Informal logic

Question 2: In his Aristotle’s Categories, he presents the thesis, “if the primary substances did not exist, neither could any of the other things exist (2b7-8).” By this, Aristotle means that there are two categories of substances--primary substances and secondary substances. Readers must keep in mind, however, that the qualifiers of primary and secondary were only added for clarification purposes. The term I will soon define as primary substances is what Aristotle is referring to when he says…

In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses unreliable narration, repetition of key motifs, and aside to encapsulate Holden’s sacrificing modus operandi. Holden obscures his true intentions with unreliable narration which colours his desire to hold onto anything he can, even to the point where he will not recall his memories. The motifs of death and ‘phoniness’ in his narration which defines the lens through which he views the world. Holden’s asides create the office of a higher moral…

Charles Sanders Peirce’s concept of critical common sensism and unwavering faith in the scientific method makes him stand out as a revolutionary philosopher. In this paper, the epistemological philosophies of Peirce, G. E. Moore, and Wittgenstein will be discussed in order to arrive at a more complete theory of knowledge. Peirce’s pragmatic theory of truth, though in need of some modification, best captures knowledge and conquers Cartesian skepticism. First, an important distinction must be…

Socrates commences by making a serious request to the jury to listen to him. He also asks them to forgive him if he begins to talk in the way he usually does. The people accusing him have already spoken out against him. They warn the jury of his persuasive way of speaking and how he might seem convincing as he is professing his innocence. Socrates states he does not speak eloquently. He says he will speak so that everyone to understand why he believes he is innocent. He even believes the…

Introduction “Colonialism. The enforced spread of the rule of reason. But who is going to spread it among the colonizers?” (Anthony Burgess) Colonialism could actually be perceived as the complete opposite of spreading reason, depending on one’s perspective. Colonialism is defined as one group, dominant and self-perceived as superior, imposing its morals, values, technology, and culture upon another group of people. This intrusion into an established identity of a people could instead be viewed…

In Plato’s The Apology, Socrates did not apologize in the modern use of the word. He was not apologetic at all and instead defended himself. While those around him did not agree with him, he stood his ground, even when this ultimately led to his death. The first figure similar to Socrates that comes to mind is Malcolm X. These men stood for what they believed in although they had so many enemies, the same enemies who eventually killed them. As Socrates stood before a jury of fellow Athenians,…

Faith is something what we want to believe without any logical explanation. It is not a purely epistemic concept. “Reason” means the application of logical principles to the available evidence. When faith become strong then the reason is meaningless. The question is “how do Faith and Reason relate?” Are we sure that there has a relationship between faith and reason. Many people don’t care about reason. But I think there’s a strong relationship between faith and reason. Many of us…

The target question is the original one we have to answer when faced with a difficult situation. Then, the heuristic question is constructed by system 2 to cope with this situation, it is a much simpler, easier one to answer. To put it simple, heuristic is a simple process which helps achieve sufficient, though imperfect, solutions to difficult answers. System 1 often takes this route when confronted with a difficult target question, if an easier heuristic one quickly comes to mind. Kahneman…

Swearing is a part of language and a natural part of life. According to Timothy Jay, Professor of Psychology at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and leading psycholinguist in curse research, "when scholar disregard or dismiss it as irrelevant to a complete understanding of language, we are left with a polite or sanitized and therefore a false science of language" (Jay 2009, 157; Jay and Janschewitz 2007; Potts 2007). Furthermore, ignoring this aspect of language also creates an artificial…

The disinclination of humans to question the information they perceive is a timeless phenomenon. This concept dates back to 380 BC, when Plato wrote the short story, “Allegory of the Cave”, in his magnum opus, The Republic. The allegory depicts humankind as prisoners, bound so they can only see what is directly in front of them: shadows cast by various objects passing behind them. However, as they have only ever been exposed to the shadows, the prisoners believe they are the true forms of each…