Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
of Logos
It is sunny today.
__________________________________________
Therefore, you should wear sunscreen.
Come on.
What could
possibly go
wrong?
1. Deductive reasoning:
All interns can breathe fire. So Philip can
breathe fire.
Is there a piece of the puzzle missing?
1. Deductive reasoning:
All interns can breathe fire. Philip is an
intern.
So Philip can breathe fire.
Sometimes you may encounter hidden statements
and ideas, which the writer sneaks in but doesn't
say outright.
1. Deductive reasoning:
All interns can breathe fire. Philip is an
intern.
So Philip can breathe fire.
Are the premises true?
If so, then the conclusion's
100% guaranteed true.
No getting around it!
2. Inductive reasoning:
I touched a stove and it burned me. I did
this
fifty times, and the same thing happened.
So the
Are
the
premises
next
time
I touch true?
the stove, it will burn me.
If so, then the conclusion's
probably true. There might LIKE WHAT?
still be exceptions.
Pair off into groups of four. Each group will receive an example
of a poor argument (these may be either inductive or deductive
With your group, you will have 5 minutes to try to come up with
one counterexample - one way in which the argument
could be wrong, even if the premises are definitely true.
Poke it full of holes!
Also, choose a group representative to tell us your reasoning.
Some examples:
ARGUMENT: I pulled an all-nighter studying for last week's big
test, and I ended up with an A. Tiredness must make me smart!
COUNTER: What if you got an A because you actually studied?
Or maybe the test was going to be easy for you all along?