Logic is the study of the methods and principles used to distinguish correct reasoning from incorrect reasoning. There are objective criteria with which correct reasoning may be defined. If these criteria are not known, then they cannot be used. The aim of the study of logic is to discover and make available those criteria that can be used to test arguments, and to sort good arguments from bad ones.
The logician is concerned with reasoning on every subject: science and medicine, ethics and law, politics and commerce, sports and games, and even the simple affairs of everyday life. Very different kinds of reasoning may be used, and all are of interest to the logician. In this book arguments of many varieties, on very many topics, will be analyzed. Our concern throughout will be not with the subject matter of those arguments, but with their form and quality. Our aim is to learn how to test arguments and evaluate them. (from Introductionto Logic,11th edition, by Irving Copi and Carl Cohen)
The Philosophy
Discussion Board
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Introduction to Logic is a skills-course. It will enhance your skill at reasoning, at writing, at reading, and it will enhance your appreciation of some of the common, but subtle, aspects of the English language. The course is beneficial in a very practical, but not always obvious, way.
Text for the course: A Concise Introduction to Logic, 8th edition, by Patrick J. Hurley (this is NOT the same text that was used during the Fall semester, 2002)
The course will include the material in the 'Traditional Logic Course", as described in the Hurley text on page vi of the Preface-- Chapters 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.1-7.4.-- and the remainder of chapter 7 and most of chapter 8. (The material described below in purple print)
Table of Contents (from the text)
1.
BASIC CONCEPTS.
Arguments, Premises, and Conclusions. Recognizing Arguments. Deduction
and Induc tion. Validity,
Truth, Soundness, Strength, Cogency. Argument Forms: Proving Inv alidity.
Extended Arguments.
2. LANGUAGE: MEANING AND
DEFINITION.
Varieties
of Meaning. The Intension and Extension of Terms. Definitions and Thei
r Purposes.
Definitional
Techniques. Criteria for Lexical Definitions.
3.
INFORMAL FALLACIES.
Fallacies in General. Fallacies of Relevance. Fallacies of Weak Induction.
Falla cies of Presumption,
Ambiguity, and Grammatical Analogy. Fallacies in Ordinary L anguage.
4.
CATEGORICAL PROPOSITIONS.
The Components of Categorical Propositions. Quality, Quantity, and Distribution.
Venn Diagrams and
the Modern Square of Opposition. Conversion, Obversion, and C ontraposition.
The Traditional Square
of Opposition. Venn Diagrams and the Tradi tional Standpoint. Translating
Ordinary Language
Statements into Categorical For m.
5.
CATEGORICAL SYLLOGISMS.
Standard Form, Mood, and Figure. Venn Diagrams. Rules and Fallacies. Reducing
th e Number of
Terms. Ordinary Language Arguments. Enthymemes. Sorties.
6.
PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC.
Symbols and Translation. Truth Functions. Truth Tables for Propositions.
Truth T ables for Arguments.
Indirect Truth Tables. Argument Forms and Fallacies.
7.
NATURAL DEDUCTION IN PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC.
Rules of Implication I. Rules of Implication II. Rules of Replacement I.
Rules of Replacement II.
Conditional Proof. Indirect Proof. Proving Logical Truths.
8.
PREDICATE LOGIC.
Symbols and Translation. Using the Rules of Inference. Change of Quantifier
Rule . Conditional and
Indirect Proof. Proving Invalidity. Relational
Predicates and Overlapping Quantifiers. Identity.
9. INDUCTION.
Analogy
and Legal and Moral Reasoning. Causality and Mill's Methods. Probability
. Statistical
Reasoning.
Hypothetical/Scientific Reasoning. Science and Supersti tion.
Answers
to Selected Exercises.
Glossary.
Index.