PHI 1101 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Reductio Ad Absurdum, Enthymeme, Deductive Reasoning

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHI 1101
• Professor: Laura Byrne

Document Summary

Statements (also known as: assertions or propositions: *a sentence used to make a claim. They are capable of being either true or false: being true or false distinguishes statements from sentences which are not capable of being true or false: commands, questions and expressions of volition (wishes) Laws of logic: the law of non-contradiction, the law of the excluded middle/law of bivalence. Logicians and philosophers sometimes like to represent statements with symbols: a, b, c or p, q, r. Socrates is not a man not-p (can also be written ~p or p) The law of the excluded middle/the law of bivalence: *states that every proposition must be either true or false no middle position, if p is true, not-p must be false. Propositions can be combined in groups or sets. Sets of propositions are either consistent or inconsistent. Consistency: *a set of propositions is consistent if these propositions do not contradict one another.