ Inductive: Strong+Sound=_______

The two kinds of Deductive Arguments

Sententional (Propositional) Categorical

What are the forms of Doublespeak?

Slanting Biasing Puffery Gobbledygook Pacifier

An example of an inductive argument

Socrates was Greek. (premise) Most Greeks eat fish. (premise) __________________________________ Socrates ate fish. (conclusion)

The argument is deductively sound means:

That the deductive argument is valid, and that all of its premises are true.

What is an action explanation?

The actions of an agent are accounted for or made sense of in terms of those beliefs, intentions, and/or desires that motivated the agent's behavior.

Narrative

The author tells a story or gives an account of the events that have happened, or that will, would, or might happen.

What is a functional explanation?

The features of a thing are explained in terms of the function, role, or purpose those features serve.

Deductively Unsound

When a deductive argument is invalid or has at least one false premise is.

Deductively Sound

When a deductive argument is valid and all the premises are true then the argument is _______________.

Inductively Sound

When an inductive argument is inductively strong and the premises are all true.

Inductively Unsound

When an inductive argument is weak or has at least one false premise.

(I) Argument from the Evidence

Where evidence from varied sources is given to show why the conclusion is probably true. Also called an inference to the best explanation. Example: -Smith was acquainted with the murdered man. -Smith and the murdered man were both seen at the bar the night of the murder. -Traces of blood of the same type as that of the murdered man were found on the coat that Smith wore the night of the murder. -A person fitting Smith's description was seen driving away from the scene of the crime shortly after the murder. ____________________________________ Smith murdered the man.

(I) Argument from Analogy

You draw an analogy between two things, then show something one of those things has, and argue that the other must have it too. Example: -Both the fruit of the tomato plant and the fruit of the nightshade plant are brightly colored berries that are produced on plants that are members of the same plant family. -The fruit of the nightshade plant is poisonous. _____________________________________________ The fruit of the tomato plant is poisonous.

(D) Sententional (Propositional)

You're not arguing either par of the compound statement in the premises. if/then either/or not/and if and only if Example: Either tea is on sale or coffee is on sale Tea is not on sale ______________________________ Coffee is on sale

Refutation by counter example

a specific statement, or a series of statements, the truth of which makes the generalization false.

Objective Statements

a statement whos truth is not based on your feelings, sentiments, or tastes but on reality.

Subjective Statements

a statement whos truth value is determined soley by your feelings, sentiments or tastes.

Matters of Fact

any claim considered to be well supported by the evidence or to be commonly acknowledged or assumed as true.

Matters of Opinion

any judgement that is considered to be not clearly supported by all the available evidence and for that reason to be the subject of differing opinions as regards its truth or falsity.

Premises

constitutes the basis for accepting the truth of the conclusion. The truth of these is taken for granted.

Deductive Argument

if all the premises are true then the conclusion must be true.

Inductive Argument

if all the premises are true then there is a high probability that the conclusion is true, but do not guarantee the truth of the conclusion.

Semantic ambiguity

if it is ambiguous because a word used has multiple meanings.

Syntactic ambiguity

if it is ambiguous because of sentence structure

Ambiguity

if it is imprecise in that it can be interpreted in more than one way

Vagueness

if it is imprecise in that its exact range of application is not made clear from the context.

(I) Statistical Syllogism

it is noted that a relation between two classes, a reference class and a target class, holds in a large percentage of cases. A particular individual is then cited as belonging to the reference class, and the conclusion drawn is that the individual is also a member of the target class (a), or is not a member of the target class.(b) Example (a): -90% of the people who voted Republican in the last election are people who will vote Republican in the next election. -Bob voted Republican in the last election. ________________________________________ Bob will vote republican in the current election Example (b): -Only 10% of Democrats who voted Republican in the last election are people who will vote Republican in the current election. Bill is a democrat who voted in Republican in the last election. ___________________________ Bill will not vote Republican in the current election.

Connotative meaning

suggested or implied meaning.

Cognitive Content

the descriptive or objective content of a word or expression.

Emotive Force

the evaluative or subjective content of a word or expression

Denotative meaning

the literal (or dictionary) definition.

Conclusion

the statement the arguer wants you to believe

Refutation by logical analogy

used to demonstrate that an arguments logic is at least suspect. "That's just like arguing that..."

Conversational implication

when you imply something but never say it literally.