Philosophy
In our previous lesson on propositional logic, we learned that we can take arguments in natural language (English, Spanish, German, whatever) and translate them into symbolic form through the use of variables to represent statements, and connectives to represent relationships between statements. This helps us set aside irrelevant considerations such as the content of an argument (what the argument is about), or the language used to express that content, and focus instead simply on its formal aspects to evaluate its validity (whether the conclusion follows necessarily from its premises).
The claim was that these basic concepts can be applied to a wide range of arguments, including indefinitely complex ones, and that logicians have developed systematic methods for evaluating the validity of such arguments in a systematic way: it's not just a matter of personal opinion or subjective point of view but of objectively demonstrative rationality.
So, let's take a look at one example of a complex argument, and go through these systematic steps to figure out whether it makes logical sense or not.
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Philosophy
Propositional Logic - Using Truth Tables to Evaluate the Validity of Complex Arguments
The claim was that these basic concepts can be applied to a wide range of arguments, including indefinitely complex ones, and that logicians have developed systematic methods for evaluating the validity of such arguments in a systematic way: it's not just a matter of personal opinion or subjective point of view but of objectively demonstrative rationality.
So, let's take a look at one example of a complex argument, and go through these systematic steps to figure out whether it makes logical sense or not.
For more related posts, check out our logic tag.
- God And Stuff
A couple of God questions this week. kzndr asks, "Are any of the classical arguments for the existence of God actually any good?"No. The interesting one, though, is Anselm's argument that a perfect being must exist because existence is a perfection...
- Valid Arguments Vs. Sound Arguments
Validity and soundness are one of the most important terms in logic. How to distinguish between deductively valid and invalid arguments as well as between sound and unsound arguments? The definition is very much straightforward and it is all that is needed...
- Logical Fallacies Classification - Formal And Informal Fallacies
Logical fallacies are classified in many different ways since there is still no agreement between thinkers for that matter. What are logical fallacies? The best definition of a fallacy in logic is an argument with poor reasoning (critical thinking rules...
- What?s The Point Of Arguing About Art?
We?ve all been witness to the following type of conversation: Anthony: Have you heard the new so and so album? Maria: Yea, it?s wack. So and so is falling off. Anthony: You?re trippin?. Did you listen to track 10? It?s fire. Maria: Yea, I listened. That...
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I don't know if you heard, but here in the ol' U.S. of A. we just had an election this Tuesday. You know, just trying to choose who the most powerful man in the world would be... Well, as it turned out, President Barack Obama was re-elected, beating...