Week 01 (How to spot an argument?) - Quiz 02

Question 1

We need to understand the purpose of an artifact in order to understand that artifact.

a. True      b. False

Question 2

Whether you succeed in persuading someone depends on what effect your argument has on that person.

a. True      b. False

Question 3

Whether you succeed in justifying a conclusion depends on what effect your argument has on the audience.

a. True      b. False

Question 4

Whenever you are trying to justify a conclusion, you are trying to persuade someone.

a. True      b. False

Answers

Highlight the text below to see and validate your answers

1. A (Artifacts are created for special purposes, and different artifacts (such as a screwdriver and a spatula) are distinguished by their purposes, among other things)

2. A (To persuade or convince someone is to make that person believe, so the argument persuades the audience only if it makes the audience believe the conclusion)

3. B (To justify a conclusion is to give a reason for that conclusion, but the audience might not understand or accept that reason, even when it is a good reason. Then the argument might have no effect (or an unintended effect) on the audience)

4. B (You can try to give a reason for the conclusion even when you know that the audience will not understand or accept that reason. The point might be to show them that you have a reason, even if they don’t accept your reason)

Week 01 (How to spot an argument?) - Quiz 01

(1) Arguments are explicit ways to formulate reasons

a. True b. False

(2) Arguments are verbal fights.

a. True b. False

(3) Every argument includes a conclusion.

a. True b. False

(4) All arguments are made up of (or expressed in) language

a. True b. False

(5) Every argument is intended to establish a conclusion that the audience did not believe before.

a. True b. False

(6) Every argument succeeds in giving good reasons for its conclusion.

a. True b. False


For questions below, indicate whether the following sentences are arguments.

(7) Megafauna: n. very large animals.

a. Yes, this is an argument
b. No, this is not an argument

(8) Reptiles include turtles, alligators, crocodiles, snakes, lizards, and the tuatara.

a. Yes, this is an argument
b. No, this is not an argument

(9) World War II occurred after World War I occurred.

a. Yes, this is an argument
b. No, this is not an argument

(10) World War II occurred because World War I occurred.

a. Yes, this is an argument
b. No, this is not an argument


(11) The sides of this right triangle are 1 meter long, so its hypotenuse is 2 meters long.

a. Yes, this is an argument
b. No, this is not an argument

Answers
Highlight the text below to see and validate your answers
1. A 
2. B (People in fights are trying to hurt each other, but people who give arguments are often trying to help each other)
3. A (Arguments are defined so that they must always have a conclusion)
4. A (Premises are sentences, statements, or propositions. Sentences and statements are made up of language, and propositions are expressed by language. Notice that no particular language is required, so it would be false to say that all arguments are in English)
5. B (Sometimes the conclusion is already both believed and established as true, and the point of the argument is only to explain WHY it is true. Hence, Monty Python is not always right)

6. B (Although people who give arguments always intend to give some kind of reason, they often fail to fulfill that intention. Bad arguments fail to give good reasons)

7. B (The defined term is not a full sentence, statement, or proposition, so it cannot be a conclusion. The definition is not a reason for the term that is defined)

8. B (One word in a list does not give a reason for the other words. One could argue, “This is a turtle, so it is a reptile,” but the list by itself does not explicitly state that argument or any argument)

9. B (This sentence is about historical or chronological order rather than rational order. It does not explicitly claim that World War I gives a reason for World War II)

10. A (The word “because” makes this sentence claim that World War I gives a reason why World War II occurred)

11. A (The word “so” indicates that the first sentence is supposed to be a reason for the second sentence. This argument is very bad, since the hypotenuse must be square root of 2 meters long instead of 2 meters long. But bad arguments are still arguments)

Week 01 (How to spot an argument?) [Classes 1, 2 & 3]

Defining an Argument:

Argument is an intellectual process. It is a process of not just asserting your view but providing reasons for your view

"An Argument may be defined as a connected series of statements (intended) to establish a definite proposition"

Arguments are arranged by "Order of Reasoning" (comparatively, a dictionary is arranged in alphabetical order, a novel is arranged in a chronological order)

The purpose of an argument is not always to establish a proposition, because few propositions are already know. Arguments in this case can help to understand the propositions as why it is true. Eg. Pythagoras theorem.

So, a broader definitions of Arguments to cover these different kinds of reasons:

Therefore, an 'argument' is,

• a series of sentences, statements or prepositions
• where some are the 'premises'
• but one is the 'conclusion'
• where premises are intended to give 'reasons' for the conclusion

What are Arguments used for?

The purposes for which people use arguments are crucial in determining what an object is. Take for example an artifact that you might find in an archaeological site. You won't be able to figure out whether it's a really big screwdriver or a really small spatula unless you know whether the people who used it intended it to screw screws or to pick up food that they were cooking. 

So, to understand arguments we need to understand the purposes for arguments. And that means, why does somebody bother to give an argument instead of just asserting the conclusion without an argument?

Let us take an example,

If you went to a used car lot and the salesman said, you ought to buy that Mustang.

Would that convince you?

Not a chance!

But if the salesman said you ought to buy that Mustang because it looks really cool and it goes really fast. Or maybe it has great gas mileage or whatever, and gives you a series of reasons, then you might be convinced to buy the Mustang.

So, that's one purpose of an argument,

"To try convince someone to do things or believe things that he/she wouldn't do or believe" - This purpose is 'persuading' or 'convincing'.

And if you think about it what the salesman's trying to do is he's trying to change your mental states. He's trying to make you believe something that you didn't believe or do something that you didn't do. So he's trying to bring about an effect in the world. But that's just one purpose of arguments.

Not everyone acts like a salesman. Sometimes, instead of trying to change people's belief, we simply give them reasons for their belief or our belief. And to give them a reason is not necessarily to convince or persuade them or change their beliefs. We simply are giving them a reasons to believe the conclusion we're going to call that 'Justification'.

So, imagine that your friend, is thinking about buying a car. She doesn't know which one to buy. You might say. Well, I think you ought to buy the Mustang, because it looks really good and it goes really fast and its actually got pretty good gas mileage and its quiet reliable or whatever. You're not necessarily trying to convince her to buy that car. It'd be fine with you if she bought any car she wanted, any car that would make her happy. You're trying to talk about the reasons for buying the car so that you can make your own decision. And that says you're trying to justify that decision or that belief that Mustang is the best car for her to buy. And not necessarily to convince her or persuade her, if she comes up with great reason to the contrary you're perfectly happy. Whereas, the Salesman wouldn't be happy.  But notice, that you might give exactly the same reasons that the Salesman did, exactly the same arguments that the salesman did. The difference lies in the purpose. The salesman is trying to convince her to change her beliefs, but your goal with your friend is to discuss the reason for her decision or action. 

So, from the above example you can see a clear distinction between "Justification" and "Persuasion".

Justification tries to give good reasons.

Persuasion tries to change belief and action, and may give bad reasons to do that.

Of course, people can mix them together in various ways, and that can get complicated. So, if someone give you an argument, you need to ask a series of question:

(1) Is the arguer trying to change my mind / behavior? 

      >> Persuasion

(2) Is the arguer trying to give reasons to believe in something?

     >> Justification

Why do we need this blog?

This blog will help us study and develop skills required to "reason" and "argue".

Arguments are abstract patterns of reasoning. 
In the due course, we will learn
1) How to analyze arguments
2) How to evaluate Deductive Arguments
           >> Propositional Logic
           >> Categorical Logic
3) How to evaluate Inductive Arguments
           >> Statistical generalization
           >> Applying generalization down to a particular case
           >> Arguments from analogies
           >> Causal reasoning and probability
           >> Decision Making
4) How to avoid fallacies
           >> Avoiding common mistakes in an argument like, vagueness, ambiguity, irrelevance, etc...

The above will be achieved by:
1) Analyzing practical issues
2) Fascinating theoretical questions
3) No arbitrary and unjustified belief