Addis Ababa University

College of natural and computational science

Logic and critical thinking individual assignment

(freshman - semester 1)

Section - 4

Submitted to : Dr. ABIY TSEGAYE

Submission date : 16/03/2024
Submitted by: ID
1. Tesfalem habtamu………..UGR/4346/16

KEY TERMS ON CHAPTER ONE (1)

 INTRODUCING PHILOSOPHY
 philosophy : refers to the development of critical habits, the continuous
search for truth, and the questioning of the apparent. In this lesson,
students will be introduced with the fundamental meaning, nature, and
concepts of philosophy.
 Philo : is a Greek word which mean “love”
 Sophia : is a Greek word which mean “wisdom”
 Wisdom : the quality of having experience, knowledge, and
good judgement; the quality of being wise.
 Philosophize : speculate or theorize about fundamental or serious
issues, especially in a tedious or pompous way
 Critical thinking : is the analysis of available facts, evidence,
observations, and arguments in order to form a judgement by the
application of rational, skeptical, and unbiased analyses and evaluation
 Metaphysics : is the branch of philosophy that studies the ultimate
nature of reality or existence. It deal with issues of reality, God, freedom,
soul/immortality, the mind-body problem, form and substance
relationship, cause and effect relationship, and other related issues.
Metaphysicians seek an irreducible foundation of reality or ‗first
principles‘ from which absolute knowledge or truth can be induced and
deduced.
 Reality : refers to the state of things as they actually exist, independent
of our perceptions or interpretations. It encompasses the objective
existence of objects, events, and phenomena in the physical world.
 Epistemology : is the other field of philosophy that studies about the
nature, scope, meaning, and possibility of knowledge. It deals with issues
of knowledge, opinion, truth, falsity, reason, experience, and faith.
Epistemology is also referred to as theory of knowledge.
 Knowledge : facts, information, and skills acquired through experience
or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.
 Skepticism : is a philosophical position that questions the certainty and
validity of knowledge claims. It is the doubt or suspension of judgment
regarding beliefs, especially those that are commonly accepted without
sufficient evidence.
 Agnosticism : is a profession of ignorance in reference to the existence
or nonexistence of God
 Empiricism : is an epistemological view which holds that true
knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory
experience
 Intuition : the direct apprehension of knowledge that is not derived
from conscious reasoning or immediate sense perception.
 Rationalism : is a philosophical belief that reason is the primary source
of knowledge and that rational thought should be used to understand the
world. It emphasizes the use of logical reasoning and deduction to arrive
at truths about reality.
 Axiology : is the philosophical study of value, which originally meant the
worth of something.
 Ethics : which is also known as Moral Philosophy, is a science that deals
with the philosophical study of moral principles, values, codes, and rules,
which may be used as standards for determining what kind of human
conduct/action is said to be good or bad, right or wrong
 Normative Ethics : refers to the ethical studies that attempt to study and
determine precisely the moral rules, principles, standards and goals by
which human beings might evaluate and judge the moral values of their
conducts, actions and decisions.
 Meta-ethics : is the highly technical philosophical discipline that deals
with investigation of the meaning of ethical terms, including a critical
study of how ethical statements can be verified.
 Applied Ethics : is a normative ethics that attempts to explain, justify,
apply moral rules, principles, standards, and positions to specific moral
problems, such as capital punishment, euthanasia, abortion, adultery,
animal right, and so on.
 Aesthetics : is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature and
appreciation of beauty, art, and taste. It examines the principles and
concepts that guide our experience and understanding of art, as well as
the subjective and objective criteria used to judge and evaluate aesthetic
qualities.
 Logic: is the study of reasoning and argumentation. It is concerned with
determining whether a given argument is valid or invalid, and involves
analyzing the structure and validity of arguments.

KEY TERMS ON CHAPTER TWO (2)

 BASIC CONCEPTS OF LOGIC
 Argument : is a group of statements, one or more of which (the
premises) are claimed to provide support for, or reasons to believe, one
of the others (the conclusion).
 Statement : is a sentence that is either true or false
 Premises : are the statements that set forth the reasons or evidence
 Conclusion : is the statement that the evidence is claimed to support or
imply
 Conclusion indicator: A word that provides a clue in identifying the
conclusion.
 Premise indicator: A word that provides a clue in identifying the
premises
 Inference : is the reasoning process expressed by an argument
 proposition : is the meaning or information content of a statement
 syllogistic logic : a kind of logic in which the fundamental elements are
terms, and arguments are evaluated as good or bad depending on how
the terms are arranged in the argument.
 modal logic : a kind of logic that involves such concepts as possibility,
necessity, belief, and doubt
 Inferential claim : is simply the claim that the passage expresses a
certain kind of reasoning process—that something supports or implies
something or that something follows from something
 expository passage : is a kind of discourse that begins with a topic
sentence followed by one or more sentences that develop the topic
sentence
 Explanation : is an expression that purports to shed light on some event
or phenomenon
 Explanandum : is the statement that describes the event or
phenomenon to be explained,
 Explanans : is the statement or group of statements that purports to do
the explaining
 . Argument from example: An argument that purports to prove
something by giving one or more examples of it.
 Conditional statement: An "if ... then ..." statement
 Antecedent: The component of a conditional statement that
immediately follows the word "if."
 Consequent: The component of a conditional statement that
immediately follows the word "then"; the component of a conditional
statement that is not the antecedent
 Sufficient condition: The condition represented by the antecedent of a
conditional statement
 Necessary condition: The condition represented by the consequent of a
conditional statement
 Illustration: A kind of non argument composed of statements intended
to show what something means or how something is done.
 Deductive argument : is an argument incorporating the claim that it is
impossible for the conclusion to be false given that the premises are true
 Inductive argument : is an argument incorporating the claim that it is
improbable that the conclusion be false given that the premises are true
 Argument based on mathematics : is an argument in which the
conclusion depends on some purely arithmetic or geometric
computation or measurement
 Categorical syllogism : is a syllogism in which each statement begins
with one of the words “all,” “no,” or “some
 Hypothetical syllogism : is a syllogism having a conditional (“if . . .
then”) statement for one or both of
 Disjunctive syllogism : is a syllogism having a disjunctive (“either . . .
or . . .”) statement
 Argument from analogy : is an argument that depends on the existence
of an analogy, or similarity, between two things or states of affairs
 Generalization : is an argument that proceeds from the knowledge of a
selected sample to some claim about the whole group
 Argument from authority : is an argument that concludes something is
true because a presumed expert or witness has said that it is
 Argument based on signs : is an argument that proceeds from the
knowledge of a sign to a claim about the thing or situation that the sign
symbolizes
 Causal inference : is an argument that proceeds from knowledge of a
cause to a claim about an effect, or, conversely, from knowledge of an
effect to a claim about a cause
 Particular statement: A statement that makes a claim about one or
more (but not all) members of a class
 General statement: A statement that makes a claim about all the
members of a class
 Valid argument: An argument in which it is impossible for the
conclusion to be false given that the premises are true
 Invalid argument: A deductive argument in which it is possible for the
conclusion to be false given that the premises are true
 Sound argument: A deductive argument that is valid and has all true
premises
 Unsound argument: A deductive argument that is either invalid or has
one or more false premises (or both)
 Strong argument: An inductive argument in which it is improbable that
the conclusion be false given that the premises are true
 Weak argument: An inductive argument in which the conclusion does
not follow probably from the premises
 Cogent argument: An inductive argument that is strong and has all true
premises
 Uncogent argument: An inductive argument that is either weak or has
one or more false premises (or both)

KEY TERMS ON CHAPTER THREE (3)

LOGIC AND LANGUAGE
 Cognitive meaning : Terminology that conveys information
 Emotive meaning : terminology that expresses or evokes feelings
 Value claim : is a claim that something is good, bad, right, wrong, or
better or worse, more important or less important than some other thing
 Vague expression : is one that allows for borderline cases in which it is
impossible to tell if the expression applies or does not apply. Vague
expressions oft en allow for a continuous range of interpretations
 Ambiguous expression : is one that can be interpreted as having more
than one clearly distinct meaning in a given context
 Term : is any word or arrangement of words that may serve as the
subject of a statement
 Intensional meaning : consists of the qualities or attributes that the
term connotes, and the
 Extensional meaning : consists of the members of the class that the
term denotes
 Increasing intension : when each term in the series (except the fi rst)
connotes more attributes than the one preceding it
 Increasing extension : when each term in the series (except the first)
denotes a class having more members than the class denoted by the term
preceding it
 Definition : a group of words that assigns a meaning to some word or
group of words
 Definiendum : is the word or group of words that is supposed to be
defined,
 Definiens : is the word or group of words that does the defining
 stipulative definition : assigns a meaning to a word for the first time. Th
is may involve either coining a new word or giving a new meaning to an
old word
 lexical definition : is used to report the meaning that a word already has
in a language
 precising definition : a type definition which is used to reduce the
vagueness of a word
 Theoretical definition : assigns a meaning to a word by suggesting a
theory that gives a certain characterization to the entities that the term
denotes
 Persuasive Definition : an emotionally charged or value-laden meaning
to a word while making it appear that the word really has (or ought to
have) that meaning in the language in which it is used
 Enumerative definition : assign a meaning to a term by naming the
members of the class the term denotes
 Definition by subclass : assigns a meaning to a term by naming sub
classes of the class denoted by the term
 Intensional definition : is one that assigns a meaning to a word by
indicating the qualities or attributes that the word connotes
 Synonymous definition : is one in which the definiens is a single word
that connotes the same attributes as the definien
 Etymological definition : assigns a meaning to a word by disclosing the
word’s ancestry in both its own language and other languages
 Operational definition : assigns a meaning to a word by specifying
certain experimental procedure
 Definition by genus and difference : assigns a meaning to a term by
identifying a genus term and one or more difference words that, when
combined, convey the meaning of the term being defined

KEY TERMS ON CHAPTER FIVE (5)

INFORMAL FALLACIES
 Fallacy : A mistake in an argument that arises from defective reasoning
or the creation of an illusion that makes a bad argument appear good.
There are two kinds of fallacy
 Formal fallacy : is one that may be identified by merely examining the
form or structure of an argument
 Informal fallacies : are those that can be detected only by examining the
content of the argument
 Fallacies of relevance : share the common characteristic that the
arguments in which they occur have premises that are logically
irrelevant to the conclusion
 Appeal to force : occurs whenever an arguer poses a conclusion to
another person and tells that person either implicitly or explicitly that
some harm will come to him or her if he or she does not accept the
conclusion
 Appeal to pity fallacy : occurs when an arguer attempts to support a
conclusion by merely evoking pity from the reader or listener
 Appeal to the People : Nearly everyone wants to be loved, esteemed,
admired, valued, recognized, and accepted by others. Th e appeal to the
people uses these desires to get the reader or listener to accept a
conclusion
 Argument Against the Person (Argumentum ad Hominem) : This is a
type of fallacy which always involves two arguers. One of them advances
(either directly or implicitly) a certain argument, and the other then
responds by directing his or her attention not to the first person’s
argument but to the first person himself
 Accident fallacy : is committed when a general rule is applied to a
specific case it was not intended to cover
 Straw man fallacy : is committed when an arguer distorts an opponent’s
argument for the purpose of more easily attacking it, demolishes the
distorted argument, and then concludes that the opponent’s real
argument has been demolished

 Missing the Point (Ignoratio Elenchi) fallacy : occurs when the
premises of an argument support one particular conclusion, but then a
different conclusion, oft en vaguely related to the correct conclusion, is
drawn
 Red herring fallacy : is committed when the arguer diverts the
attention of the reader or listener by changing the subject to a different
but sometimes subtly related one
 Fallacies of weak induction : occur when the connection between
premises and conclusion is not strong enough to support the conclusion
 Appeal to Unqualified Authority (Argumentum ad Verecundiam)
fallacy : occurs when the cited authority or witness lacks credibility
 Appeal to Ignorance (Argumentum ad Ignorantiam) fallacy : occurs
When the premises of an argument state that nothing has been proved
one way or the other about something, and the conclusion then makes a
definite assertion about that thing
 Hasty Generalization (Converse Accident) fallacy : occurs when there
is a reasonable likelihood that the sample is not representative of the
group
 False Cause fallacy : occurs whenever the link between premises and
conclusion depends on some imagined causal connection that probably
does not exist
 Slippery Slope fallacy : occurs when the conclusion of an argument
rests on an alleged chain reaction and there is not sufficient reason to
think that the chain reaction will actually take place
 Fallacy of weak analogy : is committed when the analogy is not strong
enough to support the conclusion that is drawn
 Fallacies of Presumption: The premises presume what they purport to
prove
 Fallacy of begging the question : is committed whenever the arguer
creates the illusion that inadequate premises provide adequate support
for the conclusion by leaving out a possibly false (shaky) key premise, by
restating a possibly false premise as the conclusion, or by reasoning in a
circle
 Fallacy of complex question : is committed when two (or more)
questions are asked in the guise of a single question and a single answer
is then given to both of them
 Suppressed Evidence fallacy : is committed If an inductive argument
does indeed ignore important piece of evidence

 Fallacy of false dichotomy : is committed when a disjunctive (“either . . .

or . . .”) premise presents two unlikely alternatives as if they were the
only ones available, and the arguer then eliminates the undesirable
alternative, leaving the desirable one as the conclusion
 Fallacy of equivocation : occurs when the conclusion of an argument
depends on the fact that a word or phrase is used, either explicitly or
implicitly, in two different senses in the argument
 Fallacy of amphiboly : occurs when the arguer misinterprets an
ambiguous statement and then draws a conclusion
 Fallacy of composition : is committed when the conclusion of an
argument depends on the erroneous transference of an attribute from
the parts of something onto the whole
 Fallacy of division : is committed when the Section 3.4 Fallacies of
Presumption, Ambiguity, and Grammatical Analogy 169 3 conclusion of
an argument depends on the erroneous transference of an attribute from
a whole (or a class) onto its parts (or members)
 propositional fallacy : is an error that concerns compound propositions
 Fallacies of Grammatical Analogy: A defective argument appears to be
good as a result of its being grammatically similar to another argument
that is not fallacious