Chapter Three

LOGIC AND LANGUAGE Logic and Critical Thinking

Binnyam A.
Hamle 2013
 PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE
Philosophy of Language is the reasoned inquiry into the origins of language, nature of
meaning, the usage and cognition of language, and the relationship between language
and reality.
Philosophy of language not linguistics.
It asks Questions like "What is meaning?", "How does language refer to the real
world?", "Is language learned or is it innate?", "How does the meaning of a
sentence emerge out of its parts?”
Language is the mere manipulation and use of symbols in order to draw attention to
signified content( Semiotical Definition )
Language is a body of standard meanings of words and the form of speech used as a
means of expressing the feeling, emotion, desire, thought etc. in a consistent pattern
of communication
DEBATE AND HISTORY OF
POFL
Plato generally considered that the names of things are determined by
nature, with each phoneme (the smallest structural unit that
distinguishes meaning) representing basic ideas or sentiments, and that
convention only has a small part to play.
Aristotle held that the meaning of a predicate (the way a subject is
modified or described in a sentence) is established through an
abstraction of the similarities between various individual things (a
theory later known as Nominalism).
The Stoic philosophers made important contributions to the analysis of
grammar, distinguishing five parts of speech: nouns, verbs, appellatives,
conjunctions and articles.
The Scholastics of the Medieval era considered Logic to be a "science of
language“ anticipated many of the most interesting problems of modern Philosophy
of Language, including the phenomena of vagueness and ambiguity, the doctrines
of proper and improper supposition (the interpretation of a term in a specific
context), and the study of categorematic and syncategorematic words and terms.
Linguists of the Renaissance period were particularly interested in the idea of a
philosophical language (or universal language),
Western philosophy in the late 19thand 20th Centuries through analytical
philosophy was concerned about four central problems: the nature of meaning,
language use, language cognition, and the relationship between language, logic and
reality
 PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACHES
TO THE NATURE OF MEANING
Conceptual meaning Vs Associative Meaning
Conceptual meaning -refers to the definitions of words
themselves, and the features of those definitions, which can
be treated using semantic feature analysis
Associative meaning -which refers to the individual mental
understandings of the speaker, and which may be
connotative, collocative, social, affective, reflected or
thematic
APPROACHES TO THE PHILOSOPHICAL NATURE
OF MEANING
Idea theories: claim that meanings are purely mental contents provoked by signs.
Truth-conditional theories: hold meaning to be the conditions under which an
expression may be true or false.
Use theories: understand meaning to involve or be related to speech acts and
particular utterances, not the expressions themselves
Reference theories (or semantic externalism): view meaning to be equivalent to
those things in the world that are actually connected to signs
Verificationist theories: associate the meaning of a sentence with its method of
verification or falsification.
Pragmatist theories: these theories maintain that the meaning or understanding of a
sentence is determined by the consequences of its application
LOGIC AND MEANING
Various Functions of ordinary language
Most Important purpose- to convey information and to express or evoke feelings.
Terminology that conveys information is said to have cognitive meaning, and terminology
that expresses or evokes feelings is said to have emotive meaning
An emotively charged statements illustrates two important Points
1. Statements of this sort usually have both cognitive meaning and emotive meaning.
Therefore, since logic is concerned chiefly with cognitive meaning, it is important that
we be able to distinguish and disengage the cognitive meaning of such statements from
the emotive meaning
2. Part of the cognitive meaning of such statements is a value claim.
A value claim is a claim that something is good, bad, right, wrong, better, worse, more
important or less important than some other thing
EMOTIVE TERMINOLOGIES IN
ARGUMENTS
In arguments emotive terminology allows the arguer to make value claims
about the subject matter of the argument without providing evidence, and it
gives the argument a kind of steamroller quality by which it tends to crush
potential counter arguments before the reader or listener has a chance to
think of the
Tends to paralyze the logical thought processes of readers or listeners so that
they are not able to see illogical arguments in their true light
These effects of emotive terminology can be avoided if the reader or listener
will disengage the value claims and other cognitive meanings from the
emotive meaning of the language and re-express them as distinct premises .
Deficiency of Cognitive Meanings: Vagueness and Ambiguity

The difference between ambiguity and vagueness is that vague terminology allows for a
relatively continuous range of interpretations, whereas ambiguous terminology allows
for multiple discrete interpretations.
In a vague expression there is a blur of meaning, whereas in an ambiguous expression
there is a mix-up of otherwise clear meanings
A linguistic expression is said to be vague if there are borderline cases in which it is
impossible to tell if the expression applies or does not apply
Vague expressions often allow for a continuous range of interpretations as their
meaning is hazy, obscure, and imprecise
For example, words such as ‘‘love,’’ ‘‘happiness, “peace,’’ ‘‘excessive,’’ ‘‘fresh,’’
‘‘rich,’’ ‘‘poor,’’ ‘‘normal,’’ ‘‘conservative,’’ and ‘‘polluted’’ are vague
An expression is said to be ambiguous when it can be
interpreted as having more than one clearly distinct
meaning in a given context.
Words such as ‘‘light,’’ ‘‘proper,’’ ‘‘critical,’’ ‘‘stress,’’
‘‘mad,’’ ‘‘inflate,’’ ‘‘chest,’’ ‘‘bank,’’ ‘‘sound,’’ and ‘‘race’’
can be used ambiguously.
The role of vagueness and ambiguity in arguments may
be conveniently explored in the context of conflicting
arguments between individuals.
Such conflicts are called disputes.
 FORMS OF DISPUTE IN LOGIC
Disputes that arise over the meaning of language are called verbal disputes
These are disputes in which the apparent conflict is not genuine and can be
resolved by coming to agreement about how some words or phrases is to be
understood
Disputes arise over a disagreement about facts, and these are called factual
disputes.
Disputes arisen because of the truth or falsity of claims are factual disputes.
In dealing with disputes, the first question is whether the dispute is factual,
verbal, or some combination of the two. If the dispute is verbal, then the
second question to be answered is whether the dispute concerns ambiguity
or vagueness.
The Intension and Extension of Terms

The basic units of any ordinary language are words.

A term is any word or arrangement of words that may serve as the subject
of a statement.
Terms consist of proper names, common names, and descriptive phrases.
Words that are not ‘terms’ include verbs, non-substantive adjectives,
adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and all non-syntactic arrangements of
words.
Words are usually considered to be symbols, and the entities they
symbolize are usually called meanings.
Terms, being made up of words, are also symbols, but the meanings they
symbolize are of two kinds: intensional and extensional.
INTENSIONAL MEANING
The intensional meaning (which is otherwise known as intension or connotation)
consists of the qualities or attributes that the term connotes, and the extensional meaning
(which is otherwise known as extension or denotation) consists of the members of the
class that the term denotes
‘‘Intension’’ and ‘‘extension’’ are roughly equivalent to the more modern terms ‘‘sense’’
and ‘‘reference,’’ respectively.
The conventional connotation of a term includes the attributes that the term commonly
calls forth in the minds of competent speakers of the language
Empty extension ….the current king of Ethiopia( represent the class that has no member)
intension determines extension- The intentional meaning of a word serves as a criteria for
deciding what extensions consist of.
Terms can be put in the order of increasing intension- increasing
extension- decreasing intension- decreasing extension.
Increasing intension- each term in the series is more specific than
the one preceding it.
Decreasing intension- the class size gets larger with each
successive term
Increasing intension( decreasing extension)- Animal, reptile,
feline, lizard
Decreasing intension( increasing extension)- Lizard, feline,
reptile, animal
DEFINITION AND PURPOSES
Definition is a group of words that assign a meaning to
some word or group of words.
Consists of two parts; the definiendum and the
definiens
Definiendum- word or group of words that is suppose
to be defined
Definiens- the word or group of words that does the
defining
TYPES OF DEFINITION :
STIPULATIVE
Stipulative definition-
DEFINITION
Assigns a meaning to a word for the first time by coining a new word
or giving a new meaning for an old word.
Its purpose is to replace a complex expression with a simple one.
It is also used to set up secrete codes
There is no true or false stipulative definition since it is a completely
arbitrary assignment of meaning to a word for the first time.
A stipulative definition cannot provide new information about the
subject matter of the definiendum
LEXICAL DEFINITION
Used to report the meaning that a word has already has
in a language.
Dictionary definitions are examples
A lexical definition is either true or false
Lexical definition eliminate the ambiguity that would
arise with confusion of meanings by providing the
various meanings a word has.
PRÉCISING DEFINITION
A definition that reduce the vagueness of a word.
When words are employed in a highly systematic
context as science, math's, medicine or law, they
must be clarified using précising definition.
The assignment of meaning in a précising definition
is different from stipulative definition as it is not
arbitrary.
THEORETICAL DEFINITION
Provides a theoretical picture or characterization of
the entity or entities denoted by the definiendum.
The definitions are neither true nor false
They may be more or less interesting or more or
less fruitful depending on the deductive
consequence they entail and on the outcome of the
experiment they suggest.
PERSUASIVE DEFINITION
Has a purpose of endangering a favorable or unfavorable
attitude towards what is denoted by the definiendum.
It utilizes a combination of the other definitions by assigning
emotively charged or value laden meaning to a word.
The purpose is to influence the attitudes of the reader/listener
Can have truth value
The major purpose is not truth or falsity but the effectiveness
of such definition as persuasion instrument
DEFINITION TECHNIQUES:
Extensional ( denotative definition)

A. Demonstrative ( ostensive ) definition – most primitive, most

limited, partial or complete, best fit for language teaching
B. Enumerative definition-naming a member of the class the term
denotes
C. Definition by subclass- naming subclasses of the class denoted
by the term
Best for lexical and stipulative definition
Can not serve précising definition by themselves
Intentional ( connotative definition )
A. Synonymous definition –the definines is the synonym of the word being defined.
B. Etymological definition-indicate the words ancestory in both its own language and other
languages
C. Operational definition- specifying certain experimental procedures that determine whether
or not the word applies to a certain thing
D. Definition by genus and difference- assigns a meaning to a term by identifying a genus
term and one or more difference words that when combined convey the meaning of the
word being defined.
Lexical definitions are typically definitions by genus and difference. This is also the most
effective of intentional definitions to produce all types of definitions.
OD- stipulative, lexical, précising, persuasive
SD- lexical definition
 CRITERIAL FOR LEXICAL
DEFINITION
A Lexical Definition
1. Should conform to the standards of proper grammar
2. Should convey the essential meaning of the word being defined
3. Should be neither too broad nor too narrow
4. Should avoid circularity
5. Should not be negative when it can be affirmative
6. Should avoid figurative, obscure, vague or ambiguous language
7. Should avoid affective terminology
8. Should indicate the context to which the definiens pertain
Thank You!!