Assignment
Step I: Peruse the "Policy Makers Summary" of the 2021 UN Climate Change Report (attached as a separate PDF in the Unit 4 Learning Unit) and find an area of the report that interests you (for example, Section A, "The Current State of the Climate"). Take some notes on the specific findings of the report that are used to provide the evidence that substantiates the general conclusion that the report reaches. For instance, I'm interested in the general claim made in Section A.1.2, that "Each of the last four decades has been successively warmer than any decade that preceded it since 1850." What's the evidence for this? I found it in the data on global surface temperature that immediately follows in this section.
Step II: Compose and post your response to the following prompts:
1. Define an inductive generalization (use the textbook or Unit 4 videos as your resource).
2. Reconstruct in standard form (P1, P2, etc., /C) an argument using the characteristic pattern of an inductive generalization that references data from the report.
3. Evaluate your argument in terms of the criteria for acceptable inductive generalizations. Does it satisfy the criteria? Explain why.
4. Define a statistical syllogism (use the textbook or video as your resource).
5. Reconstruct in standard form (P1, P2, etc., /C) an argument using the characteristic pattern of a statistical syllogism that references data from one of the reports.
6. Evaluate your argument in terms of the criteria for acceptable statistical syllogisms. Does it satisfy the criteria? Explain why.