PHIL 1F91 Lecture Notes - Swami Vivekananda, Stoicism, Modus Ponens
9 Dec 2012
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We now know that in order for a deductive argument to be valid, it must conform to a valid logical form. We also examined a number of fallacious forms of reasoning. Such inference patterns are fallacious because they are invalid. We will now examine how to assess inductive arguments. Inductive arguments are arguments that are not necessarily or absolutely true. They only have a high degree of probability: every swan that i have seen has been white. Even if we accept premise one to be true, the conclusion may still be false. As the name implies, enumerative inductive arguments make a universal claim about something (like a swan) based on an observation of that thing. Three components: a large sample size, an unbiased sample, a causal connection. Take the following (outdated) example: the next prime minister of canada will be michael. The majority of people we polled the day before election day said they would vote liberal.
