Week 1 Argument Mapping

Argument

A chain of reasoning designed to prove something, consists of one or more premises and a conclusion.

Sound

If the argument is valid and its premises are true, then the argument is considered to be ________

Valid

If the conclusion does "follow from" the premises, then the argument is considered to be ________

Redundancy

Rule of _____: An argument should contain no more co-premises than are needed to support the contention

Independence

Rule of _____: If a premise is supported by an argument, that part of the map should be evaluated independently of the rest of the map

Collection

Rule of _____: If multiple premises support the contention only when working together, they should be co-premises in a single argument

Separation

Rule of _____: If one group of premises supports the contention, and another group of premises also supports the contention, there should be a different argument for each group

Inheritance

Rule of _____: If some premises are used to support a contention, the central concepts in the contention should appear somewhere in the premises

Simplicity

Rule of _____: The statement in each box must be as simple as possible (this is important so people can clearly map out an objection)

Charity

Rule of _____: When representing someone else's argument, make it as good as possible

Support

Rule of ______: All relations of support should be represented by green lines; they should never be expressed with words like "because" and "therefore" in the boxes

Description

Rule of ______: Every box must contain a statement, not a command like "Don't eat meat!"

Valid

The Cultural Differences argument supporting Moral Skepticism is not _______. This argument talks about the beliefs in different cultures surrounding infanticide, and provides a conclusion that states that infanticide is neither right or wrong.

Sound

The Provability Argument is not _____. Its second premises states that we cannot prove which moral opinions are true and which are false. However, we can prove that some things are morally wrong with evidence.

Moral Skepticism

The idea that there is no such thing as objective moral truth, radical idea that, in regards to ethics, "truth" doesn't exist.

Top-down

When the contention is stated first, then the premises

Bottom-up

When the premises are stated first, then the contention