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Workshop 2 Philosophy BJ
Workshop 2 Philosophy BJ
Inductive argumentation
Generalization by enumeration and statistics
Logic and critical thinking
1. Read well.
2. Identify and normalize the final conclusion of the argument.
3. Identify the premise and conclusion indicators.
4. Diagram the argument.
5. Outline the argument and write the name of the outline used.
5.1. Symbolize
5.2. Formalize
6. Apply the corresponding critical questions and examine whether the argument incurs a fallacy.
Exercise 1 Write the definition of each of the fallacies or errors in the inductive reasoning of inductive arguments
of generalization by enumeration and of statistical arguments offered by (Govier, T.) (2010) A practical Study of
argument. Thomson, Belmont. pp. 275-282.).
Sampling bias: Sampling bias, sometimes also called selection effect, is a distortion that is introduced due to
the way the sample is selected. Refers to the distortion of a statistical analysis due to the method of sample
collection. If sampling bias is not taken into account, then some proposed conclusions may be erroneous.
Hasty generalization: In logic, hasty generalization, biased showing or According to whom is a fallacy
committed by inferring a general conclusion from insufficient evidence. A hasty generalization may lead to a
bad induction and thus to a wrong conclusion.
Anecdotal arguments: The fallacy of anecdotal evidence is a fallacy that consists in establishing a generalized
conclusion from isolated or anecdotal facts. Fallacy of composition: The fallacy of composition is a fallacy that
consists in inferring that something is true about a set or group only because it is true about one or several of
its parts or components.
fallacy of division: The fallacy of division is a fallacy that consists of inferring that something is true about one
or several parts of a whole, because it is true about the compound of which it is a part.1
Prepared by Schumann Andrade
Inductive argumentation
Generalization by enumeration and statistics
The Who guitarist warns of danger of deafness from iPod volume abuse
Pete Townshend, famous for breaking guitars in the sixties, confesses that he has suspended recording
sessions due to hearing problems.
"I have unwittingly helped invent and develop a type of music that causes deafness to its prime movers,"
says the 60-year-old musician in a confession on his Internet portal.
The British musician does not attribute his current problems to the excessive volume of The Who's
concerts in the 80s but to the sounds emitted by headphones in the recording studio and points out in
particular the risk of abuse of the 'iPod' (small music player in MP3 format).
"My intuition tells me that (those who abuse hearing aids) are going to have problems," warns the
musician.
Townshend explains that he has had to postpone his collaboration with Roger Daltrey on The Who's first
recorded album in a quarter of a century, as well as their planned world tour because of the constant
ringing in his ears.
Musicians are especially vulnerable to hearing loss. Phil Collins, 54, has lost 60 percent of his hearing,
while American rapper Foxy Brown is to undergo surgery after becoming almost totally deaf.
1. Identify and outline the argument by simple enumeration contained in the above fragment.
a. Symbolize
a1 is F - a1 is b an: the entire sample F=musicians
a2 is F - a2 is b --> an is F b= are particularly vulnerable to
a3 is F - a3 is b hearing loss
b. Formalize
Pete is a musician--> Pete is especially vulnerable to loss of hearing Phil is a musician--> Phil is especially vulnerable to loss of hearing
Foxy is a musician--> Foxy is especially vulnerable to loss of hearing
1. Identify and outline the statistical argument contained in the above fragment.
a: Symbolize
f: women
b: consumption of cups of coffee
h: reduced the risk of cancer by 75%.
s(sample): women from canada, usa, israel and poland with BCRA1 and 2 mutation genes
m(size): 1690
b. Formalize
100%(n%) of the women(f) observed in the sample of women from canada, usa, israel and poland with BCRA1 and 2(s) gene
mutation have a consumption of 6 or more cups of coffee in a day and reduced their risk of breast cancer by 75%(h). the sample
has a size (m) of 1690 women and was chosen using a biased method WITHOUT REPLACEMENT OF ALL WOMEN (f) therefore,
ALL women who drink coffee reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Virtual communities
Guillermo Santos Calderón. Columnist for El Tiempo. mailto:
[…]
There is a report prepared by the USC Annenberg School entitled 'Digital Future Report', which studies the behavior
of people when they are connected to the Internet. The 2007 report highlights some very telling and illustrative
behaviors of North Americans regarding the importance of the Internet in our lives.
Forty-three percent of users who are members of an Internet community said they feel the same sense of belonging
to the virtual community as they do to their other real-world communities. Fifty-seven percent of them participate at
least once a day in the virtual one, which is impossible to do in the physical one. 70% state that they always or at
least once interact with other members when they enter the virtual community. 65% said they actively participate in
causes or issues that were new to them at the time they joined the virtual community.
1. Identify and outline the statistical argument contained in the above fragment.
population: internet users
sample: North American users who are members of an Internet community.
G: claim to have the same feeling of belonging to the virtual community as to their other real-world communities sample size: not specified, assumed
to be large, chosen by the biased method without replacement of the totality of internet users
43% of users who use the Internet observed in the sample of North American users who are members of a virtual community and claim to feel the
same sense of belonging to their virtual communities as they do to their face-to-face communities.
Population:
Prepared by Schumann Andrade
Inductive argumentation
Generalization by enumeration and statistics
inhabitants of Colombia
Sample:
Margin of error:
Other information:
we want to establish the variations in the nutritional status and malnutrition of the household
due to the effects of food insecurity.
the new study did not give results very different from the previous ones corroborating the right skew
of the weight-for-height distribution, recognized as the obesity epidemic. Here, excess weight
increases gradually as one changes in the group, with a clear trend: when reaching the age of 18
years, the probability of excess weight increases 3.6 times, the risk increases from 9.1% to 33.1%. As
in other studies carried out in the Colombian population, the disadvantage of women for both the
deficit and the excess was evidenced by the fact that all the variables studied are statistically
associated with nutritional status.However, when adjusting the effect of these variables within the
multinomial model, only five variables remain, two associated with weight deficit (schooling and
geographic area) and three with excess weight (sex, age and receiving food support).
d. Based on the information from the survey, write the premises that support the above conclusion. The number of
premises does not correspond to the number of premises you must write, at least write five (5) premises.
Premise 2 women have a disadvantage for being underweight or overweight
Premise 3 overweight gradually increases with the change of age group: being 18 years old increases the probability of beingoverweight
Premise 4 at 18, the probability of having excess increases from 9.1% to 33.1%.
Premise 5 ______________________________________________________________________________________
Premise 6 ______________________________________________________________________________________
Premise 7 ______________________________________________________________________________________