Assignment task:
Global climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. Many believe that it is disrupting national economies and negatively affecting people's livelihoods. review an edited version of the "Policy Makers Summary" of the 2021 UN Climate Change Report, and then practice your critical thinking skills by reconstructing arguments that employ inductive generalizations and statistical syllogisms using data from these reports. The edited Policy Makers Summary is included in the resources for this assignment.
Step 1: Peruse the data points in the "Policy Makers Summary" (PMS 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, any of the subsections in "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. I have provided examples of both inductive generalization and statistical syllogism in the PMS. You can use them as models, but please don't copy verbatim.
Step 2: 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.