SSH 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Modus Ponens, Modus Tollens
19 Jun 2018
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SSH105
Lecture 9
Go through slides and fill in what is missing from recorded lectures
Add 8 to your score to see what you get- 75%
Quiz #3
- Review chapters 1-6
- Lectures 1-9
Where we have been
- Formal characteristics of arguments
- Take arguments you have found in the wild, and turning them into something you can
carefully evaluate
Where we are today
- Means not an end
Common mistakes in argument reconstruction
- Conclusion: Jim will do well
- Inductive- says likely and most people
- Premise- Jim studies regularly, most people who study hard will do well in school
- Ill-formed- shift from study hard to study regularly, do not get link to conclusion, does
not make conclusion likely or probably given premise
- Following principle of charity we are able to change people’s words provided we are
reasonable and will be fair
- Change second premise to Jim studies hard, or change it to those who study regularly will
do well in school
A general reminder
- To be strong has to be well-formed
- Principle of charity says a) make it as strong as you can b) stay true to author’s intentions
- Cannot always tell what author means so we have to be very careful with wording
- If there is a charitable way to line up wording to make it well-formed do it
Common mistakes 2
- Make sure you do not leave anything out when reconstructing an argument to standard
form
- Read reconstruction back into argument to see if it makes sense and to see if you have al
premises
- Get all explicit premises in there
- Find all missing or implicit premises person intended
- Try to work with/keep in mind argument patterns we learned in week 5 because you can
possible reconstruct an argument into one of the argument patterns
- Include name of patterns and where you got conclusion from- make sure you go back and
say conclusion came from these premises and it is modus ponens, but is it? Go back and
check your work
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Go through slides and fill in what is missing from recorded lectures. Add 8 to your score to see what you get- 75% Take arguments you have found in the wild, and turning them into something you can carefully evaluate. Premise- jim studies regularly, most people who study hard will do well in school. Ill-formed- shift from study hard to study regularly, do not get link to conclusion, does not make conclusion likely or probably given premise. Following principle of charity we are able to change people"s words provided we are reasonable and will be fair. Change second premise to jim studies hard, or change it to those who study regularly will do well in school. To be strong has to be well-formed. Cannot always tell what author means so we have to be very careful with wording. If there is a charitable way to line up wording to make it well-formed do it.
