Philosophy 2730F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Noam Chomsky, Totalitarianism, Step Outline

• School: Western University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: Philosophy 2730F/G
• Professor: Ryan Robb

Document Summary

A method for justifying beliefs (and writing clear and compelling essays) An attempt to explain/justify the use of the coercive powers of the state. But what we care about for the purposes of a course like this one is the methodology by which a philosopher gathers wisdom. The key to gathering wisdom, for a philosopher (and hopefully anyone else) is to ensure that their beliefs are well founded that is, they have good reasons that support their beliefs. The manner by which philosophers ensure their beliefs are well-founded involves the formulation of arguments. Premise (p) 1: it was raining when i came in to class. P2: the weather network says the rain is expected to continue (cid:63)conclusion (c): it will probably still be raining when i leave class. Practically, philosophical arguments are intended to, at the very least, convince those to whom the argument is presented to accept the conclusion of the argument (the belief) as compelling" or plausible".