argument
attempt to persuade or to determine the truth of a conclusion
ontological argument
philosophical argument for the existence of God
primordialism
argument which contends that nations are ancient, natural phenomena
argument from silence
argument based on the absence of statements in historical documents, rather than their presence
counterargument
rhetoric response
Lewis's trilemma
apologetic argument
argument from illusion
argument for the existence of sense-data
argument from marginal cases
philosophical argument for animal rights stating that, since human marginal cases (infants, the senile, the comatose, and the cognitively disabled) have direct moral status, so do animals
teleological argument
argument for the existence of a god from perceived patterns of intelligent design in nature
straw man argument
form of argument and an informal fallacy based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent's argument, while actually refuting an argument that was not presented by that opponent
Quinque viae
5 logical arguments for the existence of God made by Thomas Aquinas in his book Summa Theologica: the argument from motion; the argument from causation; the argument from contingency; the argument from degree; the argument from final cause
sophism
specious argumentation, based on a fallacy reasoning, and used for deceiving someone
turn
an argument claiming that an argument the other side has made actually supports one's own side
hole argument
philosophical argument against general covariance
reductio ad absurdum
form of argument in informal logic
reason
consideration which justifies or explains
Turing's Wager
philosophical argument developed by Alan Turing
mathematical proof
rigorous demonstration that a mathematical statement follows from its premises
irreducible complexity
argument by proponents of intelligent design that certain biological systems are too complex to have evolved
objection
reason arguing against a premise, argument, or conclusion; expression of disagreement
Master argument
that mind-independent objects do not exist because it is impossible to conceive of them.
heuristic argument
argument based on heuristic reasoning which is practically useful but not fully rigorous
heuristic argument
argument based on heuristic reasoning which is practically useful but not fully rigorous
Occupation theory of Taiwan
historical perspective concerning the legal status of postwar Taiwan
fallacy
use of invalid or otherwise faulty reasoning in the construction of an argument
argument from free will
contention that omniscience is incompatible with free will
argument from inconsistent revelations
argument against the existence of God. It asserts that it is unlikely that God exists because many theologians and faithful adherents have produced conflicting and mutually exclusive revelations
Practical arguments
method of claim validation
regress argument
problem in epistemology that any proposition can be endlessly questioned
syllogism
type of logical argument
argument from poor design
errors in organic building mechanisms in life forms contradicts the smart design theory
Chinese room
thought experiment arguing that a computer cannot exhibit "understanding"
Pascal's Wager
argument that posits that humans bet with their lives that God either exists or does not
cosmological argument
argument that God's existence is required to explain the existence or nature of the universe
doomsday argument
probabilistic argument that claims to predict the number of future members of the human species given an estimate of the total number of humans born so far
appeal to nature
argument or rhetorical tactic in which it is proposed that a thing is good because it is “natural”, or bad because it is “unnatural”
argument from analogy
type of inductive argument, whereby perceived similarities are used as a basis to infer some further similarity that has yet to be observed
argument from queerness
philosophical argument against objective ethical values stating that, since all such values have some queer or strange consequences, such values are implausible
appeal to consequences
argument
Broccoli mandate
argument against U.S. healthcare reform