SSH 105 Lecture 10: Deductive/Inductive Strength and Weakness

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Social Sciences and Humanities
• Course: SSH 105
• Professor: Klaas Kraay

Document Summary

An argument is deductively strong (for a person at a time) if and only if it is . R/j/r for the person to believe that all of the argument"s premises are true based on total available evidence. An argument is deductively weak (for a person at a time) if it"s (i) (ii) Not r/j/r for the person to believe one or more of the argument"s premises based on total available evidence (iii) both (i) and (ii) This can be shown simply by this example: if you"re a musician, you must be talented, if you"re talented, you"re never modest, if you"re a musician, you"re never modest (from 1,2) The argument above is clearly valid but is a fairly weak argument. An argument can be deductively strong for one person but not for another. An argument can be deductively strong for a given person at one time but not another time.