BIOM 3210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Academic Journal, Social Text, Ad Hominem
19 Sep 2017
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Criteria of a good argument: structure (opposite is having an announcement which has no relevance or solid evidence) Argument should be structurally well formed (ie: premises are presented in support of a conclusion, conclusion should not also appear as a premise: relevance. Reasons should be directly related to the merit of the position at issue (as opposed to something that might be true but which addresses a different issue: acceptability. Reasons should be actable to a rationally mature person: sufficiency. Reasons should be sufficient in number, kind weight to support the acceptance of the conclusion: rebuttal. Should effectively address all serious challenges to the argument. Instead, they form beliefs and than look for evidence that will support those beliefs. Merely a recognition that people tent to think subjectively rather than objectively. Preparing the mind for logic: rational decision are based on evidence (but not everyone believes in evidence and that can be an issue.
