PHL201H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Fallacy, Begging, Counterexample
Document Summary
One very important aspect of philosophy is the use of arguments to arrive at new hypotheses. An argument is a sequence of declarative sentences. A declarative sentence is a sentence that says that something is the case. Not all philosophical arguments are given in premise-conclusion form. Sometimes an argument can extracted from a chunk of prose. The conclusion is often signaled with words like therefore , thus , hence , then etc. Premises are often signaled by words like since , because , given that , for etc. Premises often take the form of rhetorical questions plus an answer. Many arguments contain premises of the if then form. All men are mortal therefore if x is a man, then x is mortal . An argument is valid if and only if its premises can"t be true without the conclusion being true too. An argument is sound if and only if it is valid and its premises are true.
