Critical Thinking Chapters 3-4

Begging the Question/circular reasoning Example

"Capital punishment is wrong--it's just legalized murder.

Absence of Evidene

"Conclud[ing] that their position is correct on the basis of a lack of evidence refuting the position

Guilt by Association Example

"How can you believe that firearms should be outlawed? That is what Hitler did!"

Slippery Slope Example

"Marijuana is a gateway drug. Its use will inevitably lead to use of harder drugs."

Equivocation Example

"Noisy children are a headache. Aspirin makes headaches go away. So, aspirin makes noisy children go away."

Absence of Evidence Example

"Since they've never proven that there are no other conscious being in the universe, there must be something to the claim that there are. "

Probative Arguments

"an inductive argument whose premises are reasons rather than statistics"

Soundness

A property of deductive arguments that are valid argument and have all true premises.

Enthymemes

Arguments with implied premises

Anecdotal Evidence

Because someone else says so, their argument is the conclusion. Jumps to conclusion(fallacy of minimal Support)

Red Herring Example

Can I get a higher grade on my essay? I need an 'A' to keep my scholarship

Hasty Generalization

Generalize from limited experience. Self experience leading to a generalized conclusion.(fallacy of minimal Support)

Validity Example

If Abraham Lincoln was French, then he couldn't be President of the United States. (A') Abraham Lincoln was French. Therefore, Abraham Lincoln wasn't President of the US

Soundness Example

If Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, then he's not from Arizona. (A''') Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky Therefore, Abraham Lincoln was not from Arizona.

Invalidity Example

If Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, then he's not from Arizona. (A'') Abraham Lincoln was not from Arizona. Therefore, Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky.

Necessary Condition Example

If Joe is a brother then he is a sibling. If he weren't someone's brother, then he wouldn't be a sibling

Sufficient Example

If Joes is a brother, then he is a sibling. Being a brother of someone is enough to say that he is someone's sibling.

Denying the Antecedent (or "Modus Bonehead") Formula

If P then Q Not P/ therefore not Q

Modus Tollens Formula

If P then Q Not Q/therefore Not P

Affirming the Consequent (or "Modus Bonehead") Forumla

If P then Q Q is/ therefore P is

Modus Ponen Formula

If P, then Q P is/ Therefore Q is

Denying the Antecedent (or "Modus Bonehead") Example

If my name is Tom then my name is three letters long. My name is not Tom. Therefore, my name is not three letters long.

Modus Tollen Example

If my name is Tom then my name is three letters long. My name is not three letters long. Therefore, My name is not Tom.

Modus Ponens Example

If my name is Tom, then my name is three letter long. My name is Tom. Therefore my name is three letters long.

Affirming the Consequent (or "Modus Bonehead") Example

If my name is Tom, then my name is three letter long. My name is three letters long. Therefore, my name is Tom.

Sufficient Condition Example

If socrates is a human, then he is a mammal. It's enough for him to be a human that he be a mammal.

Inductive Argument Example

Many students on the dean's list get jobs when they graduate. Bill is on the dean's list. Conclusion: It is likely that bill will get a job when he graduate.

Red Herring

Me: "Why did you buy all that junk food? You're always telling me to eat healthy." Mom: "Calm down. It was on sale..."

Premises/Conclusions

Must be statements that are declarative, factual, verifiable.

Problematic Premise Example

On a sign: "Best gumbo in the nation!"

Enthymemes Example

Socrates is mortal. After all, he is human.

Deductive Argument Example

Students on the dean's list get jobs when they graduate. Mary's is on the dean's list Conclusion: Mary will get a job when she graduates.

Two Wrongs Example

The cashier forgot to ring up the case of water on the bottom of the cart. But I won't go back in and pay for it—have you seen their prices?

Guilt by Association Example

The separation of church and state is a communist view. It can be found Article 124 of the Soviet Constitution."

Anecdotal Evidence

Using an anecdote as if it were adequate evidence for a broad generalization.(fallacy of minimal Support)

Irrelevant Standard Example

We shouldn't have gun control legislation--it will never eliminate gun-related crimes.

Sufficient Condition

X is for y is to say that if x is present, then y must also be present.

Necessary Condition

X is necessary for y therefore y is impossible without x.

Straw person examples

You believe in God? You must think that the Earth is 6,000 years old and dinosaur fossils were put there by Satan to test our faith!

Two Wrongs Example

You have no right to get mad at me for coming home late. Last night, Billy came in late, and you didn't even notice.

Appeal to Tradition

a belief or practice has been believed for centuries(fallacy of minimal Support)

Fallacy

a common type of weak argument that has considerable persuasive power

Equivocation

a misleading use of a word in two senses. (fallacy of minimal Support)

Problematic Premise

a premise that is neither credible nor acceptable. (fallacy of unacceptability)

Argument

a set of claims, one of which, the conclusion, is supported by one or more claims, called premises

Probative Argument

an inductive argument whose premises are reasons rather than statistics. They are evaluated using the principles of good reasoning

Straw Person

arguer summarizes or makes an inference form an opponent's view in a way that makes it sound ludicrous. (fallacy of illusory Support)

Slippery Slope

argument that one action will lead to a disastrous outcome (fallacy of minimal Support)

Shifting the Burden of Proof

asking the opponent prove you wrong versus justifying your claim

Ad Hominem

attack on the character is irrelevant to the claim.(fallacy of minimal Support)

Ad Hominem

attempt to discredit the proponent's argument or claim y irrelevantly discrediting the proponent. Personal attacks used as the grounds to dismiss proponent's argument. (fallacy of minimal Support)

Fallacy of Popularity

attempts to justify a belief on the basis that most people believe it or do it(fallacy of minimal Support)

Probative Arugments

can be evaluated using the principles of good reasoning

Equivocation

changing the meaning of a word in an argument. (fallacy of minimal Support)

Fallacies of Minimal Support

concern reasons that are more prejudicial than evidentiary

Fallacies of Illusory Support

concern relevance of the premises to the conclusion

Fallacies of Understanding

concern the quality of the inference drawn from the premises

Inductive Argument

conclusion contains more information

Sub-argument

conclusion to one argument is premise of a larger argument.

Guilt by Association

creating negative associations with the premise and conclusion (fallacy of illusory Support)

Irrelevant Standard

criticize a policy or program for not achieving goals which the program was never expected to achieve (fallacy of illusory Support)

Reasons for Principle of Charity

decent thing to do, keeps the dialogue on track, and allows each to listen to the other person sympathetically, helps us avoid common fallacies

Straw person types

exaggerated generalizations and absurdly black and white contrast.

Circumstantial Ad Hominem

facts about the background or loyalties of the proponent . . . are used to dismiss his or her arguments or claims (fallacy of minimal Support)

Hasty Generalization

generalizing from only a few (or sometimes no) examples(fallacy of minimal Support)

Validity

impossible for the conclusion to be false if the premises are true

Principle of Charity

intended to discourage unfairness in arguments.

Red Herring

introduction of an irrelevant issue which has the effect of distracting us (or shifting the focus from) the issue at hand (fallacy of illusory Support)

Acceptable

it would be believable by a particular person or group of people

Credible

it would be believed by any well-informed and reasonable person

Abusive Ad Hominem

malicious attack on the proponent of an argument used to reject his/her argument or position(fallacy of minimal Support)

Straw person

once a description is put forward, the critic does not even have to argue against the view- the view is already discredited.

Prima Facie Judgment

one is acknowledging the preliminary nature of one's assessment.Making a reasonable initial evaluation of a argument and acknowledging it to be open to revision

Invalidity

possible for the conclusion to be false even if the premises are true.

inductive arguments

premises are true does not guarantee that the conclusion will be.

Deductive Arguments

premises are true so the conclusion is true

Burden of Proof

responisiblity for making the case and the degree of evidence required to do so

Absence of Evidence

there is evidence missing to prove the arugment at hand wrong therefore it must be right.(fallacy of minimal Support)

Irrelevant Standard Example

there's no point in studying philosophy-it will never solve all of life's problem.

Two Wrongs

trying to justify a wrong on the basis that you were wronged or claiming that you should get away with it because others have gotten away with it (fallacy of illusory Support)

Begging the Question/circular reasoning

using a premise that is identical to their conclusion.