Brief Lessons in Logic, Part 2

It's been a while since the first lesson but here goes...

Now we said that the study of logic, or the study of argument, has to do with the branch of philosophy known as epistemology.

Now throughout some of the history of Western philosophy there has been a debate in the realm of epistemology between two schools of thought known as rationalism and empiricism. It was a debate about how we are to arrive at TRUTH.

Rationalists believed that truth could be discovered by means of reasoning and abstract reflection. Some even believed that we were born with some knowledge.

Empiricists believed that the only way to truth was through observational evidence, through sense experience.

Now, without going too much into it, both approaches are important, and most philosophers, scientists, etc. use both to arrive at conclusions...

The rationalist approach to truth could be called deduction.

The empiricist approach to truth could be called induction.

I'll start with induction...

Induction is an attempt to provide evidence for a conclusion but with no gurantee. Inductive arguments are evaluated on their relative strength - they're either good or bad, weak or strong, etc.

Here's an example of an inductive argument:

Premise 1: I just kicked this ball up and it came down.
Premise 2:Every other time I have kicked a ball up, it came down.
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Conclusion: If I kick this ball up right now, it will come down.

This inductive argument is fairly good or strong. Most people would have no trouble accepting it. It is based on observational evidence, and it provides a good basis to believe that if I kick a ball up it will come down.

But...

It is not guaranteed...

It is not likely, but what if the law of gravity failed to function right now, or what if the earth was destroyed while the ball is in the air, or what if God decided that he did not want the ball to come down...
These possibilities sound silly, and they are silly, especially in light of a strong or good argument like the one above, but the truth is that in an inductive argument, the truth of a conclusion cannot be guranteed...

Now, deduction is an attempt to guarantee the truth of a conclusion. Deductive arguments either work or they don't work. Deductive arguments are either valid or invalid,and sound or unsound.

Example:

Premise 1: If I am in Los Angeles, then I am in California.
Premise 2: I am in Los Angeles.
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Conclusion: I am in California.

This argument is valid.

Now the definition of a valid argument is quite possibly the most important definition in the study of logic or critical reasoning....

Don't ever forget this! Burn it into your head!

Here it is:

An argument is valid if and only if, it is impossible for it to have true premises, lead to a false conclusion.

Or you could think about it this way:

An argument is valid if the conclusion necessarily follows from the premises.

In other words, in a valid argument, given that the premises are true, then the conclusion must be true also. It necessarily follows. There's no way around it. In the above example, assuming it is true that If I am in Los Angeles, then I am in California. and assuming it is true that I am in Los Angeles, then the conlusion that I am in California , necessarily follows.

That is, it must be true that I am in California.

Again, this argument is valid because, assuming that the premises are true, the conclusion must be true.

We will visit the subject of validity again, as well as the issue of soundness.

But that's it for now.... post any questions... I'm not sure if I explained myself correctly... also, it takes a while to get this stuff, but once you do, it is very helpful...

Joel's New Friend (but Omar doesn't know...)

We were all very proud when Eric Lobos became a Washington Husky.

And now... there's a new Husky in the family...

You guessed it. Joel just bought a pure-bred Siberian Husky.

That's him in the picture with Joel. It's still at the breeder's house, but Joel has been researching dog names in the mean time, and he has narrowed his choices down to three.

Please vote, and let him know which of these names you prefer:

1. Keno

2. Shadow

3. Toby

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE! This is important! Leave your comment, and vote!
(also, if you have any name suggestions, Joel would like to hear them)

and oh yeah, don't tell Omar about the Husky moving in!

Chick Flicks, Romance Novels, and Love Songs - Female Porn?

Recently I asked a friend if he thought that all the chick flicks, romantic comedies, love songs, soap operas and what not, that we're inundated with, give women an unrealistic/naive/warped view of reality - of life and relationships...

He said yeah...

I agreed... I think I even heard a teacher once call these things female porn...

It made sense to me, but I couldn't quite articulate the idea... but recently I ran into this article from Focus on the Family's website which makes just that point...

Here's a portion of it:


Female Porn

by Hayley and Michael DiMarco

Just like male porn revs guys’ engines in unhealthy ways, female porn is leading women astray. Let’s embrace equality and take a closer look at the study of “what women want,” exposing the desperate side of chick flicks and romance novels.

Each year hundreds of thousands of women whet their romantic appetites with enticing tales of perfect romance and fairy-tale endings. The romance parade starts as early as a parent is able to read to their little girl. Stories about princesses and the princes who rescue them from certain doom are read over and over and over again. While boys are busy building things and tearing them down again, or maybe reading a spy novel or horror story, little girls are dreaming of the perfect wedding and the dream house. As they mature, young women soon find more of an escape from reality in movies and novels. And when the Pottery Barn catalog arrives, they dream of how amazing their lives would be if only they had that couch and those throw pillows. The female psyche, how different it is from the males. And how desperate its distractions.


For decades the religious community has publicly condemned the pornographic industry as destructive to the sexual appetites of the men who indulge therein. Most people see that it creates a gap between the sexes. It nurtures the lie that women are something that they aren’t, and in the end it harms real loving and nurturing relationships. Those airbrushed images are anything but real, let alone attainable.


Yet female pornography has for decades been an accepted pastime, sliding under the radar of the religious right and instead being promoted as an acceptable distraction from the worries of life. But what exactly is female porn? Is there a definition for this newly discovered blight on society?


For the answer to this question, we need look no further than the honorable Mr. Webster and his infamous dictionary of words. How we overlooked this definition for years upon years we do not know. But we are here today to uncover the truth. To shed light in the dark. And so without further ado here it is:

• 
  pornography – 3: the depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction

Catch that? Emotional. We contend that the job of the chick flick, romance novel, and love song is to arouse a quick, intense emotional reaction. Can you feel it? We ask you, ladies, what else arouses a stronger emotion in you than that heart-fluttering chick flick? What else gets you to dream of the perfect man and pray to God that you will get one just like him?

Any attack on the traditional porn industry always includes the cry that it creates unrealistic expectations in men. No woman can be that hot and sexy all the time. It’s just not fair to women for their men to look at that. (Of course there are other deep concerns, but we went into that in the last chapter.) However, the very thing that women complain about in male porn is also created by female porn.

Check the pulse on any leading man from the biggest chick flicks and this is the rhythm his heart beats to: undying love, pure romance, sweet words, heroic rescues, persistent pursuit, tears, laughter, protection, flowers, gifts, and devotion. He never farts or burps. He’s never grumpy or wanting to be left alone.

He’s always focused on the female, exhausting all his energies on pleasing her. He is the ultimate creation of the self-centered female who wants the world to revolve around her and her alone. Just as male porn caters to a man’s physical desire to be pleased by his mate, so female porn offers the same self-absorbed emotional aphrodisiac.

Misery: The Ultimate Outcome of Female Pornocopia

The result of exposure to this kind of fairy tale is obvious, at least to us. When a single woman leaves a steamy chick flick only to return home alone to her cats and tub of ice cream, a part of her breaks—the heart part. And she feels more alone than ever.

The man was hers, but only for two and a half hours, and now, like every other man, he’s gone.

The same kind of letdown happens every time the newest home decor catalog comes to the house. She looks over all of the latest home fashions and then looks around her house. Suddenly a sense of “I’m just not good enough” overcomes her. And she senses an insatiable urge to purchase a new antiqued armoire and festive dish set.

Solitude and Silence, II

I didn't want to drop the subject of the discipline of solitude/silence just yet...

It is important to find that inner solitude that allows us to quiet our souls enough to be able to discern the still, small voice of God...

Lately, I haven't had that quietness of soul, but I hope for it to be restored and revitalized...

Here are some excerpts from Richard J. Foster's Celebration of Discipline on the subject:


"Our fear of being alone drives us to noise and crowds. We keep up a constant stream of words even if they are inane. We buy radios that strap to our wrists or fit over our ears so that, if no one else is around, at least we are not condemned to silence. T.S. Eliot analyzes our cuture well when he writes, 'Where shall the world be found, where will the word resound? Not here, there is not enough silence.'

"But loneliness or clatter are not our only alternatives. We can cultivate an inner solitude and silence that sets us free from loneliness and fear. Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfillment.

"Solitude is more a state of mind and heart than it is a place. There is a solitude of the heart that can be maintained at all times. Crowds, or the lack of them, have little to do with this inward attentiveness. It is quite possible to be a desert hermit and never experience solitude. But if we possess inward solitude we do not fear being alone, for we know that we are not alone. Neither do we fear being with others, for they do not control us. In the midst of noise and confusion we are settled into a deep inner silence. Whether alone or among people, we always carry with us a portable sanctuary of the heart."


How about all of you? Any comments on whether you've experienced this quietness of soul?

Let me know....

Brief Lessons in Logic, Part 1

A friend recently showed interest in learning a bit about logic or critical reasoning, so I'm gonna be posting some brief lessons in logic.

Logic? What kind of nerd would write about logic?

First of all let me say that I am very, very, very underqualified to teach on this, but I did work as a tutor of critical reasoning for three years.

It was one of the best jobs I've ever had. I got paid to sit in philosophy class! Best of all, 3 of those semesters were in the classroom of the extremely intelligent, and not to mention beautiful, Dr. Waller; she taught the subject in a very , uh..., logical way... Very accessible, very practical.

I'm gonna be refering to my class notes. I'll also refer to two books - The Art of Reasoning by David Kelley, and an old Puritan classic, Logic: The Right Use of Reason in the Inquiry After Truth by Isaac Watts. (I'll only refer to these texts briefly. do you think I'm actually gonna read these things in their entirety!?)

Hope I don't bore you!

Here goes. Starting with a brief definition of philosophy:

What is philosophy?

It is philosophia.

From the Greek words philos, which means love, and sophia, which means wisdom.

"Philosophy" literally means the love of wisdom.

Other definitions of philosophy - the analysis of concepts ; critical thinking/reasoning; or asking the "big questions"


Philosophy has traditionally been concerned with some fundamental and ultimate questions.

Those questions are:

• What is real? - This is the study of ontology or the study of being (onto = being).

• What can we know? or What is knowledge? or What brings us the truth? - This is the study of epistemology (espisteme = knowledge).

• What is good? What is beautiful? What is right? - This is the study of axiology (axia = value, worth). Axiology includes the study of ethics and aesthetics.

Logic is a branch of the study of epistemology.

Logic is the study of argument.

An argument is a set of propositions consisting of premise(s) and a conclusion.

A premise is a reason given for a view, a claim, an opinion (i.e. a conclusion).

Now, without going in too deep:

"A proposition is a statement; it makes an assertion that is either true or false, and it is normally expressed in a declarative sentence containing a subject and a predicate.

To identify the proposition or propositions asserted by a sentence, we must consider the meanings of the words composing the sentence."

A word is a linguistic tool we use to express an idea or concept.

Ideas or concepts are ways of classifying, in our mind, the things in our universe.

The universe is.........

alright, alright... I'll stop there... I'm in way over my head!

'Til next time...

Post comments; ask questions; tell me off.... whatever. all are welcome...