Chapter 02 Summary

2. What are arguments, and how should we evaluate them?

2.1 We explain what arguments are, and why they matter in philosophy.

2.2 We introduce the distinction between premises and conclusions, and we talk about how to identify them.

2.3 We talk about how to evaluate arguments.

2.4 We introduce the notion of deductive validity.

2.5 We introduce enumerative induction and abduction (which is also known as inference to the best explanation).

2.6 We look at longer arguments.

2.7 We talk about how to evaluate longer arguments.

2.8 We present some arguments for you to evaluate.

2.9 This section contains answers to some of the problems earlier in the chapter.