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Today’s Lecture
• First, the problem of missing premises.
• Second,‘Revised Standard Form’ (to
PHIL1002: Introduction to Critical distinguish it from Govier’s‘Standard Form’).
Thinking • The technique that I recommend is based on
Govier’s, but overcomes its limitations by
MODULE 2: Argument Structure–II adding more information to the final
representation of the argument.

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Missing premises
• This is the problem of what you should do
when you find logical gaps in an argument.
The Government should privatise the Water
• Conclusions are not the only things which Corporation, because the state needs an industry
people omit when they are reasoning. They which can act quickly and flexibly in response to
miss out premises too. climate change.
• Often these aren’t mentioned because they’re
simply not worth mentioning; they may just Missing premises??
be too obvious to need pointing out.
• But sometimes they can be very controversial.

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The likely omitted premises would be something 1'.State-controlled industries actively prevent
like these: climate change initiatives
1.State-controlled industries cannot act quickly
and flexibly
2.The Water Corporation is a state-controlled
industry
3.The State Government should respond to the
state’s needs

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The Principle of Charity

The all-purpose missing premise…

When interpreting someone else’s argument,
always interpret it in such a way as to give
them the strongest possible reasoning
compatible with the content of what they
have actually said.

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In capitalist economies the means of If in capitalist economies the means of

production are privately owned production are privately owned, then
So capitalist states are inherently anti-
Capitalist states are inherently anti- democratic
democratic.

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1.In capitalist economies the means of

production are privately owned No perpetual motion machine!
[2.If in capitalist economies the means of
production are privately owned, then
capitalist states are inherently anti-
democratic]
So
3.Capitalist states are inherently anti-
democratic

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Logical gap filler?

The astronauts brought back some cheese from the
moon A, therefore B
So you should add a missing premise to make it
The moon is made of cheese read like this:
And A; if A, then B; therefore, B
China, Japan and Russia form a significant part of
Australia’s export markets Has this new version sealed a gap in the earlier
So one?
It is important to the Australian economy that close NO IT HASN’T
attention be paid to Asian economic Why?
developments

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Logical gap filler? Begging the question…

For the same reason, you can’t do an argument any
Because if there was a doubt about the
good by adding to it the premise:
connection between A and B in the earlier
version, this doubt still remains in the new This argument proves its conclusion
version. The added premise simply claims, without giving
But the doubt will be about whether the second further supporting reasons, that the argument is a
good one.
premise of the argument is true.
But that was the question that was in doubt in the
For this added premise merely claims that the
first place.
other premise would justify the drawing of the
conclusion, which is just what was in question. This is your first introduction to the fallacy of
begging the question.
Adding the premise merely begs the question.

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More on missing premises

There’s another way in which one might be
tempted to start supplying unnecessary
missing premises. The end of a thing is its goal.
Any argument is going to have to rely on Death is the end of life.
the meanings of the words in which it is So,
expressed. Death is the goal of life.
The meanings of the crucial words must
stay the same throughout so that you don't
end up with arguments like this one:

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The moral of the story… Govier’s standardisation method…

Is limited for a couple of reasons.

• First, it can obviously be quite
…be very sparing about adding laborious.
missing premises – when in • The second limitation…requires a
doubt, leave it out. longer story.

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e.Chimps are susceptible to all the infectious diseases of man e.Chimps are susceptible to all the infectious
So diseases of man [prem.]
f.Wherever the populations of chimps are near new human f.Wherever the populations of chimps are near new
settlements, these chimps are endangered by epidemics human settlements, these chimps are endangered
c.Forests are cleared to make way for cultivation by epidemics [e]
d.Food trees are poisoned to leave space for better timber c.Forests are cleared to make way for cultivation
trees [prem.]
So
d.Food trees are poisoned to leave space for better
b.With the spread of agriculture and forestry, the habitat as timber trees [prem.]
well as the lives of chimpanzees are threatened
So b.With the spread of agriculture and forestry, the
a.There is a shadow that is spreading over the chimpanzee habitat as well as the lives of chimpanzees are
today threatened [c, d, f]
a.There is a shadow that is spreading over the
chimpanzee today [b]

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e.Chimps are susceptible to all the infectious

Revised Standard Form… diseases of man [prem.]
…gives us a lot more information about the f.Wherever the populations of chimps are near new
human settlements, these chimps are endangered
argument than ordinary standard form does.
by epidemics [e]
And it also gives us a lot more freedom in how we
set out the argument. c.Forests are cleared to make way for cultivation
[prem.]
We can, for instance, list all the premises at the start
d.Food trees are poisoned to leave space for better
of the argument : each conclusion doesn’t have to
timber trees [prem.]
be introduced immediately below what it’s been
inferred from. b.With the spread of agriculture and forestry, the
habitat as well as the lives of chimpanzees are
Standard form relies on spatial adjacency to show
threatened [c, d, f]
the relationships of the various steps of the
argument. Revised standard form removes that a.There is a shadow that is spreading over the
restriction. chimpanzee today [b]

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Convergent or linked? e.Chimps are susceptible to all the infectious

diseases of man [prem.]
Two ways in which a statement can be derived from f.Wherever the populations of chimps are near new
two other statements. human settlements, these chimps are endangered
One way is when a conclusion can be derived from by epidemics [e]
each premise of them quite independently of its c.Forests are cleared to make way for
derivation from the other. This kind of argument cultivation[prem.]
structure is called ‘convergent’. d.Food trees are poisoned to leave space for better
Other way is when a statement can be derived only by timber trees [prem.]
taking the two statements together, each of them on its b.With the spread of agriculture and forestry, the
own giving no independent support to the conclusion habitat as well as the lives of chimpanzees are
but giving some support when combined. This second threatened [c, d, f, linked]
kind of structure is called ‘linked’.
a.There is a shadow that is spreading over the
chimpanzee today [b]

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All devils ride dragons

All dragons are fire-breathers
Therefore
All devils ride fire-breathers

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