Introducing Logic

• Logic is the study of the methods and

principles used to distinguish correct
reasoning from incorrect reasoning.
• it is one of the branches of philosophy which
includes:
– Metaphysics – studies the ultimate nature of all
things.
• Ontology – study of beings – existence and nothingness
• Teleology – study of the meaning or purpose of Being
(if there is one.)
– Ethics – the study of good and bad, and what is means to
have a good life.
• Contractarianism – John Locke and Rousseau
• Formalism – Immanuel Kant
– Epistemology – the study of knowledge.
• What makes true, true?
• Justified true belief
– Political philosophy – the study of the foundations and the
nature of society and the state.
• democracy, liberalism, anarchism, socialism and so on.
– Philosophy of religion – the philosophical study of religion;
the nature of religion, the nature of divine, and the various
reasons for believing (or not) in God.
• OmniGod
• Problem of evil
– Aesthetics – the study of the nature of art and the
experience we have when we enjoy the arts or
take pleasure in nature.
• Beauty and expression
– Logic – the study of formal structures of sound
thinking and good argumentation.
 Logic is…

The study of the methods and

principles used to distinguish correct
reasoning from incorrect reasoning.
• The aim of the study of logic is to discover and
make available of those criteria that can be
used to test arguments, and to sort good
arguments from bad ones.
• Our concern throughout will be not with the
subject matter of those arguments, but with
their form and quality.
– If the ground is wet, therefore it rains,
– The ground is wet,
– Therefore, it rains.
• The student of logic will acquire methods for
testing the correctness of reasoning, and the
more easily errors are detected, the likely they
are to be allowed to stand.
• Thus, study of logic is likely to improve the
quality of one’s reasoning as it gives one the
opportunity to ‘practice’ the analysis of
arguments and the construction of arguments
of one’s own.
 Next lesson will be

Lesson 1: Language and its function