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’.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adler, Bill, Jr.: 1988,Outwitting Squirrels, Chicago Review Press, Chicago.
Allen, Derek: 1988, ‘Inferential Soundness’,Informal Logic x, 57–65.
Anonymous: February 19, 1979, ‘People’,Time 113, 69.
Beardsley, Monroe C.: 1950,Practical Logic, Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York.
Black, Max: 1967, ‘Probability’, in Paul Edwards (ed.),The Encyclopedia of Philosophy 6, Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., & The Free Press, New York, 464–479.
Bowles, George: 1989, ‘Favorable Relevance and Arguments’,Informal Logic xi, 11–17.
Bowles, George: 1990, ‘Propositional Relevance’,Informal Logic xii, 65–77.
Churchill, Robert Paul: 1990,Logic: An Introduction, Second Edition, St. Martin's Press, New York.
Facione, Peter A. and Scherer, Donald: 1978,Logic and Logical Thinking, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York.
Fisher, Alec: 1989, ‘Suppositions in Argumentation’,Argumentation 3, 401–413.
Freeman, James B.: 1983, ‘Logical Form, Probability Interpretations, and the Inductive/Deductive Distinction’,Informal Logic Newsletter v, 2–10.
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.
Govier, Trudy: 1987,Problems in Argument Analysis and Evaluation, Foris Publications, Dordrecht, Holland.
Granville-Barker, Harley: 1946, 1974,Prefaces to Shakespeare, I, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
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.
Hempel, Carl G.: 1965, ‘Inductive Inconsistencies’, in Carl G. Hempel,Aspects of Scientific Explanation, The Free Press, New York, 53–79.
Hitchcock, David: 1981, ‘Deduction, Induction and Conduction’,Informal Logic Newsletter iii, 7–15.
Hoyt, John P.: 1967,A Brief Introduction to Probability Theory, International Textbook Company, Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Hurley, Patrick J.: 1988,A Concise Introduction to Logic, Third Edition, Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, California.
Johnson, Robert M.: 1987,A Logic Book, Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, California.
Linkowski, Allen: 1989, Review of Philips album 416 822,American Record Guide 52, 23.
Popper, Karl R.: 1959,The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Science Editions, Inc., New York.
Rafalko, Robert J.: 1990,Logic for an Overcast Tuesday, Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, California.
Salmon, Merilee: 1984,Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego.
Salmon, Wesley C.: 1966, 1967,The Foundations of Scientific Inference, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh.
Salmon, Wesley C.: 1984,Logic, Third Edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Weatherford, Roy: 1982,Philosophical Foundations of Probability Theory, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig: 1921,Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus; 1961, 1971, D.F. Pears and B.F. McGuiness (trs.), Second Edition, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights 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
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00710811