Rules of Inferential Logic

Terms

• Argument
–set of two or more propositions related to eachother in such a way
that all but one of them (the premises) are supposed to provide
support for the remaining one (the conclusion)
• Inference
– transition from premises to conclusion upon which the argument relies.
• Suppose that the premises of an argument are alltrue, then the
conclusion may be either true or false. When the conclusion is
true, then the argument is said to be valid. When the conclusion
is false, then the argument is said to be invalid.
• To test an argument for validity, one proceeds as follows:
1) Identify the premises and the conclusion of the argument.
2) Construct a truth table including thepremises and the conclusion.
3) Find rows in which all premises are true.
4) In each row of step 3), if the conclusion is true, then the
argument is valid, otherwise the argument is invalid.
 Ex. 1

• Show that the argument below is invalid

 Modus Ponens or the Method of Affirming

• Show that the argument is valid

 Modus Tollens or the Method of Denial

• Show that the argument is valid

 Disjunctive Addition

• Show that the argument is valid.

 Conjunctive Simplification

• Show that the argument is

valid
 Disjunctive Syllogism

• Show that the argument is

valid.
 Hypothetical Syllogism

• Show that the argument is valid.

 Rule of contradiction

• Show that if c is a contradiction, then the following

argument is valid for any p.
Review Problems