PHL145H5 Lecture Notes - Hasty Generalization, Syllogism, Reference Class Problem
Document Summary
Deductive argument is one that aspires to validity. But an argument can be good without aspiring to validity: the sun has risen everyday, the sun will rise everyday in history of the world. Premise is offered as reason for conclusion: logically possible for premise to be true when conclusion is false, since it"s possible that the sun doesn"t rise e. g. tomorrow. Arguments can offer two kinds of reasons for conclusions: conclusive given premises are true, conclusions must be true, defeasible given premises are true, reasonable to believe conclusion in absence of further considerations against it. We have criterion for assessing whether (deductive) argument gives conclusive reasons for its conclusion. Need assessing whether (inductive) argument gives defeasible reason for its conclusion. Strength unlike validity is defeasible: inductively strong argument can become weak when you add premises, while valid argument cannot be invalid when add premises: all ravens are black.
