LOGIC: An Introduction

John Patrick Habacon

Instructor, College of Arts and Sciences
 What is Philosophy?

• Etymologically: from Greek

words “philo” and “sophia”
where the first means love
and the latter means
wisdom
 What is Philosophy?
• Search for meaning
 What is Philosophy?
To engage in philosophy is to ask a
variety of questions about the world and
our place in it.
• Why do you do what you do?
• Why do you think what you think?
• Why do you feel what you feel?
 What is Philosophy?
• It is an activity
– The pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, and/or understanding
• It is a search for meaning in so many levels (branches of
Philosophy)
• It is not sophistry or pamimilosopo!
- subtly deceptive reasoning or argumentation
• Philosophy is the art of rational thought.
• It teaches not what to think, but how to think.

“The limit of my language is

the limit of my world”
-Wittgenstein
 Why study Philosophy?

• The educated differ from the

uneducated as much as the living from
the dead.
– Aristotle
 Why study Philosophy?

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

-Socrates
 Why study Philosophy?

Analytical Reasoning
• Students should be able to make distinctions which are helpful
for understanding and evaluating complex positions,
arguments, or issues.
 Why study Philosophy?
Critical Thinking
• Students should develop an independence of thought through
which they take responsibility for understanding and
evaluating ideas in careful, responsible ways.
• To see the big picture to look at different views and opinions.
 Why study Philosophy?
Ethical Reasoning
 Students should improve their skills in making responsible, rational
judgments on issues of moral rightness and wrongness as well as on
matters of moral character.