18/12/23
INDUCTIVE reasoning
- maths usually deduction, natural sciences induction and then deduction to create
hypotheses and test them
- meaning of words base on induction
- Black Swan- highly improbable, unpredictable, massive impact, explanation makes it
appear less random, e g success of google or 9/11 or discovery of penicillin or
America
- really good topic for tok essay
- bottom-up vs top-down processing (referendum vs government laws)
- Sir Francis Bacon: 16th century, induction, hypothesis that he is author of
shakespeare plays
- induction is the base of language
20/12/23
INFORMAL reasoning
- logical fallacies, bad arguments
- Straw man - exaggerating first statement, then making it seem absurd
- Appeal to irrelevant authority
- Appeal to fear - creating feeling of insecurity
- False dilemma - there are more options than presented
- Hasty generalisation - conclusions from insufficient evidence
- Appeal to ignorance - no evidence, so the opposite is true, eg conspiracies
- Argument from consequences - determined if true based on good or bad
consequences
- No true scotsman - redefining definitions, discrediting someone based on an
irrelevant belief, eg no true muslim supports women's rights
- Genetic fallacy - bad origin determines quality, eg Volkswagen cars are bad because
it was founded by nazis
- Slippery slope - chain reaction which ends catastrophically
- Ad hominem - attacking the author, not the argument, eg Freud used cocaine so we
shouldn't read his books
- Red herring - focus on an unrelated problem, eg back in my day…
17/1/24
- methodic doubt
- Evil genius
- Continuous dream
- Rene descartes