24 September 2013

Think Again...

Think Again... is a course by Coursera.org

This is my personal notes that I'll like to keep and learn from.

  1. Analyse Arguments
  2. Evalue Deductive Arguments
  3. Evaluate Inductive Arguments
  4. Avoid Fallacies
    1. Ambiguity
    2. Appeals
    3. Beggin the question
    4. General method

ANALYSE ARGUMENTS
    1. What Arguments are not
      • Fight is not an argument
      • Can't win an argument by yelling
      • Not abuse by calling nasty names
      • Not Complaining
      • Not just denying the view
    2. What Argement is
      • a series of sentences, statements, or propositions
      • where some are the premises
      • and one is the conclusion
      • where the premises are intended to give a reason for the conclusion
        • Argument is a connected series of statements to establish  definite proposition  (Monty Python)
        • Put statements in a structure in the order of reasoning
          • This is not always true as some proposition is already accepted to be true
        • help us understand the proposition, and believe it is true
      • Purpose Difference
        • Persuasion: to convince someone to do or believe something they won't do without you (good/bad reasons)
        • Justification: Reason without persuasion and others are not believing the conclusion (good reasons) 
      • Ask: is this person arguer trying to change my mind? (Persuasion)
      • Are they trying t ogive some reason to belive somenthing? (Justification)
    3. Explination (when people believe it, but to understand why it is true)
      • Causal: bridge collapse because of earthquake
      • Teleological: why go to store? goal is to buy milk, reason
      • Formal: peg does not fit in a round hole because it is square
      • Material: golf club is light because it is made of graphite
      1. The train make such a noise because
        1. the train contuctor pulled a leaver
        2. there were people on the side of the railway and he wanted to warn them
        3. the whistle is shaped to let air release at a certain vibration
        4. air has a certain density that allows it to make a noise
      2. Forms
        1. Narrative: statements,
        2. Argument
          1. General principles or laws
          2. initial conditions / phenomenon to be explained
      3. Explanation is an attempt to fit a particular phenomenon into a general pattern in order to increase understanding and remove bewildermen or surprise. 
      4. Is not persuasion, justification,  generalisation, prediction
    4. Arguments are made of: Language
      1. Language is
        • important:  Helen Keller (lost sight and hearing)
        • conventional: ride on r/l side of the road, football/soccer
        • representational: "calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg" Lincoln 
        • social:follow conventions even if they don't make sense or don't like them
      2. Language operates in
        • Semantics: meaning of words
        • Physical production
        • Structural composition
        • Etiquette
      3. We don't need to know the rules to follow them
    5. Meaning
      1. Referential or descriptive view of language (not related to all comms)
      2. Meaning is use (Ludwig Wittgenstein)

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