Basic Terms in Logic

Michael Jhon M. Tamayao

Learning Objectives
 Identify and define the basic terms in
Logic.
 Differentiate the terms according to their
use.
 Apply the terms in practical cases.
 Introduction

 Terms – basic elements that make up a

language system.
 The language of logic girds towards order.
A Brief
Introduction to
Logic
Logic is…
 The study of argument
 The study of criteria for distinguishing successful from
unsuccessful arguments and the study of methods for applying
those criteria
 An argument is a set of statements, some of which—the
premises—are supposed to support, or give reasons for, the
remaining statement—the conclusion
 In a successful argument the premises
genuinely support the conclusion
 ‘genuine support’ requires the probable
or guaranteed preservation of truth
from premises to conclusion
 The study of related properties such as
consistency, logical truth, etc.
 The key to a world of wonder
Logic is not…
 Logic is not the study
of persuasion and
manipulative rhetorical
devices
 ‘successful argument’ does not mean persuasive
argument
◦ Human fallibility and manipulative rhetoric lead people to
 accept poor reasoning
 reject good reasoning
 Remember, in a successful argument if the premises
are true, then the conclusion is either guaranteed to
be true or likely to be true
Why Study Logic?
 Intrinsic value(belonging naturally; essential.
"access to the arts is intrinsic to a high quality of life"
◦ Enjoyment of learning
◦ Enjoyment of abstract structures and analytic
elegance
◦ Enjoyment of puzzles and figuring things out
 Instrumental value
◦ Improve abstract, critical, and analytic reasoning
◦ Increase the number of tools in your critical
thinking “toolkit”
◦ Improve writing, reading, speaking skills
◦ Become a better thinker/knower
◦ Become a more independent thinker
◦ Become the life of the party
 Some Definitions:
Statement:
A statement is a declarative sentence; a sentence which attempts to state
a fact—as opposed to a question, command, exclamation, etc.
Argument:
an argument is a (finite) set of statements, some of which—the premises—
are supposed to support, or give reasons for, the remaining statement—
the conclusion
Logic:
Logic is the study of
(i) criteria for distinguishing successful from unsuccessful argument,
(ii) methods for applying those criteria, and
(iii) related properties of statements such as implication, equivalence, logical truth,
consistency, etc.

Truth Value:
The truth value of a statement is just its truth or falsehood; we assume
that every statement has either the truth value true, or the truth value
false, but not both
An Example Argument
 Socrates is mortal, for all humans are
mortal, and Socrates is human

 Given that Socrates is human, Socrates is

mortal; since all humans are mortal

 All Humans are mortal, Socrates is human;

therefore Socrates is mortal
Premise and Conclusion Indicators
Premise Indicators:
as, since, for, because, given that, for the reason
that, inasmuch as

Conclusion Indicators:
therefore, hence, thus, so, we may infer,
consequently, it follows that
 Standard Form
Premise 1
Premise 2
 All humans are mortal
Premise n Socrates is human
Conclusion Socrates is mortal
 Argument Form and Instance
Argument Form and Instance:
An argument form (or schema) is the framework of
an argument which results when certain portions of
the component sentences are replaced by blanks,
schematic letters, or other symbols. An argument
instance is what results when the blanks in a form are
appropriately filled in
Form and Instance
Form: Instances:
All F are G All humans are mortal
x is F Socrates is human
x is G Socrates is mortal

All monsters are furry

Grover is a monster

Grover is furry
Two Types of Criteria for
Successful Arguments
 Deductive
 Inductive
◦ These criteria have some things in common, but will turn out to
be importantly different
◦ The distinction is NOT
 Deductive = general to specific
 Inductive = specific to general
◦ THE ABOVE IS INCORRECT
◦ The distinction will involve the nature of the link between
premises and conclusion
◦ This is best illustrated…
 Argument 1A

All whales are mammals T

All mammals are air-breathers T
All whales are air-breathers T

“Good” or “Bad”? All Premises True

Conclusion True

F1 G1
 Argument 1B

All whales are fish F

All fish are air-breathers F
All whales are air-breathers T

“Good” or “Bad”? At least One Premise

False
Conclusion True

F1 G1
 Argument 1D

All whales are reptiles F

All reptiles are birds F
All whales are birds F

“Good” or “Bad”? At least One Premise

False
Conclusion False

F1 G1
Form 1

All F are G
All G are H
All F are H

F2 G1
 All premises True At least one premise False
1A 1B
Conclusion True

All whales are mammals All whales are fish

All mammals are air-breathers All fish are air-breathers
All whales are air-breathers All whales are air-breathers

1C 1D
Conclusion False

All whales are reptiles

?????? All reptiles are birds
All whales are birds

F1 G2
What is LOGIC?
 “logos” = word, reason or principle
 Logic – science of correct reasoning.
! Systematized
! Evokes ORDER
 What does Logic put into order?
1.) All men are mammals
All students are men
:: All students are mammals.

2.) All monkeys eat banana

George Lincoln eats banana
:: George Lincoln is a monkey
 What logic puts in order is the way we
reason out.
 Logic makes explicit the rules of
reasoning.
 Inference – the process of deducing or
extracting a statement (conclusion)
from the previous statement/s.
 Argument – the verbal expression of inference.
 Syllogism – the format of arguments with three
statements.
 Conclusion – the statement being supported.
 Premises – the statement/s that support/s the
conclusion.
 Key Terms

 ARGUMENT PREMISES
INFERENCE
CONCLUSION

SYLLOGISM
What is the importance of studying
the Arguments?
 The answer:
It is the way we support our
claims to truth and validity.
 Truth and validity are the two aspects that
measure the worth of an argument.
 What is TRUTH in Logic?
 Truth – the correspondence or
equivalence of the mind to reality/object.

Statement Object

“The Horse is white”

 The truth value of a statement is not proven
by logicians but of empirical scientists,
researchers and private detectives.
 Logicians only study the reasoning found
on statements and not the question of
their truth values.
 Judgment – the “act” by which the mind
affirms or denies an attribute of a subject.
– The simplest act of the mind in
which it can attain truth.
Proposition – “statement” that affirms or
denies something.
– verbal expression of judgment
 Simple Apprehension - more
elementary “act” of the mind than
judgment
– conceiving a notion of
something.
“The Horse is white.”
– verbally expressed as a term/name.
 Terms – the two notions in a
proposition: subject and predicate
Acts of the Mind Verbal Expression

Simple Apprehension Term/Name

Judgment Proposition

Inference Argument/Syllogism
Propositions: Quality and Quantity
1. Quality – affirmative negative
 Affirmative - predicate is affirmed of the
subject.
ex.The audience is kind.
 Negative - predicate is denied of the
subject.
ex.The audience is not kind.
2. Quantity – universal or particular
Universal – the predicate is affirmed
or denied of “the whole” subject.
Ex. “All” men are beings with heart.
“Not all” men are beings with heart.

Particular – the predicate is affirmed

or denied of only “part of” the subject.
Ex. “Some” men are haughty.
Some men not are haughty.
Four-fold Scheme of Proposition
 A-type: universal and affirmative
“All men are mortal”
 I-type: Particular and Affirmative
“Some men are philosophers”
 E-type: Universal and Negative
“Not all philosophers are rich.”
 O-type: Particular and Negative
“Some men are not rich.”
 Terms also have “quantity” but not
“quality”
 Singular terms
ex. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
 Universal Terms
ex. Men, horse
What is meant by VALIDITY?
 An argument is valid if the premises do
provide conclusive grounds for the
conclusion. Otherwise, the argument is
invalid.
 Validity follows the different rules of
inference.
 Validitypertains to
arguments/reasoning.
 Truth pertains to propositions.
 Logic has for its first principle the
independence of truth and validity.
Independence of truth from validity
 Example:
All men are animals
All creatures are men
FALSE
::All creatures are animals.
Although two statements are false, the
argument is still valid.
Key Terms

TRUTH and VALIDITY

simple apprehension
Judgment
inference
 “Sound” Argument – the reasoning in
the argument is valid and all the
statements are true.
 Example:
All computers are technological products
All abacuses are computers
:: All abacuses are technological products.
2 Kinds of Arguments
1.) Deductive argument
- An argument that has premises which gives
conclusive grounds for the truth of the
conclusion, or if the premises claim to
support the conclusion with necessity.
- The process is exact.
e.g. All priests are humans.
All Popes are priests.
:: All Popes are humans.
2.) Inductive Argument
- Makes the wilder claim that its
premises support but do not guarantee the
necessity of its conclusion.
- The conclusion is only given a high
probability of correctness and “not”
exactly valid or invalid.
Ex. Of all the 50 million swans I saw,
nothing is black.
:: No swan is black.
 Key Terms
DEDUCTIVE INDUCTIVE
 Exact  Probable
 Valid or invalid  Strongor weak
 Not a matter of  A matter of degree
degree (More or Less)
(All or Nothing)
What is a FALLACY?
 Fallacy – bad method of argument,
whether deductive or inductive.
– one or more of its premises are
false, or the reasoning from them may be
invalid, or the language expressing them
may be ambiguous or vague.
– typical faults in arguments that
sounds persuasive.
 Ex.
All Stars are hot.
I am a Star.
:: I am hot.
There is ambiguity in the meaning of the
word star.
Recap
 Logic – the science of correct reasoning.
 Inference – the process of deducing or
extracting a statement (conclusion) from
the previous statement/s.
 Argument – is a kind of reasoning/inference
in which statements are offered to support
or justify another statement.
 Syllogism – the format of arguments with
three statements.
 Conclusion – the statement being
supported.
 Premises – the statement/s that support/s
the conclusion.
 Truth – the correspondence or equivalence
of the mind to reality/object.
 Judgment – the “act” by which the mind
affirms or denies an attribute of a
subject.
 Propositions – verbal expression of
judgments.
 Simple Apprehension – conceiving of the
notion of something.
 Term – verbal expression of notions.
 Quality – may either be affirmative or
negative.
 Quantity – may either be universal or
particular.
 Valid argument – an argument which has
premises that provide conclusive grounds
for its conclusion.
 Sound Argument – an argument with valid
reasoning and all its statements are true.
 Deductive argument – an argument with
premises that claim to support the
conclusion with necessity.
 Inductive Argument – argument with
premises that support but do not
guarantee the necessity of its conclusion.
 Fallacy – a bad argument that has one or
more false statements and/or invalid
reasoning that sounds persuasive.
 END
Thank you for listening!