Scribd
Upload
13 views14 pages

Logic week 2

The document provides an overview of basic concepts in logic, focusing on the structure of arguments, the distinction between deductive and inductive reasoning, and the criteria for evaluating arguments as good or bad. It explains that an argument consists of premises supporting a conclusion and defines statements as sentences that can be true or false. Additionally, it discusses the validity and soundness of deductive arguments and introduces exercises to illustrate these concepts.

Uploaded by

b2jf42fq6q
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
13 views14 pages

Logic week 2

The document provides an overview of basic concepts in logic, focusing on the structure of arguments, the distinction between deductive and inductive reasoning, and the criteria for evaluating arguments as good or bad. It explains that an argument consists of premises supporting a conclusion and defines statements as sentences that can be true or false. Additionally, it discusses the validity and soundness of deductive arguments and introduces exercises to illustrate these concepts.

Uploaded by

b2jf42fq6q
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 14

LOGIC: BASIC

CONCEPTS
LECTURE 2
REVIEW OF WEEK 1

• Logic: The study of argument forms.


• Argument forms vs. their instances
• (1) If φ, then ψ (4) If Mary is John’s mother, then John is Mary’s
son
• (2) φ (5) Mary is John’s mother
• /(3) Therefore, ψ /(6) John is Mary’s son
• (1)-(3) is an argument form, in which one may replace φ and ψ with any
statements.
• (4)-(6) is an individual argument, which is an instance of (1)-(3).
REVIEW OF WEEK 1

• What is an argument?
• An argument is a group of statements one of which is the conclusion
and the other(s) of which is/are the premise(s) that supports the
conclusion.
• (4)-(6) is an argument with two premises, namely (4) and (5), and (6)
as its conclusion.
• (7) P
• /(8) Q
• (7)-(8) is another argument with only one premise, namely (7).
• An interesting, limit case is “/(9) R” which itself is also an argument
(with no premise)!
WHAT ARE STATEMENTS, AFTER ALL?

• We say that an argument consists of a group of statements. But what are they?
• A statement is a sentence that can be either true or false. For instance,
• “There is a table in my room”, “Peter loves mathematics”, and “1+2=5” are all
statements as they are either true or false.
• However, “Let’s go to 龐 can for lunch” (proposal), “Put off your shoes before
entering the coffee shop” (command), and “Where is my laptop?” (question)
are not statements as they do not have truth values.
• ‘Statements’ and ‘propositions’ are interchangeable terms in this course.
HOW TO RECOGNIZE THE CONCLUSION?
EXERCISES

• (a) Titanium combines readily with oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen, all of which
have an adverse effect on its mechanical properties. As a result, titanium must
be processed in their absence. (Illustrated World of Science Encyclopedia)
• P: Titanium combines readily with oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen.

• Q: All of O2, N2, and H2 have an adverse effect on titanium’s mechanical


properties.
• R: Ti must be processed in the absence of O2, N2, and H2 .

• (7) P
• (8) Q
• /(9) R
EXERCISES

• (b) If stem-cell research is restricted, then future cures will not


materialize. If future cures do not materialize, then people will die
prematurely. Therefore, if stem-cell research is restricted, then people
will die prematurely.
EXERCISES

• (c) To every existing thing God wills some good. Hence, since to love
any thing is nothing else than to will good to that thing, it is manifest
that God loves everything that exists. (Thomas Aquinas, Summa
Theologica)
ARGUMENTS: DEDUCTIVE AND INDUCTIVE

• “Stated more precisely, a deductive argument is an argument


incorporating the claim that it is impossible for the conclusion to be
false given that the premises are true. Deductive arguments are those
that involve necessary reasoning. On the other hand, an inductive
argument is an argument incorporating the claim that it is improbable
that the conclusion be false given that the premises are true. Inductive
arguments involve probabilistic reasoning.”
• Deductive arguments involve necessary reasoning.
• Inductive arguments involve probabilistic reasoning.
EXAMPLES

• Deductive argument:
• If CUHK’s philosophy department is better than NTU’s, then Peter should study
at the former. CUHK’s phil department is, of course, better than NTU’s.
Therefore, Peter should study at the CUHK’s phil department.
• (Disclaimer: NTU here does not stand for Nanyang Technology University,
Singapore!)
• Inductive arguments:
• Most British dishes are terrible. Stargazy pie is a British dish. Hence, it’s
probable that stargazy pie is terrible.
ARGUMENTS: GOOD AND BAD

• Good arguments and bad arguments


• The underlying idea behind this distinction is that the premises of good
arguments really support their conclusions, while the premises of bad
arguments don’t.
• Deductive
There are various waystoofbe
arguments: being a good
a good argument.
deductive argument is to be a
• valid argument.
Deductive arguments: to be a good deductive argument is to be a valid
argument.
• Inductive arguments: to be a good inductive argument is to be a
strong/cogent argument.
GOOD DEDUCTIVE ARGUMENTS: VALIDITY
AND SOUNDNESS
• An argument is valid if and only if it is impossible that all of its premises are true,
and the conclusion is false.
• An argument is invalid if and only if it is possible that all of its premises are true,
and the conclusion is false.

All premises/conclusion are actually true. All premises/conclusion are


actually false.

An invalid argument with true premises and


conclusion.
GOOD DEDUCTIVE ARGUMENTS: VALIDITY
AND SOUNDNESS
• The moral here: the actual truth values of the premises and the
conclusion don’t determine whether the argument is valid or not. We
also have to consider their possible truth values. (One exception: if an
argument has actually true premises and an actually false conclusion,
then it must be invalid. For what is actually the case is also possible.)
• We call a valid argument whose premises are all actually true a ‘sound’
argument.
VALID ARGUMENTS: LIMIT CASES

• Question#1: If it is impossible for all of the premises of an argument to


be true, is this argument valid or not?
• Short Answer: This sort of arguments are always valid. We’ll see why in
Week 4.
• Question#2: Can an argument without any premise be valid? If so,
when?
• Short Answer: Yes, it is valid when (and only when) the conclusion is
impossible to be false. Again, we will come back to this in Week 4 .

You might also like