Skip to main content
Log in

The probabilistic import of illatives

  • Published:
Argumentation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

It is not only overtly probabilistic illatives like ‘makes it certain that’ but also apparently non-probabilistic ones like ‘therefore’ that have probabilistic import. Illatives like ‘therefore’ convey the meaning that the premise confers on the conclusion a probability not only greater than 0 but also greater than 1/2. But because they do not say whether that probability is equal to or less than 1, these illatives are appropriately called ‘neutral’.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adler, Bill, Jr.: 1988,Outwitting Squirrels, Chicago Review Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen, Derek: 1988, ‘Inferential Soundness’,Informal Logic x, 57–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anonymous: February 19, 1979, ‘People’,Time 113, 69.

  • Beardsley, Monroe C.: 1950,Practical Logic, Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Black, Max: 1967, ‘Probability’, in Paul Edwards (ed.),The Encyclopedia of Philosophy 6, Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., & The Free Press, New York, 464–479.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowles, George: 1989, ‘Favorable Relevance and Arguments’,Informal Logic xi, 11–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowles, George: 1990, ‘Propositional Relevance’,Informal Logic xii, 65–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Churchill, Robert Paul: 1990,Logic: An Introduction, Second Edition, St. Martin's Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Facione, Peter A. and Scherer, Donald: 1978,Logic and Logical Thinking, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, Alec: 1989, ‘Suppositions in Argumentation’,Argumentation 3, 401–413.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, James B.: 1983, ‘Logical Form, Probability Interpretations, and the Inductive/Deductive Distinction’,Informal Logic Newsletter v, 2–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, James B.: 1992, ‘Does Calling a Concept of Probability a Concept of Probability Make It a Concept of Probability? Comments on Bowles and Gilbert's “The Probabilistic Import of Illatives”’, read at the meeting of the Association for Informal Logic and Critical Thinking at the meeting of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association in Washington, D.C., December 28.

  • Govier, Trudy: 1980, ‘Assessing Arguments: What Range of Standards?’,Informal Logic Newsletter iii, 2–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Govier, Trudy: 1987,Problems in Argument Analysis and Evaluation, Foris Publications, Dordrecht, Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Granville-Barker, Harley: 1946, 1974,Prefaces to Shakespeare, I, Princeton University Press, Princeton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grice, H.P.: 1975, ‘Logic and Conversation’, in Donald Davidson and Gilbert Harman (eds.),Logic and Grammar, Dickenson Publishing Company, Inc., Encino, California, 64–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hempel, Carl G.: 1965, ‘Inductive Inconsistencies’, in Carl G. Hempel,Aspects of Scientific Explanation, The Free Press, New York, 53–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hitchcock, David: 1981, ‘Deduction, Induction and Conduction’,Informal Logic Newsletter iii, 7–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoyt, John P.: 1967,A Brief Introduction to Probability Theory, International Textbook Company, Scranton, Pennsylvania.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurley, Patrick J.: 1988,A Concise Introduction to Logic, Third Edition, Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, Robert M.: 1987,A Logic Book, Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linkowski, Allen: 1989, Review of Philips album 416 822,American Record Guide 52, 23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Popper, Karl R.: 1959,The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Science Editions, Inc., New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rafalko, Robert J.: 1990,Logic for an Overcast Tuesday, Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salmon, Merilee: 1984,Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salmon, Wesley C.: 1966, 1967,The Foundations of Scientific Inference, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salmon, Wesley C.: 1984,Logic, Third Edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weatherford, Roy: 1982,Philosophical Foundations of Probability Theory, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wittgenstein, Ludwig: 1921,Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus; 1961, 1971, D.F. Pears and B.F. McGuiness (trs.), Second Edition, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bowles, G., Gilbert, T.E. The probabilistic import of illatives. Argumentation 7, 247–262 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00710811

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00710811

Key words

Navigation