! Introduction to the Class! Some Introductory Concepts Today s Lecture 1/19/10
Philosophy 230! Introduction to Formal Logic! Ticket # 13823
Adding the Class See me after class to be put on a waiting list. I need the following info in writing: Name Email Major Expected graduation date International student?
Course Website http://www.csun.edu/~jdblair/ Click on the Philosophy 230 link. You ll find:! The Syllabus (Read this!)! Lecture slides! HW assignments! Furlough dates! Etc.
My Info Jacob Blair Ph.D. Email: jacob.blair@csun.edu Office: Sierra Tower 535 Office Hour: Thursdays 12:20-1:20 PM.
Required Text Howard-Snyder and Wasserman, The Power of Logic (4 th edition). -Available at the Matador bookstore.
Course Requirements:!Class Participation (5% of your grade)! Pop Quizzes (5% of your grade)! Homework (10% of your grade)! Exam 1 (15% of your grade)! Exam 2 (25% of your grade)! Cumulative Final Exam (40% of your grade). The Final Exam is on May 11th, 10:15 12:15 PM, SH 205.
Course Requirements For the exams and quizzes, I will use "+" and "-" in my grading. You must take all three exams (i.e. Exam 1, Exam 2, and the Final Exam) in order to pass the course. There are no make-up exams.
What is Phil 230 basically about? Philosophy 230 is a lower division introduction to deductive logic, the aspect of logic that examines methods for determining the validity and invalidity of arguments.
What is Phil 230 basically about? --Our primary concern in this class is to learn about these methods and to engage in them ourselves. Examples of methods: truth tables and proofs. --We will be engaging in formal logic in that we will be mainly working with a purely symbolic language of logic.
Examples of what we ll do "No trees are animals" T: is a tree; A: is an animal (x) (Tx! ~Ax)
Examples of what we ll do R S R! S ~ R " ~S T T T F F T
Examples of what we ll do 1. (x)[px! (#y)oy] 2. (#z)pz " (#y)oy 3. Pz 2, EI 4. Pz! (#y)oy 1, UI 5. (#y)oy 3,4 MP
Goals of the course 1. Gain a clear understanding of the philosophical concepts of validity and soundness. 2. Learn how to recognize the logical structure of sentences and thereby be able to translate English sentences into a symbolic language of logic. 3. Become familiar with how to construct truth tables as well as proofs two standard methods for determining the validity and invalidity of arguments. 4. As a result of objectives 1-3, acquire an increased ability to think analytically, which can only prove helpful in your major, profession, and everyday life. 5.Gain exposure to working in small groups with your peers in order to solve complex problems.
Introductory Concepts Q: What is an argument?
Introductory Concepts An argument consists in a set of statements one of which is the conclusion, and the other of which are premises (i.e. the reasons given for why you should believe the conclusion)
Introductory Concepts Q: what is a statement? A statement is a sentence that can be either true or false.
Introductory Concepts Examples of statements: -We are living in the 21 st century -GWB eats kittens for breakfast -CSUN is in the Sahara -Jake Blair has children
Introductory Concepts Questions and commands are not statements in that they are neither true nor false. Examples: What is this? Don't you want to invite Bill? Why do we exist? Get over here Stop doing that Shut up!
Introductory Concepts The Main Point: Questions and commands can't make up a genuine argument because they aren't capable of being true or false.
Two Types of Arguments:! Deductive Vs.! Inductive
Contrast These: 1. All of the marbles in this bag are black So, 2. The first marble I pick up from this bag will be black 1. 95% of the marbles in this bag are black So, 2. The first marble I pick up from this bag will be black.
Contrast These: 1. All humans have a genome. So, 2. You (a human) have a genome 1. Smoking cigarettes is the leading cause of cancer So, 2. If you smoke cigarettes, you will get cancer
The two arguments on the left hand column are deductive. The two arguments on the right hand column are inductive.
Deductive Arguments! A deductive argument is one in which the premises are intended to guarantee the conclusion
Inductive Arguments! An inductive argument is one in which the premises are intended to make the conclusion probable, without guaranteeing it.
For Next Time: --Read: Chapter 1.1 Power of Logic (POL) --Please bring your books
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