LOGIC and CRITICAL THINKING

What Is Logic?

- study of the methods and principles used in distinguishing correct from incorrect reasoning.
- Distinguishes good arguments from poor arguments.

Critical thinking

- used often but it isn't always properly understood.

- for separating truth from falsehood and reasonable from unreasonable beliefs.

HISTORY OF LOGIC

Aristotle

- FATHER OF LOGIC
- introduced the formal study of what is now known as formal logic

BASIC CONCEPT of LOGIC

- logic describes not the psychological process of reasoning but the rules for correct reasoning.

Philosopher

 goal – acquire knowledge

 tool – reason

NATURE OF LOGIC

- study of how a concluding statement logically follows from another statement.

Spontaneous Logic

- any activity guided by reason follows a certain order

IMPORTANCE OF LOGIC

1. Studying Logic Develops Critical Thinking Skills

- able to apply these reasoning skills to recognize truth from falsehood.
2. Studying Logic Empowers Us to be Truly in the Image of God
- By using forms to indicate order from disorder and truth from uncertainty.
3. Studying Logic Builds Good Character
- goal of learning logic is to become better thinkers, which is a worthwhile end to strive toward no
matter how strenuous the journey may become.

2 DIVISIONS OF LOGIC:

1. Traditional Logic
- system of formal logic mainly concerned with the syllogistic forms of deduction.
2. Symbolic Logic
- way to represent logical expressions by using symbols and variables in place of natural language
3 LEVELS OF CRITICAL THINKING

1. ANALYSIS
 Identifying what’s being said
 Distinguishing the relevant from the irrelevant
2. INFERENCE
 Identifying assumptions
3. EVALUATION
 Giving reasons for decisions

Critical thinkers characteristics

Inquisitiveness

 their curiosity
 constantly hungry for new ideas

Good analyzer

 analyze what is going on around them from different angles.

Growth mindset

 Their learning journey is never ending.

Creativity

 requires a creative eye that can take a different approach

 They think differently and make a difference.

adapt and accept

 they are open minded

change agents

 actively look for ways to improve

Unbiased

 to look at things and problems in unbiased way.

Value of Critical Thinking

- enhancing decision-making and problem-solving processes.

How Language Influences Critical Thinking

- language is one of the main means of expressing our thoughts it might be very important to
choose words carefully.

Verbal disputes

- are often contrasted with factual disputes

DEFINITIONS

AMBIGUITY (kalabuan)

 doubtfulness

Vagueness (pagkalabo)

 lack of clarity in meaning

Informal Fallacies
What is Fallacy?

- An Error in Reasoning
- a failure in reasoning which renders an argument invalid.

Informal Fallacies?

- Type of incorrect argument in natural language.

Different kinds of Informal Fallacies

Fallacies of Relevance

- When the premises are logically irrelevant to the conclusion.

- use unrelated forms of appeal.

Fallacies of Weak Induction

- when the connection between premises and conclusion is not strong enough to support
the conclusion.

Fallacies of Presumption

- when someone tries to convince you of something by presenting it as one of limited number of
options and the best choice among those options.

Fallacies of Ambiguity

- flaw of logic, where the meaning of a statement is not entirely clear.

Fallacies of Illicit Transference

- similar to some good arguments, but they draw a conclusion by improperly transferring a
particular attribute between the parts and the whole of a thing.