WEEK 17

CRITICAL THINKING AND LOGIC

Logic is the study of the criteria used in evaluating inferences or arguments.

An inference is a process of reasoning in which a new belief is formed on the basis of or

in virtue of evidence or proof supposedly provided by other beliefs.

An argument is a collection of statements or propositions, some of which are intended

to provide support or evidence in favor of one of the others.

A statement or proposition is something that can either be true or false. We usually think
of a statement as a declarative sentence, or part of a sentence.

The premises of an argument are those statements or propositions in it that are

intended to provide the support or evidence.

The conclusion of an argument is that statement or proposition for which the premises
are intended to provide support (in short, it is the point the argument is trying to make).

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Some Example Arguments

God is defined as the most perfect being. A perfect being must have every trait or
property that it's better to have than not to have. It is better to exist than not to
exist. Therefore, God exists.

It has rained more than 15 inches per year in London every year for the past 30
years. So you can safely bet it will rain more than 15 inches in London this year.

Professor Santos said that the ratio of female to male students in the class was
exactly 3:1. This means that there are 112 female students in the class, because
there are 148 students in the class total.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica has an article on symbiosis. It stands to reason

that the Encyclopedia Americana has an article on symbiosis as well, since the
two reference works tend to cover the same topics.

1 is a prime number. 3 is a prime number. 5 is a prime number. 7 is a prime

number. Therefore, all odd integers between 0 and 8 are prime numbers.

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Inductive Logic and Deductive Logic

The distinction actually has to do with how strong the author of an argument intends the
evidence or support to be.

An argument is deductive if the author intends it to be so strong that it is impossible for

the premises to be true and the conclusion to be false, or in other words, that the
conclusion follows necessarily from the premises. A deductive argument attempts
(successfully or unsuccessfully) to provide full proof of the conclusion.

An argument is inductive if the author intends it only to be so strong that it is

improbable that the premises could be true and the conclusion false, or in other words,
that the conclusion is likely if the premises are true. An inductive argument only
attempts (successfully or unsuccessfully) to provide evidence for the likely truth of the
conclusion, rather than outright proof.

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Validity and Soundness

A deductive argument is valid if it has a form that would make it impossible for the
premises to be true and the conclusion false, or if the conclusion follows necessarily
from the premises.

To test whether an argument is valid, you should first imagine that the premises are
true—whether or not they actually are—and then ask yourself, without appealing to any
other knowledge you have, could you still imagine the conclusion being false? If you
can, the argument is invalid. If you can't, then the argument is valid.

Note that validity does not have to do with the actual truth or falsity of the premises. It
only has to do with what would follow from them if they were true. A valid argument can
have false premises. For example:

All toasters are items made of gold.

All items made of gold are time-travel devices.
Therefore, all toasters are time-travel devices.

It may be hard to imagine these premises as true, but it is not hard to recognize that if
they were true, the conclusion would also be true.

So, there's more to an argument's being a good one than validity. To be a good
argument, an argument must also have true premises. An argument with true premises
is called factually correct.

A sound argument is an argument that is both valid and factually correct.

An invalid argument may have true or false premises, and a true or false conclusion. A
valid argument may have false premises with either a true or a false conclusion. The
only combination that is ruled out is a valid argument with true premises and a false
conclusion. Sound arguments always have true conclusions.

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Argument Form

The validity of a deductive argument is determined entirely by its form. Consider these
arguments.

All tigers are mammals.

No mammals are creatures with scales.
Therefore, no tigers are creatures with scales.

All spider monkeys are elephants.

No elephants are animals.
Therefore, no spider monkeys are animals.

These arguments share the same form: All A are B, No B is C. Therefore, No A is C. All
arguments with this form are valid. So the examples above are valid. Now consider:

All basketballs are round.

The Earth is round.
Therefore, the Earth is a basketball.

All Jedis are one with the force.

Yoda is one with the force.
Therefore, Yoda is a Jedi.

These arguments also have the same form. All A are F. X is F. Therefore, X is an A. All
arguments with this form are invalid. #4 may seem like a good argument because all the
premises and the conclusion are true (at least in fiction), but note that the conclusion
isn't made true by the premises. It could be possible for the premises to be true and the
conclusion false. #4 is invalid, and all invalid arguments are unsound. #4 is not a good
argument.

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Some Logical Pitfalls

 Begging the Question

An argument begs the question when it makes use of a premise that no one who
didn't already accept the conclusion would believe. Simply put, an argument begs
the question when it reasons in a circle or presupposes the truth of the very thing it's
trying to prove.

Example: God exists, because it says that God exists in the Bible, and everything in
the Bible is the true word of God.

 The Appeal to Ignorance Fallacy

This fallacy is committed when something is concluded to be true simply because it

hasn't been proven to be false, or is concluded to be false just because it hasn't
been proven to be true. Reasoning in such a way is invalid. Something can be true
even if no one has succeeded in showing it to be true.

Example: No one has even proven that there is life after death. Therefore, there is
no life after death.

 The Wishful Thinking Fallacy

This fallacy is committed when someone concludes that something must be true in
virtue of what he or she wants to be true (or doesn't want to be false) instead of what
the evidence suggests. Unfortunately, just because there are better consequences to
something's being true rather than false does not provide evidence that it is true.

Example: The idea of life in a universe without God would be frightening and
depressing, and very difficult to accept. Therefore, God must exist.

 The "Ad Hominem" Fallacy

This fallacy is committed when an argument or position is rejected not in virtue of its
logical merits, but rather in virtue of the character, personality, background or
motivation of the person giving the argument or holding the position. However, a

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 position can be true, and an argument can be sound, no matter how deplorable the
person is. Who holds a belief has nothing to do with whether or not it's true.

Example: Former president Clinton has argued in favor of increasing restrictions on

the sale of guns. But President Clinton is a lecherous, adulterous, untrustworthy,
draft-dodging old pervert, so his views must surely be misguided.

Opinion and Fact

An opinion is something that someone believes to be true.

A fact is something that is true.

Sometimes people disagree about what the fact of the matter is with regard to a certain
question. In those cases, there are many opinions, but only one fact. Those people
whose opinion agrees with the facts are correct; those who have other opinions are
incorrect.

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