Philosophy 101

LOGIC

The Ten Commandments of Logic

1) Thou shall not attack the person’s character, but the argument. (Ad hominem)
2) Thou shall not misrepresent or exaggerate a person’s argument in order to make them
easier to attack. (Straw man fallacy)
3) Thou shall not use small numbers to represent the whole. (Hasty generalization)
4) Thou shall not argue thy position by assuming one of its premises is true. (Begging
the question)
5) Thou shall not claim that because something occurred before, it must be the cause.
(Post Hoc/False cause)
6. Thou shall not reduce the argument down to two possibilities. (False dichotomy)
7. Thou shall not argue that because of our ignorance, claim must be true or false. (Ad
ignorantum)
8. Thou shall not lay the burden of proof onto him that is questioning the claim. (Burden
of proof reversal)
9. Thou shall not assume “this”follows “that”when it has no logical connection. (Non
sequitur)
10. Thou shall not caim that because a premise is popular, therefore it must be true.
(Bandwagon fallacy)

10 Commandments for Conflict Resolution

1. Don't lose your temper or you lose your point.

2. Remember, you're trying to reach an agreement, not win an argument.
3. Apologize if you are wrong, even on a minor point.
4. Don't imply superior knowledge or power.
5. Acknowledge with grace the significance of the other person's comment or statement
of fact.
6. Know and admit the impact of your demands.
7. Remember the ability to separate fact from opinion is the mark of a clear mind, and
the ability to
separate opinion from person is the mark of respect.
8. Consider if one, or both of you, could benefit from some time to think, eat or rest
before you get
started.
9. Stay with your point; pursue the objective of the discussion and don't deviate.
10. Problem solve and bargain in good faith. Your intellect will tell you when you're
bargaining and
your conscience will tell you whether you have good faith.

Inferential Thinking is a complex process involving three distinct mental operations:

simple apprehension, judgment, and reasoning.
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Below is the diagram on the division of logic known also as the operation of the mind:

Mental Act Mental Expression External Sign Logical Issue

(Operation of the
Mind)
Simple Idea Term Predicability
Apprehension
Judgment Enunciation Proposition Predication
Reasoning Argument Syllogism Inference

Definition of Terms

a. Simple Apprehension
Refers to the grasping of knowledge

1. Idea
Is that which enters to the mind through the senses; it is always personal; and it
is not yet expressed
2. Term
Is an exposed idea, either spoken or written.
3. Predicability
Is the description of the idea by using words.
b. Judgment
Is the act by which we decide; we either affirm or deny something.
1. Enunciation
Is the act by which we decide; we either affirm or deny something.
2. Proposition
Is the decision itself, it is a statement composed of ideas or terms.
3. Predication
Is the corresponding work for the decision by using sentences
c. Reasoning
The operation by which the mind combines several judgments or propositions in order
to arrive at a previously unknown judgment; its end result is called syllogism.
1. Argument
Is by which we present our reasons in our answer
2. Syllogism
It checks the validity of proposition or reason

3. Inference
Is the combination of propositions to form one consistent and coherent thought
by using a paragraph.
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I. SIMPLE APPREHENSION

Language is a set of symbols by which things, ideas, and thoughts or feelings are
communicated to others. It is either spoken or written.

Functions of Language

1. Informative function is one in which language is used to communicate information which is

accomplished by formulating and affirming propositions, or presenting arguments.

Ex. The Philippines is a Southeast Asian archipelagic country.

2. Expressive or emotive function is one in which language is used not only to express emotions,
feelings, or attitudes but also to evoke some emotional response from the listener or reader.

Ex. Wow! That was an amazing puppet show!

3. Directive function is one in which language is used to cause (or prevent ) overt action.

Ex. Go and multiply.

4. Interrogative function is one in which language is used to elicit information or a response

from another speaker.

Ex. What caused the RMS Titanic to sink?

5. Ceremonial function. When the primary purpose of a language is to facilitate social exchange,
as for example, when one greets an acquaintance or to signal the occurrence of some formality,
as for example when the chairperson opens a meeting, then the sentence is said to have a
ceremonial function.

Ex. Hello. Good Morning.

6. Evaluative function. Evaluative language expresses judgements about the worth or quality of
some object or property or the rightness or wrongness of some action.

Ex. Cheating is wrong; Luna’s Spolarium is one great artwork.

Apprehension is an act by which the mind grasps the general meaning of an object
without affirming or denying anything about it. Simple apprehension or conception is the first
and most fundamental operation of the intellect.
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Ideogenesis is the process through which a thing evolves or transforms into a concept.

Phantasm is a mental picture of the thing, bearing all its physical and material
representations such as color, shape, size, in the exact condition as impressed on the senses. It is
the product of the mental faculty which we call imagination.

Abstraction is the act by which the intellect derives meaning from the phantasm. It is the
mental process of drawing out from the individual things the essential and universal essence or
meaning and leaving behind the individual traits.

Idea is the intellectual image or intellectual representation of a thing. It is the abstract

representation of a thing. It is universal in the sense that when one has an idea of something, no
distinction is made on the varieties of that thing.

Take note that in simple apprehension, we understand a thing as it is, as we perceive it.
The moment we begin to attribute qualities and characteristics to such, the process is not
apprehension anymore. It becomes judgment already.

TERM

Term – is the sensible conventional sign expressive of a concept or idea.

A term is sensible because it is perceivable through the senses.

A term is conventional because its meaning is labeled or coined by people and its usage
depends upon convention or tradition.
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A term is a sign because it represents a concept.

A term is expressive of a concept or idea because it conveys a concept; otherwise, it is

senseless or meaningless.

All Terms are words. But not all words are terms.

Classification of Terms

a) According to Meaning

1. Univocal Term. It refers to a term which bears one meaning or exactly the same
meaning in at least two occurences.

Ex. Gino is an engineer. Rex is an engineer

2. Equivocal Term. It refers to a term with two or more meanings.

Ex. I ate a light meal for lunch. (Meaning: Light in contrast to heavy)

I saw a bright light coming through. (Meaning: Light in contrast to darkness)

3. Analogous Term. It is a term which have partly the same and partly different
meanings in at least two occurences.

Ex. My father is the head of the family. Have you met the head of the Accounting Office?

b) According to Quantity

1. Singular Term. It is a term applied to only particular single individual or object. The
signs of singularity are:

a. Proper Nouns

Ex. Capt. Ric Cruz RPS-Aklan

b. The article “the”

Ex. the professor in blue shirt

c. Demonstrative Noun

Ex. this school those children

that book these appliances

d. Collective Nouns. It refers to a group or collection of objects or individuals regarded

as unit.

Ex. The navy is requested to submit its itinerary of travel.

(The navy is acting single or individual unit. )

e. Nouns modified by adjectives in the superlative degree.

Ex. second prize best friend

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f. Personal pronouns such as:

Ex. I he my we you she your they

2. Particular term. It refers to a term which signifies only a part or portion of the total
extension of such term.

a. Indefinite pronouns and adjectives such as some, certain, few, several, many, most

Ex. Some teachers are strict. Certain places are worth visiting.

b. Articles “a” and “an”. When the articles a and an do not specifically or definitely
point to a thing or person, the term is particular.

Ex. a book an elephant

c. Use of numbers.

Ex. eleven boats three computers

d. General Propositions. These are statements which are true most of the time but not all
the time.

Ex. Filipinos are hospitable.

3. Universal term. It is a term that stands not only for a class as a whole but also for each
member of that class. The signs of universality are:

a. Universal concepts are expressed verbally with the qualifiers “all, each, every,
whatever, whoever, whichever, everything.” “nobody, none, nothing” are universal concepts.

Ex. every season all books each contestant

b. Universal Ideas

Ex. Bats are not birds. Men are mortal.

c. Articles “the, “a” or “an”. These articles are universal if they can note universal ideas.

Ex. The elephant is a huge animal.

c) According to Incompatibility

1. Contradictory terms. These are terms one of which affirms what the other denies.

Ex. something-nothing rational- irrational

When no negative equivalent is available, the prefix “non” is used.

Ex. glass : non-glass non-conductor

2. Contrary terms. These are terms that express conceptual reason or formal feature
which are opposed to each other or extreme in a certain order or class.
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Ex. black-white left-right

3. Privative terms. These are terms one of which signifies a perfection and the other
denies a perfection in a subject which naturally ought to possess it.

Ex. hearing-deafness health-illness life-death

4. Relative terms. These are terms one of which cannot be understood without the other.
The connotation of one gives the connotation of the other.

Ex. nephew-niece husband-wife

d) According to Nature of Referents

1. Concrete term. It is a term whose referent is tangible.

Ex. cabin aircraft ocean

2. Abstract term. It is a term the referent of which is intangible. It denotes being, quality,
quantity, or relationship.

Ex. Seamanship, kindness, actuality

3. Null or Empty term. It is a term which has no actual referents but only imaginary
ones.

Ex. dwarf fairy E.T

SIGN

Sign - is anything that leads to the knowledge of something else distinct from itself.

Natural Sign is a sign that symbolizes something else by its nature.

Ex. a blush smoke cry

Conventional sign is an arbitrary mark, figure or symbol used to technically as an

abbreviation for the word or words it represents.

Ex: the arithmetical signs.

Accidental sign may either be a thing, a place, or a person that gives evidence of an
event or that is closely associated with past experiences.

Ex. Rizal Park Manuel L. Quezon a wedding ring

DEFINITIONS

When words are used carelessly or mistakenly, our instrument for communication may
lead to disputes. To avoid disputes, it is imperative for us to be familiarized with the words we
use and to know their meanings. Definitions can effectively resolve disputes.
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Definition – is a group of words that assigns a meaning to some word or group of words.

Every definition consists of two parts:

Definiendum – the word or group of words to be defined.
Definiens – the word or group of words that do the defining.

A word or term may have an extended definition. An extended definition could be as long
as a book or as short as a paragraph. This applies in explaining abstract terms.

Kinds of Definition

Stipulative Definition – assigns a meaning to a word for the first time. The purpose of
this type of definition is usually to replace a more complex expression with a simpler one.

Lexical Definition – used to report the meaning that a word already has in a language.
Dictionary definitions are all instances of lexical definitions.

Precising Definition – assign meaning in order to eliminate (or reduce) vagueness of the
popular or conventionally accepted meaning. This definition does not totally depart from the
accepted definition but only adds or removes some elements that cause vagueness.

Theoretical Definition – It is a definition of a term which provides a theoretical picture

or characterization of the entity or entities denoted by the definiendum. Not all theoretical
definitions are associated with science. Many terms in philosophy such as “substance”, “form”,
“cause” “God” have been given theoretical definitions.

Persuasive Definition – formulated and used to resolve a dispute influencing attitudes

or stirring emotions often relying upon the use of emotive language.

Definitional Techniques

A word may be satisfactorily defined using several methods. One may use various types
of definiens to define a given definiendum.

Extensional Definition
- One that assigns a meaning to a term by indicating the members of the class that the
definiendum denotes. There are atleast three ways of indicating the members of a
class: pointing to them, naming them individually, and naming them in groups.

1. Demonstrative or ostensive definition – the meaning of the definiendum is presented

by means of pointing at concrete examples or by some other gesture.
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2. Enumerative definition or definition by example – assigns a meaning to a term by

naming the members of the class the term denotes. This technique gives an example of
an uncommon word to lead the reader to its meaning.

Intensional Definition
- Assigns a meaning to a word by indicating the qualities or attributes that the word
connotes.

1. Synonymous definition – the definition is a single word that connotes the same
attributes as the definiendum. The definiens is a synonym of the word being defined.

2. Operational definition – definiens provides a test or a formal procedure which is to be

followed to determine whether or not the definiendum applies to a certain thing.

3. Definition by genus and difference – consists of specifying the general class of things
to which the definiendum belongs and then further specifying the properties by which
the definiendum can be distinguished from other things belonging to the same general
class.