Vocab List Essentials Of Critical Reasoning

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Argument from Example

Back 1

An argument that purports to prove something by giving one or more examples.

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Conditional Statement

Back 2

An "if...then" statement having a horseshoe as its main operator.

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Argument from definition

Back 3

A deductive argument in which the conclusion is claimed to depend merely on the definition of some word or phrase used in the premise or conclusion.

Front 4

Argument based on mathematics

Back 4

A deductive argument in which the conclusion depends on some purely arithmetic or geometric computation or measurement.

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Argument from analogy

Back 5

An inductive argument that depends on the existence of a similarity between two things or states of affairs.

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Argument from authority

Back 6

An inductive argument in which the conclusion rests on a statement made by some presumed authority or witness.

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Argument based on signs

Back 7

An inductive argument that proceeds from the knowledge of a sign to a claim about the thing or situation that the sign symbolizes.

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Categorical syllogism

Back 8

A syllogism in which all three statements are categorical propositions.

Front 9

Conditionally valid argument

Back 9

Valid from the Aristotelian standpoint on condition that the subject term of the premise (or premises) denotes actually existing things.

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Causal inference

Back 10

An inductive inference that proceeds from knowledge of a cause to claim about an effect or from knowledge of an effect to a claim about the cause.

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Conversion

Back 11

An operation that consists in switching the subject and predicate terms in a standard-form categorical proposition.

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Contraposition

Back 12

An operation that consists in switching the subject and predicate terms in a standard-form categorical proposition and replacing each with its term complement.

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Cogent

Back 13

An inductive argument that is strong, has all true premises, and meets the total evidence requirement.

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Deductive argument

Back 14

An argument incorporating the claim that it is impossible for the conclusion to be false given that the premises are true.

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Explanation

Back 15

An expression that purports to shed light on some event or phenomenon.

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Explanandum

Back 16

The component of an explanation that explains the event or phenomenon to be explained.

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Explanans

Back 17

The component of an explanation that explains the event or phenomenon indicated by the explanandum.

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Expository passage

Back 18

A kind of discourse that begins with a topic sentence followed by one or more sentences that develop the topic sentence.

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Figure

Back 19

An attribute of a categorical syllogism that specifies the location of the middle term.

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Generalization

Back 20

An inductive argument that proceeds from the knowledge of a selected sample to some claim about the whole group.

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General statement

Back 21

A statement that makes a claim about all the members of a class.

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Hypothetical syllogism

Back 22

A syllogism having a conditional statement for one or both of its premises.

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Illustration

Back 23

An expression involving one or more examples that is intended to show what something means or how it is done.

Front 24

Inductive argument

Back 24

An argument incorporating the claim that it is improbable that the conclusion is false given that the premises are true.

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Illicit subcontrary

Back 25

A formal fallacy that occurs when the conclusion of an argument depends on an incorrect application of the subcontrary relation.

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Illicit conversion

Back 26

A formal fallacy that occurs when the major term in a categorical syllogism is distributed in the conclusion but not in the premise.

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Illicit subalternation

Back 27

A formal fallacy that occurs when the conclusion of an argument depends on an incorrect application of subalternation

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Inference

Back 28

The reasoning process expressed by an argument.

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Illicit contraposition

Back 29

A formal fallacy that occurs when the conclusion of an argument depends on the contraposition of an E or I statement.

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Illicit major

Back 30

A formal fallacy that occurs when the major term in a categorical syllogism is distributed in the conclusion but not in the premise.

Front 31

Illicit minor

Back 31

A formal fallacy that occurs when the minor term in a categorical syllogism is distributed in the conclusion, but not in the premise.

Front 32

Illicit contrary

Back 32

A formal fallacy that occurs when the conclusion of an argument depends on an incorrect application of the contrary relation.

Front 33

Invalid deductive argument

Back 33

A deductive argument in which it is possible for the conclusion to be false given that the premises are true.

Front 34

Logically undetermined truth value

Back 34

A condition that exists when a certain statement is not necessarily either true or false, given the truth value of some other related statement.

Front 35

Modus Ponens argument

Back 35

A valid argument form/rule of inference: "If p then q / p // q.

Front 36

Modus Tollens argument

Back 36

A valid argument form/rule of inference: "If p then q / not q // not p.

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Mood

Back 37

An attribute of a categorical syllogism that specifies the kind of statement (A,E,I,O) that make it up.

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Major term

Back 38

In a standard-form categorical syllogism, the predicate of the conclusion.

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Minor term

Back 39

In a standard-form categorical syllogism, the subject of the conclusion.

Front 40

Middle term

Back 40

In a standard-form categorical syllogism, the term that occurs only in the premises.

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Necessary condition

Back 41

The condition represented by the consequent in a conditional statement.

Front 42

Obversion

Back 42

An operation that consists of changing the quality of a standard-form categorical proposition and replacing the predicate term with its term complement.

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Particular proposition/statement

Back 43

A proposition/statement that makes a claim about one or more (but not all) members of a class.

Front 44

Prediction

Back 44

An inductive argument that proceeds from knowledge of some event in the relative past to a claim about some other even in the relative future.

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Sufficient condition

Back 45

The condition represented by the antecedent in a conditional statement.

Front 46

Soundness/sound argument

Back 46

A deductive argument that is valid and has all true premises.

Front 47

Strong inductive argument

Back 47

An inductive argument in which it is improbable that the conclusion be false given that the premises are true.

Front 48

Uncogent argument

Back 48

An inductive argument that is weak, has one or more false premises, fails to meet the total evidence requirement, or any combination of these.

Front 49

Unsound argument

Back 49

A deductive argument that is invalid, has one or more false premises, or both.

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Valid deductive argument

Back 50

An argument in which it is impossible for the conclusion to be false give that the premises are true.

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Weak inductive argument

Back 51

An inductive argument in which the conclusion does not follow probably from the premises even though it is claimed to do so.