Philosophy Midterm 2
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
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What is the Web of Belief?
*Idol of the Tribe- perception can be faulty -
*Decartes- Radical doubt (doubt all beliefs at once, nothing was certain)
*core- beliefs more certain are close to the core
*outside- beliefs are not quite certain, unsure of
*Background information- all beliefs put together -
Sources of Beliefs
1. Experts -
some areas are harder to find expertise in
⬢Appeal to authority: bad reasoning (questionable, or wrong) by authority figures -
Sources of Beliefs
2. Personal Experience -
•Perception- seeing is believing (can’t always be trusted)
•Memory- remembering, bring expectations
*Innumeracy- making a mistake with numbers
*Gambler’s Fallacy- misunderstand the probability (lucky shirt)
*Self-Deception- we believe what we want to believe
*Availability Error- think it’s dangerous because you have info based on that - Sources of Information
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1.Oral Communication- not always a good source (may not be true)
2.Books
3.Media
4.TV- bias, not a good source, prevents us from a “worldviewâ€
5.Internet- not a good source, bad websites - News-bias
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•entertainment
•“breaking newsâ€
•“human interestâ€-celebrities, car chases
•“sound bitesâ€
•“Coming up Next†- Advertising
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⬢Purpose is to inform/ persuade
1.Promise ad/ Identification (person you want to be) -
Techniques of advertsing
(Distortion, manipulation) -
1.Distortion- puffery (exaggeration) & Omission- (leaving something out)
⬢Fine print disclaimer
⬢Fictionalization- (not real, go over the top)
⬢Weasel Words- (puts weasel words in claims)
⬢Proof Surrogate
2.Manipulation
⬢Emotional Appeals
⬢Bandwagon- trendy
⬢Enviable Situations- impossible
⬢Sex- sublimable
⬢Jingles/ Slogans
⬢Emotive Words- things that are positive (new and improved, natural) - ⬢Genetic Fallacy
- looking at origins of a person
- ⬢Composition Fallacy
- goes from parts to whole (what’s true of the parts is not true of the whole)
- ⬢Division Fallacy
- true of the whole, not true of the parts
- ⬢Adhominem
- personal attack to the person
- ⬢Equivocation
- using something in two different senses
- ⬢Appeal to Popularity
- just because everyone believes it to be true, doesn’t make it true
- ⬢Appeal to Tradition
- because someone has done something for so long it should stay that way
- ⬢Appeal to Ignoranc
- just because there is no proof then they believe it to be true, can’t prove a negative
- ⬢Appeal to Pity/ Emotion
- you should feel sorry for the person
- ⬢Red Herring
- talk about 2 different things
- ⬢The Straw Man Argument
- weak, distorted argument (distorts, tweaks it)
- ⬢Begging the Question (Circular Reasoning)
- restating the conclusion, leaving argument unanswered
- ⬢False Dilemma (Black/White Reasoning)
- either/or, only 2 choices
- ⬢Slippery Slope
- one thing leads to another to another
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Enumerative Induction
Inductive Generalization - compare/make generalization from sample to a target
- Fallacy- Weak Analogy
- two things are totally different for each other
- Hasty Generalization
- jump to conclusion too quickly (one sample is not enough)
- Bias Generalization
- not representative of the group as a whole
- Explanations (tell why something happens)
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⬢Background information
⬢Evidence -
Peirce’s Methods
1. Tenacity (wishful thinking) - stick to what you believe, as long as you put it to practice
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Peirce’s Methods
2. Authority - higher figures could be wrong and make mistakes, always question
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Peirce’s Methods
3. Intuition - your feeling can be wrong, not giving into your desires
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Peirce’s Methods
4. Science - strongest method, testable and fallible, explore everything like a scientist, they don’t prove anything
- Science-Criteria
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1.Testability- has to be testable, important for it to be wrong-
2.Fruitfulness- will it predict anything new, true
3.Scope- explains a lot of things (how wide the range is)
4.Simplicity- stick to established theories
5.Conservativism- stick w/ old theories as much as possible - Claim: Aliens exist/ Abduct
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Explanations
1.Missing time *lost track of time
2.Paralyzed in bed
3.Unusual markings *unnoticed bites, scratches, bruises
4.Metal under skin *splinter
5.Hypnosis *prompted memories - Science
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1.Observation
2.Hypothesis Formation
3.Experimentation
4.Verification - Pseudoscience
- any theory that doesn’t follow Scientific Method
- ⬢Burden of Proof
- theory is extraordinary
- “Weird†Ideas/ Theories/ Claims
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⬢Appeal to Ignorance
⬢Logical Possibility: something could be the case
⬢Physical Possibility - Judging Theories
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1.State claim/problem
2.Evidence
3.Alternative possibilities
4.Evaluate- Criteria of Adequacy