Chapter 4: Reasons For Belief And Doubt

Chapter 4 – Reasons for belief and doubt * If we care whether our beliefs are true or reliable then we must care about the reasons for accepting those beliefs * The better the reasons for acceptance, the more likely are the beliefs, or statements to be true * Inadequate reasons, no reasons or fake reasons should lead us to doubt a statement * When two claims conflict they simply cannot both be true * If a new claim conflicts with other claims we have good reason to accept, we have good grounds for doubting the new claim * Eg. Its common knowledge that smoking causes cancer * Neera: i just read that smoking doesn’t cause cancer * With conflicting claims you are not justified in believing either one of them until you resolve the
Begging the question – the fallacy of attempting to establish the conclusion of an argument by using that conclusion as a premise. Also called arguing in a circle * Eg. P, therefore p. * Repeat the conclusion as a premise by using different words * To beg the question is to argue that a proposition is true because the very same proposition supports it * Eg. The bible says that god exists. The bible must be true because god wrote it. Therefore god exists. * The problem is that you wouldn’t believe the 2nd premise unless u already believed the conclusion * The phrase beg the question is often misused 2. False dilemma – the fallacy of asserting that there are only two alternatives to consider when there are actually more than two. * Eg. Either yes or no (can be expressed in conditional if form) * OR – asserting that there are 2 distinct alternatives which may in fact not be mutually exclusive. * Eg. Is the gov incompetent or just evil? * Limits possibilities * Ppl don’t like thinking outside the box * Ask: why cant i do both alternatives? * So the argument only works if infact there are only 2