PHL 214 Study Guide - Final Guide: Ad Hominem, Fallacy, Logical Form

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHL 214
• Professor: Thomas Hart

Document Summary

Statement a is positively relevant to statement b if and only if a provides evidence for b to be true. Statement a is negatively relevant to statement b if and only if a counts against the truth of b. A provides evidence for why b is not true. There is no logical relationship between statements a and b. If the premises, considered together, are negatively relevant or irrelevant, the argument is not cogent. If r is not satisfied, then g isn"t either. An argument may seem to be irrelevant due to its unstated premises however even after the reconstruction of an argument, if the premises were initially irrelevant, the added premises will be unacceptable. Irrelevant premises are also called non sequitur "it does not follow" red herrings are used to move the attention from a topic somewhere else (ie commenting about the attire of a political leader instead of their qualifications) Critic attacks the person instead of the argument.