Fall, 2010
Philosophy 12 Study Guide #4 – Ch. 2, Sections IV.iii – VI
Terms and Concepts
Precising definition
Theoretical definition
Persuasive definition
Syntactic definition
Operational definition
Questions
1. Are questions about defining a phrase or term always simple and uncontroversial?
2. How does a theoretical definition differ from other sorts of precising definitions?
3. Is there anything inherently wrong with persuasive definition?
4. What are some of the liabilities of operational definitions?
5. What is the difference between using and mentioning a word?
Fall, 2010
Philosophy 12 Study Guide #5 – Ch. 3, Sections I – II
Terms and Concepts
Deductive (argument)
Valid argument
Inductive (argument)
Fallacy (fallacious argument)
Sound argument
Truth-preserving
Indirect proof
Questions
6. What are two general questions to ask of any argument?
7. What broad, three-part classification of arguments can be made?
8. How do deductive arguments preserve the truth of their premises?
9. Why bother about deductive arguments if they provide no new information about the
world?
10. What are some words that may indicate that we are dealing with a deductive
argument?
11. What question should be asked in order to distinguish deductive from inductive
arguments?
12. Is it always perfectly clear whether an incomplete argument is deductive or inductive?
Fall, 2010
Philosophy 12 Study Guide #6 – Ch. 3, Sections III – V
Terms and Concepts
Inductive argument
Inductive fallacy
Fallacy of appeal to force (ad baculum fallacy)
Fallacy of appeal to pity (ad misericordium fallacy)
Stereotypes
Questions
13. What are the upsides and downsides of deductive versus inductive arguments?
14. What are some important varieties of inductive argumentation?
15. What are some words used in stating an argument’s conclusion that tend to indicate
the argument is inductive rather than deductive?
16. In terms of the strength of support that they give to their conclusions, what is the
crucial difference between inductive and deductive arguments?
17. Can inductive and deductive arguments ever be combined?
18. Again, what is a fallacy?
19. What is the main reason for studying fallacies?
Fall, 2010
Philosophy 12 Study Guide #7 – Ch. 4, Sections I – II
Terms and Concepts
Form of an argument
Syllogism
Statistical syllogism
Rule of total evidence
Reference class
Attribute class
Relevant evidence
Fallacy of incomplete evidence
Argument from authority
Argument against the person (Argumentum ad hominem) Tu quoque argument Argument from consensus (ad populum argument)
Quasi-syllogism
Categorical syllogism
Questions
20. In terms of an argument’s conclusion, what is the least we can expect from the
premises of an inductive argument?
21. Does an inductive argument depend only on its form for its correctness?
22. In what two ways do we measure the strength of a statistical syllogism?
23. Why is it important to bring out the unstated statistical premises in a syllogism?
24. Why is complete, relevant evidence important?
25. Under what circumstances is it reasonable to accept the word of an authority?
26. What is the form of a correct argument from authority?
27. What is the form of an argumentum ad hominem?
28. Why should we be cautious about ad hominem arguments?
29. Why should we be cautious about arguments from consensus?
30. Are inductive arguments ever valid?
31. Does a “no” answer to question 11 mean that inductive arguments are never correct
forms of argument?
Fall, 2010
Philosophy 12 Study Guide #8 – Ch. 4, Section III
Terms and Concepts
Analogy
Argument from analogy
Fallacy of false analogy
Fallacy of the slippery slope
Questions
32. Are all analogies arguments?
33. What is the form of arguments from analogy?
34. What standards does Salmon recommend we use in judging the strength of arguments
from analogy?
35. What are some areas of human activity where arguments from analogy are
prominently used?
36. What is the form of a slippery slope argument?
Fall, 2010
Philosophy 12 Study Guide #9 – Ch. 4, Section IV - VII
Terms and Concepts
Inductive generalization (a.k.a., simple induction, induction by enumeration, statistical
generalization)
Samples – random and stratified random
Fallacy of insufficient statistics (a.k.a., hasty generalization, leaping to a conclusion)
Fallacy of biased statistics
Fallacy of misleading vividness
Fallacy of circular reasoning
Questions
37. What is the general character of inductive generalizations?
38. How do inductive generalizations differ from statistical syllogisms?
39. What is the preliminary form of an argument from inductive generalization?
40. What three tests must be met for a sample to be representative?
41. What is Salmon’s second, improved version of the form of an inductive
generalization?
42. Are inductive arguments ever combined?
43. Can more than one argument be extracted from a set of data?
Fall, 2010
Philosophy 12 Study Guide #10 – Ch. 5, Section I - II
Terms and Concepts
Method of agreement
Method of difference
Joint method of agreement and difference
Method of concomitant variation
Method of residues
Questions
44. In regard to the subject of this class, who was Aristotle? Who was John Stuart Mill?
45. Can the method of agreement be applied mechanically? Why, or why not?
46. What is a limitation (or two) of the method of agreement?
47. What is a limitation (or two) of the method of difference?
5. What is a limitation on the joint method of agreement and difference?
6. How can the method of concomitant variation be used to identify the causes of
diseases?
7. What is one limit of the method of residues?
Fall, 2010
Philosophy 12 Study Guide #11 – Ch. 5, Section III - IV
Terms and Concepts
Controlled experiment
Randomized experimental study
Prospective study
Retrospective study
Double blind experiment
Proximate cause
Necessary condition
Sufficient condition
Individually necessary and jointly sufficient
Probabilistic cause
Questions
8. What are some of the moral and practical limits on prospective and retrospective
studies?
9. Are questions of causality strictly objective matters, or are human interests implicated
with our conception of what the cause of a particular effect is?
10. What are some of the different senses of the word “cause”?
Fall, 2010
Philosophy 12 Study Guide #12 – Ch. 5, Section V - VII
Terms and Concepts
Deterministic cause
Determinism
Post hoc fallacy
Ignoring a common cause
Confusing cause and effect
Genetic fallacy
Confusing the good and bad consequences of holding a belief with reasons for thinking
that the belief is true
Questions
11. How did David Hume analyze the concept of causality?
12. What are some areas of human concern to which Hume’s idea of causality is
relevant?
13. How can we avoid confusing causes with effects?
14. If someone confuses motives for thinking something with reasons for thinking
something, does that mean that the belief in question is false?
Fall, 2010
Philosophy 12 Study Guide #13 – Ch. 6, Section I - II
Terms and Concepts
Conditional
Mutually exclusive sentences (or events)
Disjunction
Conjunction
Independent event(s)
Questions
15. What three senses of the word “probability” are introduced in this chapter?
16. When a probability can be expressed quantitatively, what three ways of stating it are
available?
17. What are the four rules that form the basis of probability theory?
•
Rule 1 –
•
Rule 2 –
•
Rule 3 –
•
Rule 4 –
18. If the probability of an event is n, what is the probability of its negation?
19. Is calculating probability a simple matter of applying mathematical formulas to
known data? Why or why not?
Fall, 2010
Philosophy 12 Study Guide #14 – Ch. 6, Section III - IV
Terms and Concepts
Decision theory
Decision under risk
Decision under certainty
Decision under uncertainty
Expected utility
Dominating action
Decision matrix
Satisfactory action
Types of decision-making personalities
•
•
•
the gambler
the cautious player
the calculator
The gambler’s fallacy
Questions
20. Why is probability important?
21. What other factors besides probability guide decision-making?
22. What kind of rule is needed to make “rational” decisions under risk?
23. How is expected utility calculated?
24. What is the rule for making decisions under certainty?
25. What are some complicating factors of decisions under certainty?
26. On what bases do each of the three personality types mentioned in chapter 6 make
decisions?
Fall, 2010
Philosophy 12 Study Guide #15 – Ch. 7, Section I - III
Terms and Concepts
Hypothesis
Confirm/disconfirm
The hypothetico-deductive method (first, second, and third versions)
Auxiliary hypothesis
•
•
Proper testing conditions
Theoretical background knowledge
Alternative hypothesis
Prior probability
Questions
27. What is the idea behind forming and testing hypotheses?
28. What is the object of hypothetico-deductive arguments?
29. What is deductive about hypothetico-deductive arguments?
30. Are auxiliary hypotheses ever in question?
31. What are the first and second forms of the hypothetico-deductive argument, as stated
by Salmon?
32. What is the structure of arguments to confirm hypotheses (third form of the
hypothetico-deductive argument)?
33. Besides those factors already discussed, what else affects the strength of the evidence
for a hypothesis?
Fall, 2010
Philosophy 12 Study Guide #16 – Ch. 7, Section IV, V, and VII
Terms and Concepts
Incremental confirmation
Absolute confirmation
Conditional sentence
•
•
Antecedent
Consequent
Denying the consequent
Crucial tests
Ad hoc reasoning
Questions
1. Does a conclusion’s being absolutely confirmed mean that it will never be
overturned?
2. What are some complications of using successful predictions in theory confirmation?
3. What is an important alternative view to the idea that hypothesis testing aims to
confirm hypotheses?
4. What is the appeal of disconfirmation?
5. What are its limits?
6. Are disconfirmed hypotheses often totally rejected in the absence of a plausible
alternative? Why or why not?
Fall, 2010
Philosophy 12 Study Guide #17 – Ch. 8, Sections I - III
Terms and Concepts
Sentential logic
Valid argument (yes, I know we’ve done this one before)
Sound argument (same here)
Conditional argument
Conditional sentence
Antecedent
Consequent
Truth-functional connective
Material conditional
Questions
7. What is the key difference between inductive and deductive arguments?
8. Are inductive arguments ever valid? Why, or why not?
9. Can an argument be valid and false? Why, or why not?
10. Is there any practical value to a concern with validity as contrasted with soundness?
11. Are all conditionals stated in “if-then” form? If not, what are some of the other ways
they are stated?
12. Do all conditionals express the same kind of relationship between their antecedent
and their consequent? If not, give some examples of the variety of relationships that
can exist between antecedents and consequents.
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