Critical Thinking Philosophy Midterm Exam Notes

Crit. Thinking Study Guide 1Premiss- a proposition that provides support to an argument's conclusion; an argument may have one or more premisses; also spelled premise.Deductive argument- an argument in which if the premisses are true, then the conclusion must be true; goes from general statements to specific facts. For example, All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal. A deductive argument is intended to be valid, but of course might not be.Inductive argument- an argument in which if the premisses are true, then it is probable that the conclusion will also be true; goes from specific facts to general statements.Ex. Every time we measure the speed of light in a vacuum, it is 3×108m/s. Therefore, the speed of light in a vacuum is a universal constant.Validity- a deductive argument is valid if its conclusion logically follows from its premisses.Soundness- a deductive argument is sound if it is valid and its premisses are true.Falsifiability- an attribute of a proposition or argument that allows it to be refuted, or disproved, through observation of experiment.Ex. All leaves are green may be refuted by finding