DOCSLIB.ORG

Morality and Moral Progress After Naturalism Daniel Diederich Farmer Marquette University

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Morality and Moral Progress After Naturalism Daniel Diederich Farmer Marquette University Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations (2009 -) Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Projects Dangerous Knowledge? Morality And Moral Progress After Naturalism Daniel Diederich Farmer Marquette University Recommended Citation Farmer, Daniel Diederich, "Dangerous Knowledge? Morality And Moral Progress After Naturalism" (2014). Dissertations (2009 -). Paper 344. http://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/344 DANGEROUS KNOWLEDGE? MORALITY AND MORAL PROGRESS AFTER NATURALISM by Daniel Diederich Farmer, B.A., M.A. A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Milwaukee, Wisconsin May 2014 ABSTRACT DANGEROUS KNOWLEDGE? MORALITY AND MORAL PROGRESS AFTER NATURALISM Daniel Diederich Farmer, B.A., M.A. Marquette University, 2014 From the perspective of at least some of our valuing practices, the advance of the sciences can seem to constitute a threat. The question I take up in this dissertation is whether or not naturalism—understood as the picture of the world and of ourselves bequeathed to us by the sciences—should be understood as a threat to our moral practices, to moral living. On the account I defend, the knowledge we gain from empirical inquiry need not undermine moral living in toto, although a naturalistic mindset does raise some possibly dangerous questions for particular inherited moral norms and ideals. In defense of my claim that the examined life need not destroy the moral life, I develop a social view of morality. On this view, both moral authority and moral justification are viewed as fundamentally social phenomena, and morality itself as a tool for social living. With a case study on the development of the ethics of care, I illustrate ways in which a concern for empirically truthful representations of humanity can also dovetail with liberatory political concerns. That is, I defend not only the claim that moral living can survive critical scrutiny, but also the claim that it can be enriched by this scrutiny—that the truth can be transformative. Expansive moral ideals, such as those humanist views that see progress in the expansion of our moral vocabularies and institutions, are compatible with a naturalistic outlook, I argue. However, a strong defense of humanist views, according to which such ideals flow unproblematically from the nature of reason or from the history of ethical practice, does not seem possible. A weak defense of humanism, which connects the ideals of humanists to more widely held values, seems more promising. In working socially and politically for their cause, I contend that humanists in some sense have the truth on their side: sexist, racist, classist, or otherwise inegalitarian views regularly trade in falsehoods and obfuscation. Empirically truthful accounts of particular inherited norms and ideals thus continue to be dangerous, at least for those invested in the continued existence of the corresponding institutions. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Daniel Diederich Farmer, B.A., M.A. I am very grateful to my committee for inspiring me and for supporting my work on this project: to Margaret Walker, for patiently steering me in fruitful directions; to Nancy Snow, for consistently direct and consistently helpful comments; to Theresa Tobin, for introducing me to feminism and feminist ethics; and to Kevin Gibson, for the big picture. For their camaraderie, their thoughtfulness, and our many thought-provoking conversations, I thank my fellow Marquette philosophy graduate students, and Celeste Harvey Gustafson, Trevor Smith, and Chad Kleist in particular. I also want to thank the Philosophy Department for nominating me for the Schmitt fellowship, which I received in the 2011-2012 school year. I am grateful to the friends and family members who cared for my children while I worked on the dissertation: Rebecca Keiser, Rachel Stolpe, and Lisa Diederich especially. Finally and most importantly, I am infinitely grateful to my wife and partner Nicole Elisabeth Farmer, whose support every step of the way has meant the world to me. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . i INTRODUCTION . 1 CHAPTER I. NATURALISM AND SKEPTICISM . 6 1. Introduction . 6 2. Naturalism . 8 What We Know . 8 How the World Works . 10 What Must Disappear . 14 3. Morality after Naturalism . 16 The Optimistic View . 16 Preemptive Adjustments . 19 4. Skeptical Considerations . 22 Mortality and Moral Authority . 22 Evolutionary Skepticism . 25 Fictionalism and Abolitionism . 29 5. Conclusion . 32 II. PICTURING MORALITY AFTER DARWIN . 35 1. Introduction . 35 2. Joyce’s Master Argument . 37 Practical Clout . 37 The Evolution of Conscience . 40 iii Usefulness and Justification . 43 Non-Cognitivism . 45 The Failure of Moral Naturalism . 47 Joyce’s Conclusion . 49 3. Revisiting Moral Authority . 51 Two Sources of Authority . 51 Convention and Convention-Transcendence . 54 The Moral-Conventional Distinction . 58 4. Transparency and Justification . 60 Pictures of Morality . 60 Opacity and Transparency . 64 Moral Justification . 66 5. Conclusion . 69 III. MORAL JUSTIFICATION AND THE ETHICS OF CARE . 72 1. Introduction . 72 2. The Ethics of Care . 74 A Different Voice . 74 Feminine Ethics . 77 Maternal Practice . 80 Intersectionality . 82 Meeting Needs . 84 3. An Interpretation . 87 Feminist Skepticism . 87 iv Moral Equilibrium . 91 Naturalism . 95 4. Conclusion . 98 IV. THE ROLE OF REASON IN MORAL PROGRESS . 101 1. Introduction . 101 2. Singer on Progress . 103 Sociobiology and Ethics . 103 Choosing Rationally . 106 Expanding Sympathies . 111 Singer’s Five Theses . 114 3. The Rational Altruism Argument . 115 Beyond Biology? . 115 Indirect Reciprocity . 118 Reason as a Psychological Capacity . 123 The Social Activation of Reason . 128 4. The Rational Foundation Argument . 132 Why Reason? . 132 The Default Utilitarianism Version . 133 The Normative Truth Version . 137 Reasons for Whom? . 142 5. Conclusion . 144 V. THE CASE FOR UTOPIA . 147 1. Introduction . 147 v 2. Pragmatic Naturalism . 149 The Ethical Project . 149 Functions, Ethics, and Progress . 154 Utopia . 159 3. Against Functionalism . 162 The Original Function of Ethics . 162 Functions, Problems, and Personal Ends . 167 4. Defending Utopia . 175 Dealing with Skeptics . 175 Justifying Utopia to Whom? . ..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Naturalistic Fallacy and Natural Law Methodology
    The Naturalistic Fallacy and Natural Law Methodology W. Matthews Grant It is customary to divide contemporary natural law theorists-at least those working broadly within the Thomistic tradition-into two main camps. In one camp are those such as John Finnis, Germain Grisez and Robert George, who deny that a natural law ethics need base itself on premises supplied by a methodologically prior philosophical anthropol­ ogy. According to these thinkers, practical reason, when reflecting on experience and considering possible ends of action, grasps in a non-in­ ferential act of understanding certain basic goods that ought to be pursued. Since these goods are not deduced, demonstrated, or derived from prior premises, they provide a set of self-evident or per se nota primary pre­ cepts from which all other precepts of the natural law may be derived. Because these primary precepts or basic goods are self-evident, natural law theorizing need not wait on the findings of anthropologists and phi­ losophers of human nature. 1 A rival school of natural law ethicists, comprised of such thinkers as Russell Bittinger, Ralph Mcinerny, Henry Veatch andAnthony Lisska, rejects the claims of Finnis and his colleagues for the autonomy of natural law I. For major statements and defenses of this position see John Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights (Oxford: Oxford University Press, I980); Germain Grisez, The Way of the Lord Jesus~ vol. I, Christian Moral Principles (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, I983);. Robert P. George, "Recent Criticism of Natural Law
    [Show full text]
  • Ethics of the (Un)Natural
    Ethics of the (un)natural Start date 22nd January 2017 Time 10:00am – 16:45pm Venue Madingley Hall Madingley Cambridge Tutor Anna Smajdor Course code 1617NDX055 Director of Programmes Emma Jennings Public Programme Coordinator, Clare Kerr For further information on this course, please contact [email protected] or 01223 746237 To book See: www.ice.cam.ac.uk or telephone 01223 746262 Tutor biography Anna is Associate Professor of Practical Philosophy at the University of Oslo. Prior to that, she was Ethics Lecturer at Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia. She has been offering philosophy courses at ICE for several years on themes related to her research interests, such as 'Ethics of the (Un)natural' in 2016/17. When not teaching at ICE, Anna spends her time at the University of Oslo and collaborating with colleagues at the University of Umeå in Sweden, where she is part of a research project- 'Close personal relationships-children and the family'. University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education, Madingley Hall, Cambridge, CB23 8AQ www.ice.cam.ac.uk Course programme 09:30 Terrace bar open for pre-course tea/coffee 10:00 – 11:15 Session 1 – Unnatural practices 11:15 Coffee 11:45 – 13:00 Session 2 – “Our niggardly stepmother” 13:00 Lunch 14:00 – 15:15 Session 3 – The naturalistic fallacy 15:15 Tea 15:30 – 16:45 Session 4 – Reasoning with nature 16:45 Day-school ends University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education, Madingley Hall, Cambridge, CB23 8AQ www.ice.cam.ac.uk Course syllabus Aims: To engage students in a critical analysis of the ways in which concepts of nature are used in moral reasoning To explore the degree to which the ‘natural fallacy’ sweeps aside the possibility of reasoning from nature To analyse several key bioethical questions (animal research, conservation, human/animal chimaeras) on which concepts of nature have a bearing Content: This course will analyse the relationship between morality and nature in the context of key bioethical concerns, e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • MORALITY and the AMORAL AGENT by GREGORY WILLIAM
    MORALITY AND THE AMORAL AGENT by GREGORY WILLIAM DURWARD B.Math., University of Waterloo, 1969 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF . THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF . DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Philosophy) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA September, 1978 © .Gregory; William Durward, I978: In presenting this thesis ih partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of Philosophy The University of British Columbia 2075 Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5 Date fyiA^ |\<\V) ABSTRACT The thesis is an exploration of the possibility and rationality of amoral agency. A characterization of the moral agent and his mode of practical deliberation is developed, taking as central the objectivity or impersonal validity of moral judgments and principles, and the concern of morality with the welfare of persons in general. This provides the framework for a discussion of two main forms of amorality. A person may qualify as an amoral agent either because he has little or no concern for other persons' well-being and recognizes no valid claim on him to thus concern himself, or because he operates with a radically subjectivist view of practical reasons and principles of action.
    [Show full text]
  • Benevolence, Utility, and Self-Love in Hobbes and Hume Jenna Kreyche
    Stance | Volume 4 | 2011 How We Are Moral: Benevolence, Utility, and Self-Love in Hobbes and Hume Jenna Kreyche ABSTRACT: In this paper, I reconstruct Hobbes’ theory of self-love. I then examine Hume’s arguments that (i) self-love does not properly account for moral behavior and (ii) self-love is unnecessary for moral theory. I ar- gue that Hobbesian self-love can account for both of Hume’s objections. Further, I use an analysis of Hobbes’ Deliberation to show, contra Hume, that self-love does not entail a lack of intention in moral action. A Brief Overview Of Hume’s Moral Philosophy David Hume grounds his moral theory in the benevolent nature of humans, which he supports with an argument against the theory of self-love. Self- love, which can also be referred to as psychological egoism,1 “accounts for every moral sentiment by the principle of self-love,” or the ultimate concern with one’s own happiness and preservation.2 His moral theory is based on utility, which means that all social virtues are defined by their usefulness 1. Hume uses the term “self-love” in writing, but for the purposes of this paper I will use the syn- onymic term “psychological egoism” interchangeably with self-love. 2. David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Ed. Tom L. Beauchamp, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998): 109. 27 How We Are Moral to the individual or the society. Hume posited that morality is determined by man’s naturally occurring sentiments rather than reason because pleas- ant sentiments indicate traits that are useful, such as prudence, courage, kindness, and honesty.3 These virtues inspire “our approbation and good- will” because they “contribute to the happiness of society.”4 However, our approval of these virtues, and in turn our concern with the welfare of soci- ety, is motivated by benevolence because the “principles of humanity and sympathy enter so deeply into all our sentiments.”5 In other words, man values and praises what is beneficial to him and his fellow men because of his love for humanity.
    [Show full text]
  • Selfish Genes and Social Darwinism
    Selfish Genes and Social Darwinism MARY MIDGLEY Exchanging views in Philosophy with a two-year time-lag is getting rather like conversation with the Andromeda Nebula. I am distressed that my reply to Messrs Mackie and Dawkins, explaining what made me write so crossly about The Selfish Gene, has been so long delayed.1 Mr Mackie's sudden death in December i98i adds a further dimension to this distress. Apology is due, not only for the delay but for the impatient tone of my article. One should not lose one's temper, and doing so always makes for confused argument. My basic objections remain. But I certainly ought to have expressed them more clearly and temperately. This reply must, I think, concentrate simply on explaining the background of reasons why these objections matter. I shall have very little to say directly about Mackie's argument, since it was chiefly just a very fair and sympathetic exposition of Dawkin's views. Mackie himself drew only very modest conclusions from them, and avoided the excesses of psychological egoism, as of course he also does in his own book. But this still leaves two serious worries. In the first place I do not think that The Selfish Gene itself, on any natural interpretation, does avoid those excesses. In the second, even when modestly interpreted, I think it is far too one-sided a book to be picked out and used in isolation for the re-education of moral philosophy in the biological facts of life. My own central philosophic concern-which I think Dawkins shares- is to make possible a more realistic attitude about the place of Homo sapiens in the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Egoism and Altruism: the “Antagonists” Or the “Brothers”?
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by InfinityPress Journal of Studies in Social Sciences ISSN 2201-4624 Volume 7, Number 2, 2014, 164-188 Egoism and Altruism: the “Antagonists” or the “Brothers”? Levit L. Z., Ph. D. The Centre for Psychological Health and Education, Minsk, Belarus Abstract. The article under consideration deals with the theoretical analysis and the practical research of the ratio between the two notions: egoism and altruism. The author shows the inadequacy of the one-sided, morally loaded interpretations of both terms. The scores of two ESM-investigations mostly show the positive correlation between the “egoism” and the “altruism” scales in a person’s everyday activity. The results obtained give the opportunity to replace the inadequate view on egoism and altruism as opposites by a more appropriate metaphor of the older and the younger brother. Such an approach removes the idea of antagonism which is usually ascribed to the egoism-altruism interrelation. Key words: egoism, altruism, meaning, happiness, personal uniqueness, positive psychology. © Copyright 2014 the authors. 164 Journal of Studies in Social Sciences 165 Person-oriented conception of happiness: introduction and the brief explanation. In the years 2006 – 2012 the author (Leonid Levit) elaborated a synthesizing conception of self-realization and happiness, which is based on the ideas of the systemic approach and combines biological, psychological, social and spiritual (the highest) levels of individual life and activity. The results of our seven-year work on the problem are summarized in five monographs (Levit, 2010; 2011a; 2011c; 2012 a; 2013 c) and articles (Levit, 2009; 2011 b, 2012 b, 2012 c; 2013 a; 2013 b; 2013 e; Levit, Radchikova, 2012 a).
    [Show full text]
  • Ethical Theory and Sexual Ethics
    Ethical Theory and Sexual Ethics Ideas about ethics, and what counts as an ethical choice, have seen rapid change. This set of notes will suggest that there is a movement towards an evolutionary understanding of morality and outline what that emergent framework is beginning to look like for human sexual relationships. Western culture carries the last vestiges of a religious framework but increasingly there is broad acceptance of the view that Laws and morality are a human construct. Utilitarian frameworks are well established and provide a secular mechanism for moral decision-making. Utilitarianism Utilitarian frameworks all argue that morality is a rational activity and can be calculated. All maintain that the morally right course of action is that which leads to the greatest good for the greatest number. For Bentham, like Epicurus, the good is defined by actions that maximize the quantity of pleasure and minimize the quantity of pain. While Mill and Singer make minor adjustments to this they agree that morality depends on the accurate prediction of consequences, and that the end justifies the means. Morality can be, and should be, calculated and all people involved count equally for the purpose of the calculation. Bentham and Mill recommend that we pursue our natural inclinations towards pleasure (and against pain) and that this is where morality lies. In a number of ways the recommendations that flow from this ethical framework cohere with the values of the Christian civilisation from which it emerged. The desirability of ultimate and equal respect for persons is at the heart of the Gospel message.
    [Show full text]
  • Environmental Ethics − Professional Issues Based On: Lawrence M
    ETHICS, PROFESSIONALISM AND CRITICISM OF THE SOURCES Professional Ethics Course MIMA LECTURE Information about the course: http://www.idt.mdh.se/kurser/cd5590 Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic http://www.idt.mdh.se/kurser/ethics/ Department of Computer Science and Electronics [Website provides ethics resources including case studies and Mälardalen University contextualised scenarios in applied/professional ethics, working examples of applied ethical problems used in teaching to highlight 15 August 2007 relevant ethical principles, materials on informed consent, confidentiality, assessment, privacy, trust and similar. ] 1 2 CONTENT – Identifying Ethical Issues Identifying Ethical Basic Moral Orientations Ethical Relativism, Absolutism, and Pluralism Issues Immanuel Kant The Ethics of Duty (Deontological Ethics) Utilitarianism Rights Justice The Ethics of Character: Virtues and Vices Egoism Moral Reasoning and Gender Environmental Ethics − Professional Issues Based on: Lawrence M. Hinman, Ph.D. − Criticism of the Sources Director, The Values Institute − Conclusions University of San Diego 3 4 Ethics and Morality Ethics and Morality Etymology The terms ethics and morality are often used Morality and ethics have same roots, mores which interchangeably - indeed, they usually can mean the means manner and customs from the Latin and same thing, and in casual conversation there isn't a etos which means custom and habits from the Greek. problem with switching between one and the other. However, there is a distinction between them in Robert Louden, Morality and Moral Theory philosophy! 5 6 Ethics and Morality Ethics and Morality Strictly speaking, morality is used to refer to what we Morality: first-order set of beliefs and practices about would call moral standards and moral conduct while how to live a good life.
    [Show full text]
  • Naturalness and Unnaturalness in Contemporary Bioethics Anna Smajdor 57 Artikkel Samtale & Kritikk Spalter Brev
    ARTIKKEL SAMTALE & KRITIKK SPALTER BREV Meta-ethical and methodological considerations The is/ought distinction and the naturalistic fallacy FRA FORSKNINGSFRONTEN Nature appears in bioethics in a number of guises and con- There is no great invention, from fire to flying, which has texts. At the most basic level, people may feel that it is mo- not been hailed as an insult to some god. But if every rally wrong to alter, distort or subvert natural processes. physical and chemical invention is a blasphemy, every NATURALNESS AND Leon Kass, for example, argues that an intuitive recoiling biological invention is a perversion. There is hardly one from interventions such as cloning that distort or frag- which, on first being brought to the notice of an observer ment the natural processes of reproduction, is a powerful from any nation which had not previously heard of their UNNATURALNESS IN indicator that such interventions are unethical (1998:3– existence, would not appear to him as indecent and un- 61). These are perhaps the most obvious occasions when natural. (Haldane 1924) nature plays an explicit role in informing moral reaso- CONTEMPORARY ning in bioethics. However, there are many other ways in Peter Singer and Deane Wells state categorically that “… which nature colours the concepts and themes employed there is no valid argument from ‘unnatural’ to ‘wrong’ in bioethical deliberation. For example, bioethicists may (2006:9-26). Similar views can be found in the work of BIOETHICS be concerned with the natural world, or nature, especially many bioethicists. A report on the ethics of grafting hu- in terms of our moral responsibility to the environment.
    [Show full text]
  • See No Evil, Speak No Evil? Morality, Evolutionary Psychology, and the Nature of International Relations Brian C
    See No Evil, Speak No Evil? Morality, Evolutionary Psychology, and the Nature of International Relations Brian C. Rathbun and Caleb Pomeroy Abstract A central theme in the study of international relations is that anarchy requires states set aside moral concerns to attain security, rendering IR an autonomous sphere devoid of ethical considerations. Evolutionary and moral psychology, however, suggest that morality emerged to promote human success. It is not despite anarchy but because of anarchy that humans have an ethical sense. Our argument has three empirical implications. First, it is almost impossible to talk about threat and harm without invoking morality. Second, state leaders and the public will use moral judgments as a basis, indeed the most important factor, for assessing international threat, just as research shows they do at the interpersonal level. Third, foreign policy driven by a conception of international relations as an amoral sphere will be quite rare. Word embeddings applied to large political and non-political corpora, a survey experiment in Russia, surveys of the Chinese mass public, and an in-depth analysis of Hitler’s foreign policy thought suggest that individuals both speak evil, condemning aggressive behavior by others, and see evil, screening for threats on the basis of morality. The findings erode notions of IR as an autonomous sphere and upset traditional materialist-ideational dichotomies. A frequent theme in international relations (IR) theory is that foreign affairs is an amoral realm where everyday ethical norms know no place. Under anarchy, ethical considerations must be set aside because morality’s restraints hinder the necessary pursuit of egoistic interests through the use of threats and violence.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolutionary Ethics? Substantiators, Skeptics, and Moral Realism
    University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2013-04-30 Evolutionary Ethics? Substantiators, Skeptics, and Moral Realism Jimenez, Kieran Chad Jimenez, K. C. (2013). Evolutionary Ethics? Substantiators, Skeptics, and Moral Realism (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26002 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/662 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Evolutionary Ethics? Substantiators, Skeptics, and Moral Realism by Kieran Jimenez A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE CALGARY, ALBERTA APRIL, 2013 © Kieran Jimenez 2013 Abstract Hardly a week passes without new findings emerging from evolutionary psychology regarding how our view of morality has been influenced by our biological evolution. Evolutionary ethics is a normative project built upon these scientific insights. Evolutionary ethicists fall into two groups: substantiators or skeptics. Substantiators believe moral ideas can now be scientifically proven. Skeptics believe there are no moral truths because morality is just a biological adaptation. I believe the project of evolutionary ethics is misconceived. I argue that both the substantiators and the skeptics fail to show the direct relevance of biology to ethics.
    [Show full text]
  • PHI 1100: Ethics & Critical Thinking
    PHI 1100: Ethics & Critical Thinking Sessions 23 & 24 May 5th & 7th, 2020 Evaluating Arguments: Sufficient Evidence, Reasonable Inferences, Respectful Argumentation 1 A good argument persuades readers/listeners by giving us adequate reason to believe that its conclusion is true. Ø Here are four basic criteria which will all be satisfied by a good argument: I. The premises are true. II. The premises provide sufficient evidence to believe that the conclusion is true. III. The conclusion follows logically from the truth of the premises. IV. It demonstrates the author’s respect for their readers/listeners. So far, we have discussed fallacies that involve: • the use of language to present false or misleading evidence • the use of statistics to present false or misleading evidence, insufficient evidence, or to make faulty inferences – This week we’ll go into more detail about fallacies involving the use of language to present 2 insufficient evidence or to make faulty inferences. A good argument persuades readers/listeners by giving us adequate reason to believe that its conclusion is true. III. The conclusion follows logically from the truth of the premises. • Fallacies that fail to satisfy this criterion of a good argument make faulty inferences: – they draw a conclusion that isn’t guaranteed (or extremely likely) to be true even if the premises are true. Ønon sequitur (Latin for ‘it doesn’t follow’) = when an argument draws a conclusion that just isn’t supported by the reasoning they have provided. ]P1] Dorothy is wearing red shoes today. [C] Obviously, red is Dorothy’s favorite color. » Many of the fallacies we’ll consider this week can be classified as subtypes of non sequiturs, • which draw particular types of conclusions from particular types of inadequate evidence.
    [Show full text]