Philosophy and Reason flashcards

140 QCE Philosophy and Reason cards across 2 modules (40 definitions, 68 key facts, 32 fill-the-gap, 0 formulas). Each session gives you 20 cards, due cards first. Swipe right for easy, left for hard, down for again. Keyboard: Space to flip, 1 to 4 to rate.

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Definition
Arguments from analogy and their evaluation: QCE Philosophy and Reason
Define Number of relevant similarities
More relevant shared features generally strengthen the inference.
Definition
Anarchism as a political philosophy: QCE Philosophy and Reason
Define Philosophical anarchism
The view, defended by Robert Paul Wolff in In Defense of Anarchism (1970), that no state can have legitimate authority over an autonomous person, because obeying a command simply because it is a command gives up one's duty to decide for oneself. Wolff does not necessarily call for revolution. One may still comply with a law when the content is sensible.
Definition
Argument reconstruction and mapping: QCE Philosophy and Reason
Define Argument mapping
Argument mapping (a diagram showing how premises connect to the conclusion and to each other, including any sub-arguments where a premise is itself argued for) makes this structure visible.
Definition
Comparing the four political philosophies: QCE Philosophy and Reason
Define Agreement
All four value human freedom in some sense, and all criticise abuse of power. Social liberals and libertarians both defend individual rights and markets. Socialists and social anarchists both favour common ownership and cooperation. Libertarians and anarchists both distrust state coercion, and market anarchists such as Rothbard push the libertarian position to its limit.
Definition
Categorical statements and syllogisms: QCE Philosophy and Reason
Define No syllogism can have two negative premises
Two negatives (E or O) leave the classes disconnected.
Definition
Free will, determinism and compatibilism: QCE Philosophy and Reason
Define Determinism
Determinism is the thesis that every event, including every human choice, is the necessary effect of prior causes governed by the laws of nature. If that is true, then given the past and the laws, only one future is possible. Free will is usually understood as the power to have done otherwise and to be the genuine source of one's actions. The problem: free will and determinism seem to conflict, yet both seem compelling. Three positions respond.
Definition
Hume's problem of induction: QCE Philosophy and Reason
Define Inductive justification
Inductive justification ("it has worked, so it will work"): rejected by Hume as circular.
Definition
Kantian deontology and the categorical imperative: QCE Philosophy and Reason
Define Empty formalism
Empty formalism (Hegel's charge): the universal-law test may permit too much or too little, since maxims can be described to pass or fail at will.
Definition
Inductive arguments, strength and cogency: QCE Philosophy and Reason
Define Inference to the best explanation
Inference to the best explanation (abduction): inferring the hypothesis that best accounts for the evidence.
Definition
Libertarianism and the limits of government: QCE Philosophy and Reason
Define Property rights
What people acquire justly, by first appropriating unowned things (Locke's idea of mixing labour) or by voluntary exchange and gift, they own. Markets are the free outcome of these voluntary transfers.