PHIL 121 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Indinavir, Health Food Store
6 Jul 2017
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Testimony: a person"s assertion that a proposition is true. we rely on it countless times a day. Nearly every belief you have depends at least in part on testimony newspapers magazines friends internet textbooks maps. Why should we believe testimonial arguments? it"s practical it"s more practical to believe testimonial evidence than hard evidence. it"s reasonable inductive arguments are still reasonable it"s reliable we can always double-check, and information tended to be reliable. Standard patterns of testimonial arguments: pattern one. Usually when a person says that something is true, it is true. Usually, if a personn says that something is true and is sincere in saying it, it is true. Is this argument stronger than pattern one? yes. sincerity adds weight to testimony. S was sincere in saying that p is true. S is knowledgable about the subject matter of p.
