Chapter 1 1: Logic is both a normative science and a liberal art.

Homework:
A. Read Chapter 1, Answer Questions 1-9 at the end of Chapter 1.
B. Read these lecture notes.
C. Attend Class on Monday and Wednesday
D. Write a Discussion Forum Post for Chapter 1.

Hello and welcome to philosophy class. I am sorry that you have to be taking this class in
an online format instead of taking it face to face. This is too bad. But I promise that you
are going to learn in this class the basic principles of critical thinking. We will do that by
learning how to apply logic to everyday life and everyday conversation.

We will start by looking at INFERENCES. What is an inference?

An inference is an intellectual act by which I take certain judgments as given as then

derive another judgment from them.

Let’s look at an inference:

All dogs are animals. (This is the first premise.)

All beagles are dogs. (This is the second premise.)
Therefore, all beagles are animals. (This is the conclusion.)

I start with two premises, and then from those premises, I derive the conclusion.

What are PREMISES?

The premises are those judgments that serve as the starting point of an inference.

What is a CONCLUSION?
The conclusion is the judgment derived from the premises.

The inference stated above is a valid inference. What does VALID mean?
In a valid inference, it is impossible to have true premises and a false conclusion. In other
words, in a valid inference, if the premises are true, then the conclusion must also be true.

Let’s look at an invalid inference.

All flowers are plants.

All roses are plants.
Therefore, all roses are flowers.

In this inference, the conclusion is true, but the premises do not lead necessarily to the
conclusion. In other words, it does not follow that since flowers are roses are both plants,
that roses are necessarily flowers.
Suppose I make this inference:

All old TV shows are black and white.

All penguins are black and white.
Therefore, all penguins are old TV shows.

It does not follow that since both old TV shows are black and white, that penguins are old
TV shows. This is an invalid inference. In fact, it is the same kind of invalid inference as
the inference about plants and flowers. We will discuss this in more detail later in the
semester.
The main point of Chapter 1 is this:
Logic is both a normative science and a liberal art. Let’s unpack this sentence.

What is Aristotle’s definition of SCIENCE?

Science in an intellectual habit that involves knowing the cause of that which cannot be
otherwise.

What is a HABIT?
A habit is an acquired or developed capacity.

What is a CAPACITY?
A capacity is an innate power or potential.

Babies are born with many different capacities: locomotion (they can move), sensation
(they can feel), imagination (they can pretend), speaking (they can scream to
communicate), reasoning (they can start to think).

Some of these capacities, we work to develop into habits. We do that by practicing them
over and over again: Through locomotion, we learn to crawl and walk; through sensation,
we develop more complex feelings; through imagination, we picture more complex
images; through speaking, we learn how to speak particular languages (French, German),
through reasoning, we develop more complex critical thinking skills. With combinations
of these, we learn how to play a musical instrument, kick a soccer ball, and so on.

What is an ACTION?
An action is to actually do something.

For Aristotle, science is a habit (we practice it and become better at doing it) that is
grounded in our capacity for reasoning.

What does it mean to know the CAUSE of something?

To know the cause is to know the reason why something works the way that it does. If
you can explain why the eclipse is occurring, then you can say that you know the cause of
that thing.

What it KNOWLEDGE THAT CANNOT BE OTHERWISE?

Knowledge that cannot be otherwise is knowledge that is eternal and unchanging. An
example would be 2+2=4. It is true that 2+2=4, that 2+2 always has been 4 (even before
we discovered it) and that 2+2 will always be 4.

There are two kinds of science: DESCRIPTIVE SCIENCE and NORMATIVE

SCIENCE.

A descriptive science explains how and why things work in the way that they do. Biology
is a descriptive science. It explains how the body works and how plants work.
Psychology is a descriptive science: it explains how the brain works.

A normative science explains how things OUGHT to work. Ethics is a normative science
because it explains how you ought to behave if you want to live a good life. Logic is also
a normative science, because it explains how you ought to think if you want to achieve
the truth.

Now let’s look at ART. What is an ART?

An art is a habit of correct reasoning regarding production. So, all art involves production
in some way.

There are two kinds of art: LIBERAL ART and MECHANICAL/SERVILE ART.

We find two key differences between a liberal art and a mechanical or servile art.

PRODUCT
A liberal art produces an intellectual product. Logic produces definitions and arguments,
which are intellectual products.

A mechanical art produces a material product. Agriculture produces food, architecture

produces buildings, and auto manufacturing produces cars. Food, buildings, and cars are
all material products.

PURPOSE
We practice liberal arts for the sake of knowledge itself. The idea here is that learning is
itself valuable. Learning makes you intrinsically a better person. In other words, you are
better off after four years of college having learned all that you learned than if you had
never learned all that you had learned in college. Liberal arts produce knowledge that is
valuable to know for its own sake.

We practice mechanical/servile arts for the sake of a practical purpose. We need food to
eat, building to keep us safe and warm, and cars so that we can get to and from school.
In all of this, we see that a liberal art produces an intellectual product for the sake of
learning itself while a mechanical/servile art produces a material product for the sake of
utility (i.e. for a practical purpose).

There are seven traditions liberal arts, and you should know them:
Astronomy, Logic, Arithmetic, Rhetoric, Music, Grammar, and Geometry.

A helpful mnemonic: ALARM-GG

Logic is both a normative science and a liberal art. It is a normative science because if
you possess the science of logic, then you know the reason why arguments are valid and
invalid. It is a liberal art because if you possess the liberal art of logic, then you can
produce definitions and arguments (which are intellectual products) for the sake of
knowledge itself.

Review your homework and these notes and then Write a Discussion Forum Post for
Chapter 1.