PHIL 2100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Melodrama, Profit Motive, Loaded Language
27 Apr 2016
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Lecture 10 – Evaluating Unsupported Claims
Evaluating Premises
• If any premises or conclusions conflict with these – reject it
o Background Information/Common Knowledge
o Personal Experience
• We have a good reason to doubt premises that conflict with common
knowledge
• In situations in which a claim is neither completely dubious, nor fully
credible we should proportion our belief according to the evidence
Expert Opinion
• * Fill in*
Evaluating Premises
• An expert is more likely to be right than ordinary people
• If a claim conflicts with an expert opinion, we have reason to doubt it
o Some Criteria for Expertise
▪ 1.) Education and training in a reputable institution
▪ 2.) Experience in making reliable predictions in the field
▪ 3.) Reputation among peers
▪ 4.) Professional accomplishments
• When Experts Disagree
o When experts disagree on a particular issue it should remain in doubt
until resolved, and will therefore not be a good premise for an
argument
• Appeal to Authority
o This is a fallacious reasoning where one accepts the opinion of
someone with authority even though they may not be an expert on the
subject matter
o 1.) Celebrities
▪ Clothing lines, perfume brands, diet plans.. etc
o 2.) Politicians
▪ Make assertions on scientific matters, ex.) Al Gore’s movie – An
Inconvenient Truth
o 3.) Clerics and the Clergy
▪ The Pope recently declared that climate change is real. This
means that many Catholics who were originally skeptical will
now accept the reality of climate change.
• Claims in the News
o The content of news from the media, for example if information. But
that is not necessarily knowledge. To qualify as knowledge, the claim
must but true and supported by good reasons
▪ The different news media include, print, radio, TV and
electronic
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
If any premises or conclusions conflict with these reject it: background information/common knowledge, personal experience, we have a good reason to doubt premises that conflict with common knowledge. In situations in which a claim is neither completely dubious, nor fully credible we should proportion our belief according to the evidence. Evaluating premises: an expert is more likely to be right than ordinary people. If a claim conflicts with an expert opinion, we have reason to doubt it: some criteria for expertise, 1. ) Education and training in a reputable institution: 2. ) Experience in making reliable predictions in the field: 3. ) Politicians: clothing lines, perfume brands, diet plans etc, make assertions on scientific matters, ex. ) Clerics and the clergy: the pope recently declared that climate change is real. This means that many catholics who were originally skeptical will now accept the reality of climate change: claims in the news, the content of news from the media, for example if information.
