Chapter 3 - Moral Arguments
moral statement
A statement affirming that an action is right or wrong or that a person (or one's motive or character) is good or bad
nonmoral statement
A statement that does not affirm that an action is right or wrong or that a person (or one's motive or character) is good or bad
cogent argument
A strong argument with true premises
premise
A supporting statement in an argument
sound argument
A valid argument with true premises
hypothetical syllogism
An argument of the form - If p, then q - If q, then r Therefore, if p, then r
modus tollens
An argument of the form - If p, then q - Not q - Therefore, not p
modus ponens
An argument of the form - If p, then q - P - Therefore, q
deductive argument
An argument that is supposed to give logically conclusive support to its conclusion
invalid argument
An argument that is supposed to offer probable support to its conclusion
statement
An assertion that something is or is not the case (also called a claim)
weak argument
An inductive argument that does not give probable support to its conclusion
strong argument
An inductive argument that provides probable support for its conclusion
fallacy
A common but faulty argument
invalid argument
A deductive argument that does not offer logical conclusive support for the conclusion
valid argument
A deductive argument that provides logically conclusive support for its conclusion
argument
A group of statements, one of which is supposed to to be supported by the rest
considered moral judgment
A mora judgment that is as free from bias and distorting passion as possible. We generally trust such a judgment unless there is reason to doubt it - Example = "Equals should be treated equally", "Slavery is wrong"
indicator words
Terms that often appear in arguments to signal the presence of a premise or conclusion, or to indicate that an argument is deductive or inductive
begging the question
The fallacy (misconception) of arguing in a circle - that is, trying to use a statement as both a premise in an argument and the conclusion of the argument; such an argument says, in effect, p is true because p is true
appeal to the person
The fallacy (misconception) of arguing that a claim should be rejected solely because of the characteristics of the person who makes it; also known as ad hominem
appeal to ignorance
The fallacy (misconception) of arguing that the absence of evidence entitles us to believe a claim
equivocation
The fallacy (misconception) of assigning 2 different meanings to the same term in an argument
hasty generalization
The fallacy (misconception) of drawing a conclusion about an entire group of people/things based on an undersized sample of the group
straw man
The fallacy (misconception) of misrepresenting someone's claim or argument so it can be more easily refuted
appeal to authority
The fallacy (misconception) of relying on the opinion of someone thought to be an expert who is not
appeal to emotion
The fallacy (misconception) of trying to convince someone to accept a conclusion by appealing only to fear, guilt, anger, hate, compassion, and the like
slippery slope
The fallacy (misconception) of using dubious (doubtful) premises to argue that doing a particular action will inevitably lead to other actions that will result in disaster, so you should not do the 1st action
conclusion
The statement supported in an argument
faulty analogy
The use of a flawed analogy to argue for a conclusion