MY REFLECTION ABOUT THE PHILOSOPHICAL MATERIALS STUDIED WITHIN WEEK 02

 

Started this week learning about logic which is considered as one of main branches of philosophy. Under the logic, I could learn about what arguments are, uses of arguments, what a language is, purposes of a language and uses of language in an argument.

I learnt that logic is the systematic study of evaluating arguments. Moreover, learnt that this has been studied mostly in philosophy, mathematics, computer science, linguistics and cognitive science. The practical use of logic is mostly reasoning well.

In general, argument has two different meaning in logic and mathematics. Here, I could learn that, in logic, an argument is a set of claims or propositions; the statements that can be true or false. One of such statements is conclusion and the others are premises where the premises are intended as offering reasons to believe or accept the conclusion. Furthermore, learnt about the difference between deductive and inductive arguments. In deductive arguments, premises are true so the conclusion is essentially true. This is also called valid arguments. In inductive arguments, the conclusion is not essentially true. This is also called invalid argument. Here, I learnt that the claim that deduction is reasoning from general to specific and induction is reasoning from specific to general is incorrect. And also, I learnt that a sound argument is an argument that is both valid and factually correct. Additionally, learnt that the purpose of arguments is not only explanation but also justification; here, explanation gives reasons why the conclusions are true while justification gives reasons to believe the conclusions.

Moreover, I learnt that a language is an advanced method of communication, how a language is created and basic features of language like conventional, arbitrary, productive, vocalic, social, creative, systematic & symbolic. And also, learnt that the difference between linguistics, speech and conversational acts, conversational rules & implication and rhetorical devices like metaphors, anaphora, epithet, oxymoron, etc…

In addition, I learnt about argument makers like reason makers and conclusion makers. Reason makers indicate that the following statements are reasons like if, since, because. Conclusion makers indicate that the statement that follows it is a conclusion like so, therefore, thus, hence. Further, learnt that not all arguments contain indicator words, the standard form for argument that is used to make argument more obvious and validated and the strategies used to improve the reasoning of an argument like assuring, guarding and discounting.

It can be concluded that I could enrich & expand my knowledge & understanding about logic, arguments, languages and language of arguments during this week after following the assigned philosophical documents for this week.