PHIL 2070 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Deductive Reasoning, Green Cheese
Document Summary
Class: argument from reasons and beliefs to premises and conclusions. There are two different types of argument: inductive, and deductive. The backbone of philosophy is philosophical argument. Philosophical arguments are arguments that are (a) deductive, and (b) comprised of philosophical reasons and theses. An argument consists of reasons for a conclusion. These are the bread and butter of the social sciences. Inductive arguments attempt to establish a conclusion (thesis) on the basis of observation or evidence. It is possible for the evidence brought in favor for a conclusion of an inductive argument to be strong, and the conclusion to be false, while the inductive argument on the whole maintains its status as credible. Deductive arguments are only credible if, it is not possible for the premises of the argument to be true and the conclusion to be false. Deductive arguments that have this property are called valid deductive arguments. Premise(1): the moon is made of green cheese.
