Logical Reasoning

PT150 · S2 · Q20 A philosophical paradox

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A philosophical paradox is a particularly baffling sort of argument.

Statements

On Must Be True, we're primarily looking out for Conditional or Math-y wording. The last sentence has the conditional word "requires", which is a necessary (right side) indicator.

Required thing = goes on Right

Solving a philosophical → Accepting one of paradox three things

We either have to accept 1. The conclusion is true 2. At least one premise is not true, or 3. The logic isn't valid

Here's a stupid example of a pseudo-philosophical paradox: Applesauce is better than nothing. Nothing is better than getting to hold your newborn baby. Therefore, applesauce is better than getting to hold your newborn baby.

We know, intuitively, that the conclusion is wrong. Applesauce doesn't beat the first time you cradle your progeny.

But ... each premise sounds like a true statement. The logic seems solid: premise 1: Applesauce > Nothing premise 2: Nothing > holding newborn conclusion: Applesauce > holding newborn

In order for us to resolve our cognitive dissonance, we need to either give in and accept the conclusion, or fight it by saying that a premise isn't a valid claim or that we're somehow messing up the logic of combining premises to derive the conclusion.

Evaluate

When we have a conditional rule, we look to see if we can chain it to other conditionals, or whether we can apply it to any facts that trigger the rule.

There aren't any other conditionals, and there isn't a fact where someone has "solved a philosophical paradox", to whom we could apply this rule.

Goal

So, we should just go to the questions flexibly, and anticipate that the answer will probably make some use of the conditional rule.

20.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true?

  1. Correct

    Solving a philosophical paradox requires

    Why this is right

    We know that solving a philosophical paradox requires one of three things. Is each of those things something we would find intuitively incorrect? 1. the conclusion is true yes, it said "your intuitions tell you that the conclusion is false" 2 / 3. a premise is false / the logic is unsound yes, "Your intuitions tell you ..... that its conclusion follows logically from true premises" That second sentence covered all three options we have for resolving one of these paradoxes. All three of our resolution options are the opposite of something we intuitively believe. Thus, all three of our resolution options are things that seem to us intuitively to be incorrect.

    Skill tested: Must be True · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    73% picked this

  2. The conclusion of a philosophical

    Ignores 3rd Option

    There's an option where the premises are all true, but the conclusion does not follow logically from its premises. For example, Applesauce is better than nothing. (true) Nothing is better than holding your new kid. (true) So, applesauce is better than holding your new kid. The premises are all true, but the logic sucks (it's an equivocation issue with two different meanings to "nothing", but they're being treated as equivalent). As we can see here, even if the premises are all true, we can end up with a false conclusion.

    13% picked this

  3. Philosophical paradoxes with one or

    Unknown Comparison: how many premises

    The statements never compare different paradoxes in terms of how many premises they have, and we aren't using "baffling" in a relative way that would let us rank one baffling philosophical paradox over another baffling philosophical paradox.

    2% picked this

  4. Any two people who attempt

    Out of Scope: different approaches

    We never talked about how different people might behave, or how their approaches might differ, so we don't have the textual ammunition to derive this language.

    4% picked this

  5. If it is not possible

    Ignores the Other Two Options

    The statements identify three possible ways to solve the paradox, one of which is to accept that the conclusion is true. But if it's not possible to accept that the conclusion is true, we still might solve the paradox one of the two other ways (find a premise that is false, or find a way to say that the logic of combining premises doesn't work to derive that conclusion).

    7% picked this

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