LESSON

4
PART 2: BASIC CONCEPTS IN LOGIC
Objective:
• At the end of this topic, the student is expected to:
• know the meaning of ideas and terms.
• know the meaning and kinds of propositions.
• understand what is an argument.
Terms, Propositions and Syllogisms

Mental Act Mental External Sign Logical Issue

Expression

Apprehension Idea Term Predicability

Judgment Enunciation Proposition Predication

Reasoning Argument Syllogism Inference

Terms
• are the external expressions of our ideas or concept. In ordinary
parlance, they are called words. Words are connected very much with
thinking. It might be a surprise for you but did you notice that we
think with words? As we are reading this book, we are using language
to think. Though it is possible for us to think in other ways beside
language, language plays a central role in our thinking.
• An idea is defined as “the intellectual image or representation of a
thing.” They are considered as the building blocks of human
knowledge.
supposition
•The specific meaning of a term in a proposition is
called supposition. Supposition is the exact
meaning of a word in a statement. It is helpful in
trying to making our reasoning exact.
Example

•“There are bats flying”

Propositions
• Propositions – are statements which are considered as the basic
elements of reasoning. They are statements which possess truth-
value and thus, may be said to be true or false.
• Wilmer Tria is the Bikolano priest who wrote the book Ako asin an
Kapwa Ko.
• Law is an ordinance of reason.
• A nurse is somebody engaged in health care.
Basic Characteristics of Propositions:
• A proposition is not an ordinary grammatical sentence. Its basic
characteristics are:
• 1. It is expressed in the indicative mood. It is only in the indicative
mood where we can express the objective identity or non-identity of
subject and the predicate.
• 2. It is expressed in the present tense.
• 3. It can be assessed either as true or false. (has truth-value).
• 4. For the categorical proposition, it must follow the Subject-copula-
predicate (S c P) pattern.
• Mikhail likes milk.
• Lawyers lie.
Kinds of Propositions:
• Propositions are ordinarily classified into:
• Categorical Proposition – is one that expresses a positive or negative
judgment in an absolute manner.
• The law is the guardian of reason and justice.
• Tomorrow is Wednesday.
•
• Hypothetical Proposition – is one that does not express an absolute
judgment but a qualified one.
• If you study hard, you will become a nurse.
• A student either wants to pass or he does not.
Hypothetical propositions are further classified
into:
• Conditional – is one which expresses a relationship of dependence
between an antecedent judgment and a consequent judgment. The
part of the judgment introduced by the word “if” is called the
antecedent while the consequent may be introduced by the word
“then.” To be correct, there must be real dependence by the
consequent on the antecedent.
• If it rains, then the ground gets wet.
• If you pass the bar exams, then you will become a good lawyer.
•
• Disjunctive – is one which expresses alternatives, all of which cannot
be together true, nor together false, but only one is true with the
exclusion of the rest. To be correct, the alternatives taken together,
must not all be true or false. Rather, only one is true with the
exclusion of the rest. All of the alternatives must be expressly given
and none must be left out. Contradictory terms are usually the
suggested choices when we make disjunctive propositions.
• It is either raining or not.
• You are either a man or a woman.
•
• Conjunctive – is one which expresses the incompatibility of two
alternatives. To be correct, this proposition should have alternatives
which are really mutually exclusive of each other.
•
• One cannot be in two places at the same time; you are either in
Manila or not in Manila..
Argument
• – is a group of connected statements whose relation with one other is
one of dependence. Its characteristics are:
• It consists of at least two statements. The conclusion, which is
claimed to follow from the premises, called the support.
• It involves at least one inference from the premises to the conclusion
• It involves a claim of dependence by one statement on another. The
following of one statement from the other must shown to be
something true.
premise-conclusion structure
• The existence of a premise-conclusion structure is the defining
characteristic of an argument. This means that to determine whether
a group of statements is an argument or not, we must look if it has its
premise-conclusion structure. If it does not have it, then it is not an
argument.
example
• The law is concerned with giving justice as the common good for all
people in the society. Therefore, it is the recourse of all who have
grievances against the government.
• Cloning is immoral because a lot of zygotes are fertilized and
discarded if found unfit for the experiment. No one can play God
when it comes to life.

• A black cat crossed our path as we went to the cockpit. It must be the
reason why we lost so much that day.
Premises and Conclusion
• All students in law school are college graduates.
• Alfred is a student in law school.
• Therefore, Alfred is a college graduate.
` PREMISE INDICATORS CONCLUSION INDICATORS

since, as indicated by, because, for, in that, therefore, wherefore, accordingly, we may conclude,
may be inferred from, as, seeing that, for the entails that, hence, thus, consequently, we may infer
reason that, inasmuch as, given that, may be that, it must be that, whence, so, it follows that,
concluded from, or the reason that, due to the implies that
fact that
shows that
Premise indicates that Conclusion
proves that
entails that
implies that
establishes that
is shown by
Conclusion is indicated by Premise
is proven by
is entailed by
is implied by
is established by