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...