The Critical Thinking Toolkit by Galen A. Foresman

Author:Galen A. Foresman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781118981993
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2016-05-20T00:00:00+00:00

SEE ALSO

2.1 Deductive and Inductive Arguments

5.11 Fallacy of Accident

6.4 Inductive Statistical Reasoning

READING

Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments (2014)

S. Morris Engel, With Good Reason: An Introduction to Informal Fallacies (2014)

Douglas Walton, Informal Logic: A Pragmatic Approach (2008)

6.8 Mill's Five Methods

Because true causal relationships produce coincidences of events just like those identified by fallacious causal reasoning, some appeals to coincidence must be legitimate. The question is how to determine legitimate causal relationships from mere correlations. One test for legitimate coincidence is found in a set of five methods for testing causal claims known as “Mill's Methods,” as they are set out in John Stuart Mill's 1843 magnum opus about reasoning, A System of Logic. These tests or “canons,” as Mill called them, may not be as strong as controlled clinical trials (9.6), but for many purposes in life they can be very helpful. In situations such as the social sciences where clinical trials aren't possible and extensive data aren't available, they're often the best that can be done. Let's have a look.

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