Lesson 1
Lesson 1
Lesson 1
LESSON ONE
The course is an introduction to argument and reasoning. The word “argument” has
several meaning in ordinary speech. It can mean:
In this course, we will deal exclusively with arguments in sense (3). More specifically,
our concern is with the use of arguments in determining what to do and what to
believe. When used properly, arguments can help us decide whether a belief is true
or false. They can also help us determine the best course of action or the right thing
to do in a given circumstance.
The topics covered in this course include deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning,
moral reasoning, practical reasoning, and various common fallacies.
At the end of the course, you are expected to be able to do the following things:
1. A whale is a fish
2. Coffee drinking lowers the risk of cancer
3. The increase in CO2 is the main cause of global warming
4. Some machines can think
5. There is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe
6. Every number greater than two is the sum of two prime numbers
7. All moral judgments are relative
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SMU Classification: Restricted
Each of these sentences is either true or false. Below are some sentences that are
not propositions:
Every proposition makes a claim about the world. A proposition is true if what it
claims corresponds to the way things are, and it is false otherwise. For example, the
proposition “There is a law school in SMU” is true as SMU does have a law school,
while the proposition “There are at most 30 stations on the Downtown Line” is false
as the Downtown Line has more than 30 stations (34 in fact). Thus, whether a
proposition is true or false is an objective matter in that it does not depend on what
we believe; it is also absolute in that it is the same for everyone.
What other propositions (reasons) can we give to support this proposition? Below is
one possible answer:
If we offer these two propositions as reasons for the initial proposition, we have an
argument:
All things that can think must have consciousness. No machines have
consciousness. Therefore, no machines can think
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(1) The proposition that is being established (No machines can think) = the
conclusion P
(2) The supporting reasons for the conclusion (Thinking is a conscious process;
No machines have consciousness) = premises R and S
For exercise, try giving a simple two-premise argument for or against each of the
following propositions:
Besides arguing about what to believe, we also argue about what to do:
These sentences are not true or false because they do not make any claims about
how things are. Rather, they tell us what we should or should not do. Call sentences
like these ‘prescriptive sentences’. We can divide prescriptive sentences into two
kinds – those that express advice and those that express obligations. While some
obligations, such as moral obligations, may be absolute, an advice is always
conditional. For example, “You should not put all your money in a savings account”
should be understood as ‘You should not put all your money in a savings account if
…’ (e.g. if you want to preserve the value of your money’)
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Although prescriptions are not true or false, they can be questioned or challenged
(e.g. why should we abolish capital punishment? why should we be kind to animals?)
Such questions can only be answered by giving reasons (e.g. because human
beings have a right to life and capital punishment violates that right). When we
respond in this way, we are arguing for the recommendations or prescriptions.
Therefore, arguments can be given, not only for propositions, but also for
prescriptive sentences.
To sum up:
P because Q and R, or
Q and R; therefore P
First, he is claiming that the truth of the conclusion (P) follows from (or is made
probable by) the truth of the premises (Q, R, etc.). Call this the inferential claim.
If a set of propositions does not embody both of these claims, it is not an argument.
(A) The disagreement over the death penalty will never be resolved.
(B) Gill nets are a common form of commercial fishing. These nets are left drifting
in the sea, the top attached to floats, the bottom weighted down. The nets
take advantage of the streamlined body shape of the fish, which swim into
them and then are caught by the gills or fins, unable to back out.
(C) Most prospective parents would prefer to have sons. Therefore, if people can
choose the sex of their child, it is likely that there will eventually be more
males than females in the population.
(D) Bottled mineral water won’t sell. On a number of occasions, there have been
health alerts about the chemicals found in bottled water. It is absurdly
expensive. In addition, tap-water, which is free, is improving in quality all the
time.
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SMU Classification: Restricted
(E) Animals other than human beings do not have basic rights. If they had such
rights, they would, among other things, have to be held accountable for killing
or maiming fellow animals in the wilds.
Comments
An argument must contain at least two propositions (a conclusion and at least one
premise). (A), being a single proposition, is therefore not an argument.
In (D), there are no inference indicator words. But it is quite obvious that the aim of
the passage is to show that mineral water won’t sell because of a number of
reasons. So there is an inference claim, albeit not explicitly expressed. We can make
this explicit is by adding ‘for the following reasons’ to the end of the first sentence or
‘This is because’ to the beginning of the second. By doing this, we make it clear that
the first sentence is the conclusion of the argument and the rest are premises.
(1) Explanations
Seawater is salty because when rain, which is fresh water, falls from clouds onto
land and finds its way into lakes and rivers back to the sea, it picks up salts and
minerals. Once it reaches the sea, the water will be evaporated again to form new
clouds containing fresh water, and the salt is left behind, so over millions of years
the oceans have slowly been accumulating salt washed off the land by fresh
water.
This passage contains an explanation for why seawater is salty. The structure of an
explanation – ‘seawater is salty because x, y, z’ – is similar to an argument.
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P because Q, R …
One way to distinguish an argument from an explanation is to ask: “Is the truth of P
taken for granted by speaker and audience?” If the answer is YES, the passage
is an explanation. If the answer is NO, the passage is an argument
A conditional proposition (‘conditional’ for short) is a sentence of the form ‘If p then
q’, where p and q are both propositions. For example:
(1) If all our actions are determined (p), then we are not morally accountable for them
(q)
For example, in the argument below the first premise is a conditional proposition:
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SMU Classification: Restricted
In the argument below, the premises and conclusions are all conditional
propositions:
This brings us to the end of lesson one. In the next lesson, we will try to answer the
question “How do we determine whether an argument is good or bad?”