Principles of Reasoning: Week 1 Hsuan-Chih Lin

1. Reasoning, Argument and Logic.

• What is reasoning or a process of reasoning?

• What is a good (valid) argument?
• What is logic?
• Why should we reason?

2. Roughly speaking, reasoning is the process which we arrive at a conclusion via a set (possibly
none) of premises. But what is a good/bad reasoning? For example, if we say that A, B
implies C, where A, B, and C are variables of any sentence, is it a good reasoning? (Discuss)

3. Suppose that John and Ann disagree on the following topic: Global warming is happening.
How should one convince the other? Some strategies:

• ‘You must be wrong this time because last time you were wrong on the issue whether
being a vegetarian makes you healthy.’
• ‘You cannot be right. You failed the math test.’
• ‘According to Professor X, global warming is indeed (not) happening.’
• ‘I am not feeling cold, but if global warming is happening, I should have felt hot.’
• ‘The evidence that you provide is too scientific. We shall ask how ordinary people think.’
• ‘Global warming is simply a hoax. Regardless the reasons you are going to provide, I
don’t believe them.’

4. Presumably, these are all bad responses or strategies if you want to convince someone about
something. But why are they bad? This comes down to the validity of arguments. An
argument is valid if and only if it is not possible that the premises are true and the conclusion
is false. It is invalid if otherwise. Notice that the above includes two terms: ‘truth’ and
‘possibility’. What are they?

5. Consider the following sentences and decide whether it is true and whether it is possibly false.

• Snow is white.
• Snow is green.
• Triangles has three sides.
• 2+2 =4

6. Some examples of valid argument.

(1) Socrates is a human.

(2) Human beings are mortal.
(3) Therefore, Socrates is mortal.

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Principles of Reasoning: Week 1 Hsuan-Chih Lin

(4) 2+2=4
(5) Therefore, snow is white or snow is not white.

(6) The moon is made of cheese.

(7) Therefore, 2+2=4.

It seems that validity is not enough. What is missing?

7. A story of Raymond Smullyan:

My introduction to logic was at the age of six. It happened this way: On April 1,
1925, I was sick in bed with grippe, or flu, or something. In the morning my brother
Emile (ten years my senior) came into my bedroom and said: “Well, Raymond,
today is April Fool’s Day, and I will fool you as you have never been fooled before!”
I waited all day long for him to fool me, but he didn’t. Late that night, my mother
asked me, “Why don’t you go to sleep?” I replied, “I’m waiting for Emile to fool
me.” My mother turned to Emile and said, “Emile, will you please fool the child!”
Emile then turned to me, and the following dialogue ensued:
Emile: So you expected me to fool you, didn’t you?
Raymond: Yes.
Emile: But I didn’t, did I?
Raymond: No.
Emile: But you expected me to, didn’t you?
Raymond: Yes.
Emile: So I fooled you, didn’t I?

8. Question 1: (1) Do you think the weather will be rainy in two hours? Why or why not?
What arguments can you give to support your answer? (2) Do you think machines can have
free will? What arguments can you give to support your answer?

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