Professional Documents
Culture Documents
What is Logic?
• Logic (from the Greek logikē) is the formal
systematic study of the principles of valid
Logic and Argument inference and correct reasoning
1 2
What is reason? What is Inference?
• The capacity of human beings to make sense The act or process of deriving logical conclusions
of things to establish and verify facts, and to
change or justify practices, institutions and from premises known or assumed to be true.
beliefs Thus a conclusion is a form of inference
There are inductive and deductive inferences (see
Kolb’s learning cycles)
3 4
What is Inference?
Inductive:
o Derived from multiple observations (How accurate is
the inference?)
o May be correct or incorrect? Correct sometimes? In
some situations?
o The inference is a general rule based on a limited
number of observations
5 6
1
2020/03/06
What is Inference? Deductive Inference
Deductive All men are mortal. Socrates is a man.
o Attempts to show an inference necessarily follows from a Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
premise (a declarative sentence)
o A hypothesis is a premise (hypotheses (pl) are premises (pl)
o Deductive arguments are valid or invalid, sound or unsound, but
are never false nor true.
o Deductive reasoning is a method of gaining knowledge by
combining premises together: e.g.:
7 8
Validity and Truth Validity and Truth
Are we concerned with the validity of the logic or the truth of the
• For example, consider the form of the following:
inferences?
The validity of an inference depends on the form of the inference. 1. All apples are blue.
o "valid" does not refer to the truth of the premises or the conclusion,
2. A banana is an apple.
but rather to the form of the inference.
9 10
Validity and Truth Validity and Truth
• Now an invalid form. • A valid argument with false premises may lead to a false
1. All A are B. conclusion:
2. C is a B.
1. All fat people are Greek.
3. Therefore, C is an A.
2. John Lennon was fat.
• To show that this form is invalid, one can demonstrate how it
3. Therefore, John Lennon was Greek.
can lead from true premises to a false conclusion
1. All apples are fruit. (True) • When a valid argument is used to derive a false conclusion
2. Bananas are fruit. (True) from false premises, the inference is valid because it
3. Therefore, bananas are apples. (False) follows the form of a correct inference.
11 12
2
2020/03/06
Validity and Truth What is an Argument?
• A valid argument can also be used to derive a true An attempt to persuade someone of something, by giving reasons or
conclusion from false premises: evidence for accepting a particular conclusion
Can be inductive (to achieve a probable truth)
1. All fat people are musicians
Or deductive (guarantees truth)
2. John Lennon was fat
Not the same as ‘everyday’ usage where it relates to ’disagreement’
3. Therefore, John Lennon was a musician
Essentially a collection of inferences put together in a logic.
• In this case there are two false premises that imply a true
conclusion. But a valid form with true premises will always
have a true conclusion!
13 14
Fallacies and False Logic Accident or Sweeping Generalizations
• An incorrect argument or reasoning resulting in a • Generalizations that disregard exceptions:
misconception or presumption
Argument: Cutting people is a crime. Surgeons cut people's
• Can exploit emotional triggers by accident or design diaphragms. Therefore, surgeons are criminals.
(rhetoric)
Problem: Cutting people is only sometimes a crime.
• Examples of Fallacies: Argument: It is illegal for a stranger to enter someone's
home uninvited. Firefighters enter people's homes
uninvited, therefore firefighters are breaking the law.
Problem: The exception does not break nor define the rule
15 16
17 18
3
2020/03/06
Problem: Other things, such as asthma, can cause Problem: There does not have to be rain in order for
someone to cough. there to be clouds.
19 20
21 22