Chapter 9

Question	Answer
Statement (claim)	An assertion that something is or is not the case
Premise	A statement given in support of another statement
Conclusion	A statement that premises are intended to support
Argument	A group of statements in which some of them (the premises) are intended to support another of them (the conclusion)
Indicator words	Word that frequently accompany arguments and signal that a premise or conclusion is present
Deductive argument	An argument intended to provide conclusive support for its conclusion
Inductive argument	An argument intended to provide probable support for its conclusion
Explanation	A statement (or statements) asserting why or how something is the case
Teleological Explanations	Try to explain the purpose of something, how it functions, or how it fits into a plan
Interpretive explanations	Concern the meaning of terms or states of affairs. They seek to understand something's sense or semantic meaning-- not its purpose or cause.
Procedural explanations	Try to explain how something is done or how an action is carried out
Internal consistency	A theory that is internally consistent is free of contradictions
External consistency	A theory that is externally consistent is consistent with the data it's supposed to explain
Testability	Whether there is some way to determine if a theory is true
Fruitfulness	The number of novel predictions made
Scope	The amount of diverse phenomena explained
Simplicity	The number of assumptions made
Conservatism	How well a theory fits with existing knowledge

Resource summary

	Created by Sheyla Wypack about 9 years ago