Notable Argument Forms

Modus Ponens

If Socrates is a philosopher, then he is wise.

Socrates is a philosopher.
Therefore, Socrates is wise.

A —> B
A
Therefore, B

Modus Tollens

If Socrates is a philosopher, then he is wise.

Socrates isn’t wise.
Therefore, Socrates isn’t a philosopher.

A —> B
not B
Therefore, not A
 Notable Argument Forms

Fallacy of affirming the consequent (invalid!)

If Socrates is a philosopher, then he is wise.

Socrates is wise.
Therefore, Socrates is a philosopher.

A —> B
B
Therefore, A

Fallacy of denying the antecedent (invalid!)

If Socrates is a philosopher, then he is wise.

Socrates isn’t a philosopher.
Therefore, Socrates isn’t wise.

A —> B
not A
Therefore, not B
 Notable Argument Forms

Hypothetical Syllogism

If Socrates is a philosopher, then he is wise.

If Socrates is wise, then he knows the truth.
Therefore, if Socrates is a philosopher, then he knows the truth.

A —> B Disjunctive Syllogism

B —> C
Therefore, A —> C Socrates is a poet or a philosopher.
Socrates isn’t a poet.
Constructive Dilemma Therefore, Socrates is a philosopher.

If Socrates is a philosopher, then he is wise.

If Socrates is a poet, then he is creative. A or B
Socrates is a philosopher or a poet. not A
Therefore, Socrates is wise or creative. Therefore, B

A —> B
C —> D
A or C
Therefore, B or D
 J.J. Smith,
“Logic: Laws of Truth”, Ex. 6.5.1
 To check for validity:

STEP 1 — uncover the logical structure of the propositions in the argument

1. If I have neither money nor a card, I shall walk. If I walk, I shall get
tired or have a rest. So if I have a rest, I have money.

2. Maisy is upset only if there is thunder. If there is thunder, then there

is lightning. Therefore, either Maisy is not upset, or there is lightning.

STEP 2 — “translate” these propositions into the language of formal logic

using our connectives and a “glossary”/“symbolization key” (this “translation” process is
called “symbolization”)

STEP 3 — construct a “truth table” and check for validity*

*there are other methods for checking validity besides using a truth table, but we won’t deal with them here
 A few preliminaries

PROPOSITIONS vs. NON-PROPOSITIONS

“…propositions are those things which can be either true or false.

[…] a proposition is a claim about how things are — it represents the world as being some way;
it is T if the world is that way, and otherwise it is F. ” (JJ Smith, 1.2, p. 5)

“All Columbia students are smart.” vs. “Let’s go, Lions!”

***

VALIDITY AND SOUNDNESS

(Recap of material from Unit 1)

Logic focuses on deductive validity.

Validity is solely a matter of logical form.

— Logic is topic-neutral
— Logic is style-independent
— Logic doesn’t deal with soundness (only with validity)

***

TWO CLASSICAL ASSUMPTIONS:

BIVALENCE:
All propositions are either T or F.

NON-CONTRADICTION:
No proposition is both T and F.
 A few preliminaries (cont.)

ATOMIC VS COMPOUND PROPOSITIONS

Recall: “Maisy is upset only if there is thunder. If there is thunder, then there
is lightning. Therefore, either Maisy is not upset, or there is lightning.”

“Maisy is upset” is atomic (in propositional logic). “Maisy is upset only if there is thunder” is a
compound proposition.

Compound propositions = propositions made up from other propositions and connectives (JJ Smith, p.
24)

***

PROPOSITIONAL VS PREDICATE LOGIC

PROPOSITIONAL LOGIC: a more basic language consisting of a few connectives; all “structure”
not handled by those few connectives is treated as atomic

PREDICATE LOGIC w/QUANTIFIERS: digs “deeper” into the logical structure of propositions
(handles predicates and quantifiers)

In this short intro, we will only deal with propositional logic.

 The language of propositional logic (see JJ Smith, 2.2.)

1. Basic/atomic propositions represented by capital letters (e.g. A, B, C)

These have no further relevant internal structure
(i.e. no further structure that we could represent using our five connectives — but in
predicate logic, the situation is different!)

2. A glossary (“symbolization key”) that tells us what propositions each letter

represents

e.g.

A = “Bob is happy”
B = “It is raining”

3. Five connectives

Connectives help us represent the relevant internal structure of propositions in the language
of formal logic.

Five connectives: negation, conjunction, disjunction, conditional, biconditional

Our connectives are truth-functional: “the truth or falsity of a compound proposition

formed from the connective and some other propositions is completely determined by the
truth or falsity of those component propositions” (JJ Smith, p. 24)
 Connectives (continued)

Negation: It is not the case that A (in short: Not A)

Conjunction: A and B

Disjunction: Either A or B (or both) [inclusive “or”]

Conditional: If A then B

Biconditional: A if and only if B

We can use these five connectives to express other operations,

e.g.:

Neither A nor B is equivalent to Not A and not B

 Negation (¬)
Consider: “It is not the case that there is an elephant in the room.
There is no elephant in the room.
There is not an elephant in the room.”
All three are the negation of “There is an elephant in the room” (JJ Smith, p. 25)

Note that there are other ways of expressing negation in English, e.g.:
“It is impossible to get an A in this class.”
“Eating in class is forbidden.”

English: It is not the case that A

Symbolization: ¬ A
(Note: negation is a one-place connective)

The truth-value of ¬ A is the opposite of the truth-value of A.

Double negation: ¬¬A is always equivalent to (has the same truth value as) A
So, if a proposition is true, its double negation is…?
If a proposition’s double negation is false, the proposition is…?
 Conjunction (∧)

Consider: “Logic is hard and Columbia students are smart.”

This is a conjunction of “Logic is hard” and “Columbia students are smart”.

English: A and B
Symbolization: A ∧ B
Note: conjunction is a two-place connective

The conjunction is true if and only if both conjuncts are true. If at least one of the
conjuncts is false, the conjunction is false.

Commutativity: order of conjuncts makes no difference

A ∧ B is equivalent to (has the same truth-value as) B ∧ A

Associativity: (A ∧ B) ∧ C is equivalent to (has the same truth-value as) A ∧ (B ∧ C)

But beware of misplacing parentheses in other cases:

e.g. ¬(A ∧ B) is NOT equivalent to ¬A ∧ B
 Conjunction (∧) — Continued.

In English, conjunction can be expressed in different ways

“Logic is hard and Columbia students are smart.”

“Logic is hard. Columbia students are smart.”
“Logic is hard. Moreover, Columbia students are smart.”
“Logic is hard, but Columbia students are smart.”

All these are symbolized with our connective ∧.

***

However, note that some uses of the English word

“and” (temporal, causal, collective)
cannot be represented by our conjunction connective

E.g. “UPS prints black and white photos.”

“Ann opened the logic textbook and fell asleep.”
“Ann and Bill studied for the logic midterm together.”

We will treat such propositions as atomic.

 Disjunction (∨)

“Frances had eggs for breakfast or for lunch.”

English: Either A or B [or both]

Symbolization: A ∨ B
Note: disjunction is a two-place connective

A disjunction is true just in case at least one of the component

propositions (disjuncts) is true. If both disjuncts are false, the
disjunction is false.

Principle of Commutativity:
A ∨ B is equivalent to (has the same truth-value as) B ∨ A

Principle of Associativity:
(A ∨ B) ∨ C is equivalent to (has the same truth-value as) A ∨ (B ∨ C)

But careful: can’t move parentheses in other cases, e.g.:

(A ∨ B) ∧ C is NOT equivalent to A ∨ (B ∧ C)
 Disjunction (∨) — Continued.

Note: the disjunction connective represents “the inclusive or”

(either A or B or both)

e.g. “Ann had coffee for breakfast or lunch.”

(Ann could have had coffee for both breakfast and lunch).

“If you are either smart or charming, then people like you.”
(This leaves open the possibility that you’re both smart and charming and people like
you).

But there are cases when the English word “or” is used in an exclusive
sense, e.g.

“Either you hand in a good paper or you fail.”

“Either we go to see Avatar or we go to see Ant-man at 6pm tonight.”

To symbolize "the exclusive or”, add “and not both”

English: Either A or B (and not both)

Symbolization: A ∨ B ∧ ¬ (A ∧ B)