Arguments

Minds and Machines

Arguments
When people think of an argument, they
usually think of a fight between two people
(theyre having an argument).
In contrast, in philosophy, an argument is a
piece of reasoning for the truth of a certain
claim. Thus, one person can give an
argument for or against something.

Premises and Conclusion

An argument has any number of supporting claims,
and 1 supported claim.
The supporting claims are the premises of the
argument.
The supported claim is the conclusion.
Example: We shouldnt get pepperoni on the pizza,
because pepperoni makes me sick.
1 premise: Pepperoni makes me sick
conclusion: We shouldnt get pepperoni on the pizza

Validity and Soundness

A good argument needs to satisfy 2 criteria:
1. The conclusion should follow from the premises; the
truth of the premises should make the conclusion (likely to
be) true
2. The premises should be acceptable; the premises should
(likely to be) true

An argument is valid if it satisfies the first criterion.

Otherwise, it is invalid.
An argument is sound if it satisfies both criteria.
Otherwise, it is unsound.

Deduction and Induction

A deductive argument is one where the truth
of the conclusion is (claimed to be)
guaranteed by the truth of the premises.
Mathematics is deductive

An inductive argument is one where the

truth of the conclusion is (claimed to be)
more likely given the truth of the premises.
Science (and most of real life) is inductive

Attacking Arguments
You attack arguments by showing that it does
not satisfy one (or both) of the criteria of a
good argument. Thus, either you show that
the premises are unacceptable, or you show
that it is unreasonable to draw the conclusion
as stated, even if the premises would be true.
You do not attack an argument by showing
that its conclusion is false!

Attacking Arguments II
As we saw, you cant attack an argument by giving
an argument for the opposite conclusion.
However, the reverse holds as well: even if you do
successfully attack an argument with a certain
conclusion, you have thereby not given any
argument in favor of the opposite conclusion.
In sum, attacking an argument for a certain
conclusion is completely different from giving an
argument in favor of the opposite conclusion.

Fallacies
Bad arguments are called fallacies.
There are many fallacies of which many
people think that they are good arguments.
Fallacies usually follow certain patterns, so
there are several categories of common
fallacies.
You can see fallacies around you all the time
once you recognize these patterns.

Fallacies of Relevance
Fallacies that violate the first criterion are fallacies
of relevance. In other words, any time the
conclusion cannot reasonably be drawn from the
premises, we are dealing with a fallacy of
relevance.

Ad Hominem
Appeal to Authority
Red Herring
Appeal to Fear, Force, Pity, Vanity, etc.
Appeal to Ignorance

Ad Hominem
The Ad Hominem Fallacy is committed when
someone rejects a belief or argument based on its
source. Examples:
Bill Clintons proposal is bad, because he had sex in the
White House (abusive ad hominem)
Of course he opposes rent control. He owns two
apartment buildings himself! (circumstantial ad
hominem)
John Kerry criticizes George Bushs military record?
Wait, didnt Kerry get those 3 purple hearts by blowing
up some innocent Vietnamese? (inconsistency ad
hominem, pseudorefutation or tu quoque)

Appeal to Authority
Inappropriate Authority:
According to my dad
Einstein said [something about evolution]

Unidentified Authority:
Studies show
Experts agree
Scientifically proven!

Appeal to the Masses:

Everybody knows

Red Herring
Sometimes the premises seem related to the
conclusion, but they really arent: you are
being led down the wrong path. Example:
I can't believe you thought that latest Disney
movie was ok for children to watch. Disney
pays 12-year old girls 31 cents an hour to sow
their products together.

Appeal to Emotions (Fear, Pity,

Vanity, etc)
Fear:
If you dont believe in God, God sure wont be happy
about that!

Pity:
I deserve an A in the class because my mom was
really sick and so I couldnt concentrate

Vanity:
Intelligent people like yourself deserve [fill in any
product here]

Appeal to Ignorance
An appeal to ignorance is made when one
argues that something is the case since no
one has shown that it is not the case:
Smoking is ok, since no one has proven that it
is bad for your health.
Our factory output shouldnt be restricted for
environmental reasons, since no one has shown
that the green house effect really exists.

Fallacies of Assumption
A fallacy of assumption violates the second criterion
of a good argument. Thus, a fallacy of assumption is
an argument that makes a dubious assumption.
False Dilemma
Perfectionist Fallacy
Line-Drawing Fallacy

Straw Man
Slippery Slope
Begging the Question

False Dilemma
An argument assumes a false dilemma when
it assumes that one of two cases must be
true, where in fact there are other options as
well. Examples:
Since youre not a capitalist, you must be a
communist!
Youre either with us, or against us.
Are you a Democrat or a Republican?
Nature or nurture?

Perfectionist Fallacy
The perfectionist fallacy presents us with a
kind of all or nothing false dilemma:
We shouldnt give aid to countries where people
are starving, because we cant eradicate hunger
completely.
Since no one has proven with absolute certainty
that God exists, it is just as rational to believe that
God does not exist as it is to believe that God
does exist.

Line-Drawing Fallacy
Another kind of false dilemma: Either we
can draw a line between two things, or there
is no difference between the two at all:
Abortion is murder from the moment of
conception, since we cant draw the line before
which the fetus is not a person, and after which
the fetus is.

Straw Man
A Straw Man argument attacks something by
attacking a helpless caricature of that
something: it often distorts the original by
exaggeration. Example:
The movement to allow prayer in public school
classrooms is a major threat to our freedom. The
advocates of prayer in school want to require
every school child to participate in a Christian
religious program prior to every school day.

Slippery Slope
A slippery slope fallacy makes a dubious
assumption that one thing will lead to another
If the experts decide today that we should have
fluorides in our tea, coffee, frozen orange juice,
lemonade, and every cell of our bodies, whats
next? Tranquilizers to avoid civil disorders? What
about birth-control chemicals to be routed to the
water in certain ethnic neighborhoods?

Begging the Question

Circular reasoning:
God exists because the bible says so. What, why
we can trust what the Bible says? Easy, the Bible is
the word of God.
Of course my salary is higher than yours, because my
work is more important. Youre asking me why it
is more important? Well, my salary is higher, isnt it?

The True Scotsman Fallacy:

All Germans like sauerkraut. Oh, your brother-inlaw is German and he doesnt like sauerkraut? Well,
he is not a true German then, is he?