Term's List

• Rational - fact, logic, prior knowledge

• Empirical - observation, reasoning, experience 

• Debate - 2 opposing views, logic and persuasion, formal and structured, counter arguments, winner or loser 

• Dialogue - talking between friends, casual, more spontaneous, opened to other ideas, informal, less adversarial 

• Solipsism - only your mind exists

• Skepticism - doubt

• Absolute certainty - opposite of skepticism, confidence

• Doubt - questioning, uncertainty

• Correspondence - something is true if it can be proved in real life - measuring, observing, etc
• Limitations: our observational powers 

• Coherence - the belief that a proposition is true if it works within the framework of what we know to be true
• Limitations: the framework might be wrong - "paradigm"

• Pragmatic - something is true if the outcome works for me or society
• Limitations: relative, not set or clearly defined 

• Knowledge claim – any statement of something we know; a logical assertion of truth

• Confirmation bias – we accept as true what we want to see, hear, believe, or what goes along with our beliefs

• Plato's Tripartite View of Knowledge
• Justified - The knowledge claim is justified with adequate evidence. Justification requires coherence with previous data and clarity with regard to language and logic. There can be no contradiction or strong counter evidence.
• Truth - The knowledge claim is true rather than false. It corresponds to the real world. It is a fact. It is “what is the case.”
• Belief - The knowledge claim is a matter of conviction. We must own our knowledge. We are fallible as well as capable and are quite often mistaken
• Senses
• touch - tactile
• sight - visual
• smell - olfactory
• taste - gustatory
• hearing - auditory

• Expectations - brain helps meet them. Mind blanks out what doesn’t fit your expectations.    
• Law of Simplicity/Parsimony - states that the best scientific explanation is the simplest one that fits the data (we look for the simplest option)
• Selectivity - paying attention to details that matches with our beliefs and overlook other things
• Gestalt Principle - states that people tend to perceive things as simply as possible so we tend to see things that we believe it is. 
• Lateral thinking - idea of thinking outside the box (beyond our limits)

Sense Perception Vocab 

• Perception
• Sensation
• Interpretation 
• Pareidolia 
• things that we see tend to have other characteristics 
• organize things into faces

Subjectivity

• Personal beliefs, desires, emotions
• Influence judgment
• Opinion
• Caused by bias
• Personal experience
• Ignorance
• Allows for multiple correct answers

Objectivity

• Unbiased
• Looking at things as they are
• Not letting personal emotions cloud judgment
• Fact-based
• One true answer

Reasoning

• Deductive reasoning - process of reasoning where specific conclusions are drawn from general statements
• Links premises with conclusions
• Based on syllogisms which have:
• Two premises (general informational statements)
• One conclusions
• Three terms (all of which occur twice)
• Quantifiers (all, some, no)
• Syllogisms - two general facts and the obtained conclusion 
• Validity vs. Truth
• We judge syllogisms based on their validity, not their truth
• An argument is valid if the conclusion follows logically from the premises
• An argument can be logically valid even when its premises are false 
• Enthymeme - when we omit a premise because we think it's obvious; one of the problems of deductive reasoning
• Belief bias - tendency to believe an argument is valid because we agree with the conclusion 
• Inductive Reasoning - type of reasoning in which the presmises seek for evidence that supports that the conclusion is true
• use specific instances (based on experience/observation) to make a general conclusion or an inductive inference 
• Hasty generalizations - not enough specific evidence gathered
• Confirmation bias: people tend to see/remember only evidence that supports their beliefs

• Fallacies - invalid patterns of reasoning that leads to false conclusions
• Socratic method - a form of discussion between individuals based on asking and answering questions to catalyze critical thinking and illuminate ideas

• Argumentum in Terrorem- appeal to fear where a person attempts to create support for an idea by using deception and propaganda 
• Ad Argumentum- appeal to people where a fallacious argument that includes a preposition to be true because most people believe it 
• Guilt by Association- the attribution of guilt to individuals because the people they associate with are guilty.
• Special Pleading- a false argument where favorable details are emphasized and unfavorable details are excluded by alleging a need to apply additional considerations without proper criticism of these considerations.
• Hasty Generalization- a type of fallacy when someone draws a conclusion based on a small sample size rather than looking at statistics that support the conclusion.
• Argumentum and Misericordian- a fallacy using the opponents emotion’s to win spurt over an argument 
• Slippery Slope- a fallacy in which a person assumes that an event inevitably follows without any form or argument as to why
• Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc- because one thing follows another, it is held to cause the other 
• Unpalatable Consequences- fallacy when you determine the verity or falsity of something based on its consequences being desirable or undesirable.
• Circular Reasoning- a type or reasoning in which the proposition is supported by the premises, which is supported by the proposition, creating a circle in reasoning where no useful information is being shared.
• Argumentum ad Verecundiam - the fallacy of appealing to the testimony of an authority outside his special field. 
• Appeal to Common Practice- this assumes that if other people do something or something is a common practice, it is a reasonable thing to do.
• Ad Ignorantiam- asserts that a proposition is true, because it has yet to be proven false.
• Poisoning the Well- a rhetorical device where adverse information about a target is presented to an audience with the intention of discrediting everything he/she says
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder- when one has gone through anxiety or trauma involving death or injury

 

• Flashbulb memories- the memory is or seems to be brighter because of the emotional impact
• False Memory Syndrome- a condition which a person’s identity is affected by incorrect memories