PHL100Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Rationality, Irony, Counterexample
Document Summary
Characterizing philosophy #7: a commitment to rational argument. Argument: connected series of statements to define a proposition. It is likely to succeed in whatever it means to achieve. Rationality is the means to an end (the truth) Authority (believing something because the person is impressive) Faith (believing something that you know isn"t true) The conclusion can"t be false if premise is true. It has a weaker reason to believe conclusion. Statements: sentences that are thought to be true. You can"t say a statement is valid/invalid, only true/false. Arguments: can be valid/invalid, good/bad; but never true/false. Specific quality of deductive if premises are true. Validity: premise can be false, but conclusion can be valid. The pre-socratic mode steps toward science with pre-scientific explanations, in forms of stories. Stories are intelligible because they assume that we understand how people behave. We arrive at generalizations by just thinking (rationalist), or experience (empiricists). All are connected with nature of change and reality.
