Classes 7, 8, 9,10,11

Possin's view on relativism

what the fallacy of red herring is
A Red Herring is a fallacy in which an irrelevant topic is presented in order
to divert attention from the original issue. The basic idea is to "win" an
argument by leading attention away from the argument and to another
topic.
what the fallacy of composition means Inferring that something is true of the
whole from the fact that it is true of some part of the whole.example A is
part of B and A has property X Therefore, B has property X.
what it means that information is relevant
Relevant information is data that can be applied to solve a problem. This
is a particular issue when determining the format and content of an
entity's financial statements, since the proper layout and level of detail of
information can adjust the opinions of users regarding the future direction
of a business.

what explanandum means

what explanans means
An explanandum (a Latin term) is a sentence describing a phenomenon
that is to be explained, and the explanans is the sentences adduced as
explanations of that phenomenon. For example, one person may pose an
explanandum by asking "Why is there smoke?", and another may provide
an explanans by responding "Because there is a fire". In this example,
"smoke" is the explanandum, and "fire" is the explanans
what the consequences are if premises are no more believable than the conclusion
about acceptability
what slippery slope is Sometimes people ask, and what if we had just a bit more (or less) of
something, and then more etc. This amounts to a slippery slope argument in which people assume that
a small move in a given direction would lead to opening the floodgates.
For instance, one may assume that if we allow the day after anti-pregnancy pills, we would have to
allow for chemical treatment that terminates abortion days and weeks after conception, and that
would lead to legalization of all abortions, including the partial birth abortion, which would also lead to
the permission to kill already born babies, and that would lead to killing sick and unwanted people and
indeed everybody else. On the other hand, others think that if we impose any slight restrictions on
abortion, such as constraints on abortions of viable restrictions, or parental notification laws for young
teenagers, we would open the floodgates for further restrictions on abortions on raped women, all the
way to complete delegalization of all forms of abortion even those in major medical emergencies. Both
kinds of argument may, or may not, have some political merit in a given political context but they are
the classical instances of the slippery slope fallacy committed by both sides of the abortion debate.
Many other political debates, including those on immigration, and animal rights, involve some kind of
slippery slope fallacy.

about acceptance
'for the sake of argument'
Possin's condition of a good argument
what cogent arguments are As you may remember from your textbook, satisfactory reasoning is
called cogent. It satisfies three conditions:
a. It must be valid (follow correct procedures of deductive, or inductive, reasoning).

b. It must start from justified premises

c. It must incorporate relevant information.

We remember from previous classes, in general terms, what counts as deductive and inductive
reasoning. In this class we will point out in more detail what the main kinds of systematic errors in
reasoning are. We also remember from previous classes that it is sometimes hard to select relevant
premises, and to include all relevant evidence (or even to see what counts as such). The systematic
ways in which people fail to satisfy the last two conditions of cogent reasoning will be discussed in the
next class

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whether fallacies are sound and cogent arguments
whether appeal to authority is acceptable
what Tertium non datur is
when information is relevant or irrelevant
what ostensive definition means
what cluster definition means
what stipulative definition means
functions of language
theories of meaning
what extension and intention mean