LOGIC

Basic Concepts

Logic
Logic is the study of valid reasoning.
The systematic investigation of arguments

Reasoning
A piece of reasoning consists of a sequence of statements, some of which are
claimed to follow from previous ones. That is, some are claimed to be inferred
from others.

Valid Reasoning

While in every piece of reasoning certain statements are claimed to follow from
others, this may in fact not be the case.

Example: If I win the lottery, then Im happy. However, I did not win the lottery.
Therefore, I am not happy.

A piece of reasoning is valid if the statements that are claimed to follow from
previous ones do indeed follow from those. Otherwise, the reasoning is said to be
invalid.

Truth and Implication

Logic studies the validity of reasoning.

Logic alone cannot tell us whether an argument is good. Hence, logic alone is not a guide
to truth.
Instead, logic can tell us, assuming certain things to be true, what else will be true as
well. Thus, logic is a guide to implication.

Arguments, Premises and Conclusion

In logic, pieces of reasoning are analyzed using the notion of an argument

Argument- an argument consists of any number of premises, and one conclusion.

An argument can contain a number of smaller steps, sub arguments , whose conclusions
serve as the premises of the main argument

Premise- is any statement which acts as the reason or evidence to support a conclusion.

Conclusion- is any statement which is supported by a premise or premises.

 Valid Argument
An argument whose premises and conclusion are such that the truth of the
former involves that of the latter.
If the premises of a valid argument are all true , then its conclusion must
also be true

Examples of Valid Arguments:

1) John will come to the party, or Mary will come to the party.
John will not come to the party.
Therefore, Mary will come to the party

2) All airplanes can crash.

All DC-10s are airplanes.
Therefore, all DC-10s can crash

3) All fish are mammals.

Moby Dick is a fish.
Therefore, Moby Dick is a mammal.

All of these examples are valid: anyone who accepts that their premises are true will also
have to accept that their conclusions are true.

Take (1) for instance. You can see that (1) is a valid argument without being able
to ascertain the truth or falsity of its premises.
The premises of a valid argument can even be plainly false is apparent from
example (3).