PHIL 120 — Ultra-Concise Midterm Study Guide

Reasoning
- Links thoughts to support another via inference.
Indicators
- Words/phrases signaling inference: therefore, so, hence.
Statements
- Are truth-evaluable, meaning they can be judged as true or false.
Arguments
- Comprise premises that support a conclusion.

Types of Reasoning
- Deductive Reasoning: Guarantees conclusion's truth if premises are valid (valid).
- Inductive Reasoning: Supports conclusion but does not guarantee it.
Truth
- Defined as a property of statements; can be true or false.
Soundness
- A condition where an argument is:
- Valid + true premises.
Cogency
- An inductive argument that is strong and has true premises.
Counterfactual arguments
- Explore hypothetical scenarios where one assumes the opposite to arrive at a contradiction (reductio ad absurdum).

Referentialist View
- Meaning is defined as its referent, or what it refers to in the real world.
Idea Theory
- Proposes meaning as a mental image associated with a term.
Use Theory
- Claims meaning depends on context and practical usage.

Types of Definitions:
- Reportive: Describes how a term is actually used.
- Stipulative: Assigns a new meaning to a term.
- Essential: Provides the core essence of a term.
Methods of Defining
- Genus-Species: Classifies a term within a broader category.
- Ostensive: Indicates a term through examples.
- Synonym: Uses synonymous terms for clarity.
- Operational: Defines by describing procedures for using the term.
- Contextual: Defines based on usage in particular contexts.
Bad Definitions
- Common issues: too broad, too narrow, circular reasoning, obscure language.

Ambiguity
- Can arise from various types including:
- Referential: Referring to different things.
- Grammatical: Misleading sentence structures.
Types of Propositions
- Analytic: True by definition.
- Contradictory: Always false.
- Synthetic: Truth determined by facts.
Conditions
- Necessary Condition: Required for something to be true.
- Sufficient Condition: If met, guarantees truth.

Argument Structure
- Label each part: P1, P2, etc. leading to a conclusion.
Missing Premises
- Use the principle of charity to infer unexpressed premises.
Argument Structures
- Include formats such as:
- Simple
- T-argument (Tree-format).
- V-argument
- Complex.

Common Fallacies
- Ad Hominem: Attacking the person, not the argument.
- Straw Man: Misrepresenting an argument to make it easier to attack.
- False Dichotomy: Presenting two options as the only possibilities.
- Popularity Fallacy: Claiming truth based on popularity.
- Tradition Fallacy: Justifying claims based on tradition.
- Emotion Appeal: Using emotion instead of logic.
- Authority Errors: Citing authority without grounds for their relevance.
- Slippery Slope: Claiming one action will lead to a chain of negative events.
- Irrelevant Analogy: Drawing parallels that don't support the argument.
- Begging the Question: Assuming as true the very point that needs proving.
- Inconsistency: Arguing one thing in one instance and contradicting it in another.
- Equivocation: Using a word with ambiguous meanings.
- Post Hoc: Assuming causation from correlation.
- Cause/Effect Confusion: Misunderstanding the relationship between events.
- Common Cause Fallacy: Assuming one cause for correlated events.
Criteria for Evaluation
- Acceptability: Are the premises acceptable?
- Relevance: Do premises support the conclusion?
- Adequacy: Are the premises sufficient?

Empirical Claims
- Based on observable evidence.
- Statistical Claims: Tend to be easier to confirm.
- Universal claims: Are often easier to falsify.
Non-Empirical Claims
- Relate to fields such as mathematics, ethics, and theology.

Correspondence Theory
- Truth is defined as matching facts.
Coherence Theory
- Consistency within a system of beliefs.
Pragmatic Theory
- Truth is evaluated based on its practical utility or problem-solving ability.

Relevant Premise
- Increases the likelihood of the conclusion being true.
Non Sequitur
- An irrelevant premise that fails to logically follow from the other premises.

Post Hoc Fallacy
- Mistakenly assuming a causative relationship when one event follows another.
Confusing Cause and Effect
- Misidentifying which event is the cause and which is the effect.
Common Cause
- Assuming one factor is the cause of correlated events when they may have a separate common cause.

Validity
- Relates to the form of the argument, not the content.
Truth-Functional Operators
- Negation: $
  eg p$: not p
- Conjunction: $p \u2227 q$: true if both $p$ and $q$ are true
- Disjunction: $p q$: true if at least one of $p$ or $q$ is true
- Conditional: $p
  ightarrow q$: false only if $p$ is true and $q$ is false
- Biconditional: $p
  ightarrow q$: true when both $p$ and $q$ share the same truth value