Chapter Two

Basic Concepts of Logic: Arguments, Premises and Conclusions

The Meaning of Logic

Logic initially emerged and developed within the
heart of philosophy.
Etymologically, the term ”logic” is derived from the
Greek word “Logos” which means reason, thought,
principle, law, etc.
logic is the science of those principles, laws, rules and
methods which the mind of man in its thinking must
follow for accurate and secure treatment of truth.
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Conti…
logic is the study of methods for evaluating
arguments.
 logic is a tool that one can rely for evaluating,
analyzing and criticizing arguments.
Accordingly, logic concentrates on the principles
that guide rational thought and discussion.
 The fundamental concepts in logic is that of
argument .

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 The Purpose and Importance of Logic

The primary task of logic is to setup criteria for

distinguishing good arguments from bad ones.
The purpose or objective of logic is to:-
 Test
 Evaluate
 Analyze arguments of one’s own and the
arguments of others.

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Conti…
Learning the science of logic would give us
several benefits or importance in our personal
and social lives.
Logic contributes to the development of:-
 Our reasonableness
 Carefulness
 Confidence and
 level of thinking in all aspects of our lives.

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Conti…
 It provides methodological assistances in
examining our reasoning
 To make better personal decisions
 It teaches people to think clearly, concisely and
correctly
 It helps to prove truthful judgments as well as to
disprove false ones.

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 Arguments, Premises and Conclusion
The Meaning of Argument
 In logic, argument means arriving at a definite
claim of conclusion over an issue or a subject
based on acceptable evidences, information or
chain of reasons available at hand.
 An argument occurs in logic, is a set or group of
statements.
The statements that make up an argument are
divided into two parts:
 premises and
 conclusion.
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Conti…
Premise is the statement which provides reason
(evidence) for believing the truth of the conclusion or
it is the statement on the basis of which the
conclusion is affirmed.
Conclusion is the statement that is claimed to follow
from the premise or it is the statement that is
affirmed on the basis of the premise.
Statement is a sentence that is either true or false but
not both.
In other words, statement is a sentence used to assert
or deny something and evaluated as true or false. This
type of sentence is called declarative sentence.
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Conti…
In a declarative sentence there are only two
possible truth values.
Truth and falsity are called the two possible
truth values of statements.
The following are an example of statements:
 No city in Ethiopia is called Hawassa.
 The sun rises in the East and sets in the West.
 Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen.

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Conti…

All sentences are not statements.

Many sentences cannot be said either true or false or
we may not evaluate them as either true or false.
 Questions
 Proposals
 Suggestions
 Hopes
 Wishes
 Commands
 Attitudes and
 Exclamations usually cannot be considered as true or
false.
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Conti…

The following sentences are not statements.

 I hope Ethiopia will be 100% literate within the
next two years (hope)
 Who is the first King of Ethiopia? (Question)
 Let us go to the Omo National Park today.
(Proposal)
 Wow, what a save! (Exclamation)
 Leave the classroom now! (Command)
 I wish I had studied Anthropology. (Wish)
 I suggest that you go on foot. (Suggestion)
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 Conti…
Example:
 All Ethiopians are Africans. (Premise 1)
Tsionawit is Ethiopian. (Premise2)
Therefore, Tsionawit is African. (Conclusion)
 Some Africans are black. (Premise-1)
 Zelalem is an African. (Premise-2)
 Therefore, Zelalem is black. (Conclusion

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Conti…
All arguments can be placed in one of in one of
two basic groups: those in which the premises
really do support the conclusion (good
arguments) and those in which the premises
really do not support the conclusion, even really
do not support the conclusion, even though they
are claimed (bad arguments)
 Example:
 All crimes are violation of the law.
 Theft is a crime.
 Therefore, theft is a violation of the law.
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Conti…
 In the above argument the premises really do
support the conclusion, and so the argument is a
good one.
But consider the following argument;
Example:
 Some athletes are men.
 Derartu Tulu is an athlete.
 Therefore, Derartu Tulu is a man.
In this argument the premises do not support
the conclusion, even though they are claimed to,
and so the argument is bad one.
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Conti…
Example: All human beings are social animals.
Ayele is a human being.
Therefore, Ayele is a social animal.
 The argument has two premises:
 P1= All human beings are social animals.
 P2= Ayele is a human being.
 The argument has one conclusion:
 C: Ayele is a social animal.

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Conti…
Arguments contain two components, namely the
premise and the conclusion.
However, premise of an argument can be stated
with one or more statements in a given
argument and the conclusion of an argument
must be stated by single (one) statement.

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Conti…
In an argument the conclusion can be stated at
the beginning, at the middle or at the end. This is
also true for premise.
 Example 2 : Since Dawit studied hard, He passed
the exam. In this example, there is one premise
and one conclusion.
 Since Dawit studied hard (P)
 He passed the exam (C).

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Recognizing Premise and Conclusion
There are two possibilities to identify premises
and conclusion.
The first rule is identifying logical indicator
words from the given statements of the
argument.
 An argument contains certain indictor words
that provide clues in identifying premises and
conclusion.

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Conti…

Some typical conclusion and premises indicators

are presented in as follows:
 Conclusion indictors
 Hence
 Thus
 we may conclude
 Entail that, Consequently
 we may infer
 It follows that
 So, implies that
 As a result etc…
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Conti…
Example:
 Women are mammals.
 Zenebech is a woman.
 Therefore, Zenebech is a mammal.
Premises Inductors
 Since
 As indicated by
 Because
 For, in that
 May be inferred from
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Conti…
Example:
 You should avoid any form of cheating on exams
because cheating on exams is punishable by the
Senate Legislation of the University.
 The premise of this argument is “cheating on
exams is punishable by the Senate Legislation of
the University” because it follows the premise
indicator word “because”, and the other
statement is a premise.

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Conti…
Example: All Peace lovers are pacifists (anti war
belief).
Mamo is a Peace lover.
Therefore, Mamo is a Pacifist.
Example : Expectant mothers (pregnant) should
never use recreational drugs, since the use of
these drugs can jeopardize (abort) the
development of the fetus.
 Nonetheless, sometimes, the mere presences of
indicator word does not give guarantee for the
occurrence of premise or conclusion.
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Conti…

Look at the following example:

 Example: Since the election of president Obama,
the economic crisis of the world has shown
improvement.
Here, the word ‘since’ is not used as a premise
indicator rather it is a time indicator, to mean
‘starting from’

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Conti…
The second rule to identify premises and
conclusion is using the inferential claims. It
implies by studying the nature of statements
(statements that serve as evidence or a
statement stated as the final assertion).
If a sentence is given as the main point of the
argument or as a closing statement, it is a
conclusion.
If the sentence is taken as information, reason or
evidence, it is premise.

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Conti…
Recognizing Argumentative Passage
Not all passages contain arguments.
 A passage contains an argument if it purports to prove
something, otherwise, it does not.
Two conditions must be fulfilled for a passage to
purport(claim or charge) to prove something.
 At least one of the statements must claim to present
evidence or reasons (Premises) or Factual claims
 There must be a claim that the alleged evidence or
reasons supports or implies something, that is, a
claim that something follows from the alleged
evidence (Conclusion) or Inferential claims.
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 The first condition expresses a factual claim, and
deciding whether it is fulfilled usually presents
few problems. Thus, most of our attention will
concentrate on whether the second condition is
fulfilled.
 The second condition expresses what is called an
inferential claim. In this condition the claim that
the passage expresses a reasoning process, that
is, something supports or implies something or
that something follows from something.

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Conti…
A claim can be either explicit or implicit.
An explicit inferential claim is usually asserted by
premises or conclusion indicator words (Thus, Since,
Because, Hence, Therefore, so on).
An implicit inferential claim exists if there is an
inferential relationship between the statements in a
passage.
 Example: Gamachuu is my biological father, because my
mother told so.
In this example, the premise indicator word “because”
expresses the claim that evidence supports something,
or that evidence is provided to prove something.
Hence,
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the passage is an argument. 26
Conti…

 Example:
The genetic modification of food is risky business.
Genetic engineering can introduce unintended
changes into the DNA of the food-producing
organism, and these changes can be toxic to the
consumer.
The inferential relationship between the first
statement and the other two constitutes an implicit
claim that evidence supports something, so we are
justified in calling the passage an argument though it
does not contain indicator word. The first statement
is the conclusion, and the other two are the premises.
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Conti…

Sometimes it is difficult to identify whether a

passage contain an argument.
In deciding whether there is a claim that
evidence supports or implies something keep an
eye out for:-
 Indicator words and
 The presence of an inferential claim between
the statements.
 In connection with these points, however, a
word of caution is in order.

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Conti…
First, the mere occurrence of an indicator word
by no means guarantees the presence of an
argument.
The presence of an indicator word does not
mean that the existing indicator word actually
and always indicate a premises or a conclusions.
Thus, before deciding that an indicator word
indicates a premises or a conclusion, make sure
that the existing indicator word is used to
indicate a premise or a conclusion.
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Conti…

Example:
 Since Thomas Edison invented the phonograph( a
record player), there have been many technological
developments.
 Since Edison invented the phonograph, he deserves
credit for a major technological development.
In the first passage the word ‘‘since’’ is used in a
temporal sense. It means ‘‘from the time that.’’
Thus, the first passage is not an argument.
In the second passage ‘‘since’’ is used in a logical
sense, and so the passage is an argument.
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Conti…
Recognizing non-Argumentative Passage
 Non-argumentative passages are passages, which lack
an inferential claim. These include simple non-
inferential passages, expository passages, illustrations,
explanations and Conditional statements
Inferential claims refers to the reasoning process
expressed by the argument which exist between the
premises and the conclusion of arguments.
 Simple - Non-inferential Passages are unproblematic
passages that lack a claim that anything is being proved.
 Passages of this sort include warnings, pieces of advice,
statements of belief or opinion, and reports.
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Conti…

Example:
Whatever you promise to tell, never confide
political secrets to your wife. (warning)
In this passage, no evidence is given to prove
that the statement is true; and if no evidence is
given to prove that the statement is true, then
there is no argument.
Example: After class hours, I would suggest that
you give careful consideration to the subject
matter you have discussed.(A piece of advice)
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Conti…

Example:
We believe that our university must develop and
produce outstanding students who will perform
with great skill and fulfill the demands of our
nation. (A statement of belief or opinion)
Expository Passages
 An expository passage is a kind of discourse or
talk that begins with a topic sentence followed
by one or more sentences that develop the topic
sentence.
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Conti…

Example of expository passage :

 There is a stylized relation of artist to mass audience in
the sports, especially in baseball.
 Baseball refers to: a game played especially in the US
by two teams of nine players.
 Each player develops a style of his own-the
swagger(walking with proud) as the steps to the
plate( coat with a layer of metal), the unique
windup( complete) a pitcher( base runner) has, the
clean-swinging(very strong) and hard-driving hits, the
precision( right) quickness and grace of infield and
outfield, the sense of surplus power behind whatever
is done.
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Conti…
In the above passage the topic sentence is stated
first, and the remaining sentences merely develop
and flesh out this topic sentence. This passage is
not argument, because it lacks an inferential claim.
Illustrations
 An illustration is an expression involving one or
more examples that is intended to show what
something means or how it is done.
 Illustrations are often confused with arguments
because many illustrations contain indicator words
such as “thus.”
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Conti…
Example of Illustration:
Chemical elements, as well as compounds, can
be represented by molecular formulas. Thus,
oxygen is represented by “O2”, water by “H2O”,
and sodium chloride by “NaCl”.
This passage is not an argument, because it
makes no claim that anything is being proved.
The word “thus” indicates how something is
done - namely, how chemical elements and
compounds can be represented by formulas.
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Explanations
 One of the most important kinds of non-
argument is the explanation.
 An explanation is an expression that purports to
shed light on some event or phenomenon, which
is usually accepted as a matter of fact.
 It attempts to clarify, or describe such alike why
something is happen that way or why something
is what it is.

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Conti…
Example of Explanations
 Cows digest grass while humans cannot, because
their digestive systems contain enzyme not found
in humans.
 Every explanation is composed of two distinct
components:
 The explanandum and explanans.
 The explanandum is the statement that describes
the event or phenomenon to be explained, and
 The explanans is the statement or group of
statements that purports to do the explaining.
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Conti…

 In the first example, the explanandum is the

statement “Cows digest grass while humans
cannot” and the explanans is “their [cows’]
digestive systems contain enzyme not found in
humans.
Conditional Statements
 A conditional statement is an “if . . . then . . .”
statement.
 Example: If you study hard, then you will score
‘A’ grade.

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Conti…
Every conditional statement is made up of two
component statements.
The component statement immediately following the “if”
is called the antecedent (if-clause), and the one
following the “then” is called the consequent (then-
clause).
 Conditional statements are not arguments, because they
fail to meet the criteria given earlier.
 In an argument, at least one statement must claim to
present evidence, and there must be a claim that this
evidence implies something.
 In a conditional statement, there is no claim that either
the antecedent or the consequent presents evidence. 40
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Conti…
A single conditional statement is Not an argument.
 a conditional statement may serve as either the premise
or the conclusion (or both) of an argument.
Examples:
If he is selling our national secretes to enemies, then he is
a traitor (betrays).
He is selling our national secretes to enemies. Therefore,
he is a traitor.
If he is selling our national secretes to enemies, then he is
a traitor.
If he is a traitor, then he must be punished by death.
Therefore, If he is selling our national secretes to enemies,
then
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he must be punished by death. 41
Conti…

The relation between conditional statements

and arguments may now be summarized as
follows:
 A single conditional statement is not an
argument.
 A conditional statement may serve as either the
premise or the conclusion (or both) of an
argument.
 The inferential content of a conditional
statement may be re-expressed to form an
argument.
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Conti…
Some passages like expository passages,
illustrations, and explanations can be interpreted as
arguments; and the inferential contents of
conditional statements may be re-expressed to form
arguments.
Therefore, in deciding whether a passage contains
an argument, you should look for three things:
 Indicator words such as “therefore,” “since,”
“because,” and so on;
 An inferential relationship between the statements;
and
 Typical kinds of non-arguments.
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Conti…

Types of Arguments
Arguments can broadly be classified as
deductive and inductive.
An argument is the process of reasoning or
inference that proceeds from certain evidence
to a certain conclusion.
However, the process of reasoning to arrive at a
certain conclusion is not uniform.
Absence of uniformity in arguments is basically
caused by the nature of the connection between
the premise and conclusion.
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Conti…
The basic difference between deductive and
inductive arguments is their difference in the
strength of the inferential claim of the argument.
 Here is that, how strongly the premise claim to
support the conclusion or how strongly the
conclusion is claimed to follow from the premise.

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Conti…
There are three criteria that are used to
differentiate deductive arguments from inductive
arguments.
These criteria are as follows:
 The occurrence of special indicator words
 The actual strength of the inferential link
between premises and conclusion and
 The character or form of argumentation the
arguer uses.

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Conti…
A deductive argument is defined as the one whose
conclusion is claimed to follow from its premises with
absolute necessity.
That is, a deductive argument is an argument, which
makes a claim that the conclusion follows from the
reason, evidences, or premises with the force of
necessity.
Its impossible for the conclusion to be false given that
the premises are true.
 Example 1:
A. All human beings are mortal.
B. Aster is a human being.
C. 09/17/2021
Therefore, Aster is mortal. 47
Conti…

 Example 2:
 All sub- Saharan countries are least developed
countries.
 Ethiopia is found in sub- Saharan region
 It follows that Ethiopia is a least developed
country.
 Example 3 :
 All philosophers are critical thinkers.
 Socrates is a philosopher.
 Therefore, Socrates is a critical thinker.
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Conti…
Example 4:
 All African footballers are blacks.
 Messi is an African footballer.
 It follows that, Messi is black.
In all above deductive arguments, the idea stated in
the conclusion is already informed in the premises;
hence the premises provide evidences for supporting
for the conclusion with absolute necessity.
Consequently, if premises of the above arguments
are true, then it is impossible for conclusion to be
false.
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Conti…

There are three methods used to identify

deductive arguments. These are as follows:-
 Using Indictor Words
 Studying the Actual Strength of the Premise and
the Conclusion
 The Character or Form of Argumentation the
Arguer Uses

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Conti…

Using Indictor Words

The following words signal deductive arguments:
 Necessarily
 Certainly
 Absolutely
 Definitely, etc.

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Conti…

Example:
Mohammed is a member of the Republican
Party.
All members of the Republican Party are
conservatives.
Therefore, it necessarily follows that
Mohammed is a conservative.
In the above argument an indictor word
“necessarily” reveals a deductive argument.

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Conti…
 Studying the Actual Strength of the Premise and the
Conclusion
If the conclusion actual does follow with strict
necessity from the premises, then the argument is
clearly deductive.
 Example:
 All sales women are extroverts( sociable, very active)
 Semira Taylor( cutter of the cloth) is a sales woman.
 Therefore, Semira Taylor is an extrovert( very active).
In the above example, the conclusion follows with
strict necessity from the premises.
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Conti…

 If we assume that all saleswomen are extrovert

and that Semira Taylor is a saleswoman, then it is
impossible that Semira Taylor not be an
extrovert.
 Thus, the argument interpreted as deductive.
The Character or Form of Argumentation the
Arguer Uses
When an argument contains no indicator words
and the conclusion does not follow necessarily
from the premises, we use the following typically
deductive forms of argumentation.
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Conti…
The deductive argumentation forms that the
arguer uses include:
Argument based on mathematics
An argument from definition
A categorical syllogism
A hypothetical syllogism and
A disjunctive syllogism

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Conti…

An argument based on mathematics

 An argument based on mathematics is an argument in
which the conclusion depends on some purely
arithmetic or geometric computation or measurement.
Numbers show the reality and essence of things.
Therefore, there is accuracy in numerical expressions.
 Example:
A. The length of a square is 2cm and its width is also 2
cm. Therefore, this square has the area of 4 cm2.
B. Ewnetu has 3 apples in his left pocket and 4 oranges
in his right pocket. Therefore, Ewnetu pockets contain
7 pieces of fruits.
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Conti…

All arguments in pure mathematics are

deductive while arguments that depend on
statistics are usually best interpreted as
inductive.
Statistical arguments are based on random
sampling of data gathering, it is impossible to
arrive at absolutely certain conclusion.

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Conti…
An argument from definition
An argument from definition is an argument in which
the conclusion is claimed to develop merely on the
definition of some word or phrase contained in the
premises or this is an argument whose conclusion is
reached by defining a fundamental word in the
premise.
Example:
Some one might argue that because Kedir is
mendacious, it follows that he tells lies. This
argument is deductive because its conclusion follows
with necessity from the definition of “mendacious.”
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Conti…

A categorical syllogism
A categorical syllogism is a syllogism that consists of
exactly two premises and one conclusion on which
each statement begins with one of the quantifiers
‘all”, ”no”, or “some.”
Example:
 Some merchants are pirates.
 All merchants are stingy.
 Therefore, some stingy are pirates.
 This is always best treated as deductive because the
conclusion follows the premises with necessity given
that the premises are true.
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Conti…

A Hypothetical syllogism
A Hypothetical syllogism is also a syllogism
having a conditional statement for one or both of
its premises.
 Example:
 If we eat variety of food items, then we would be
healthy.
 If we are healthy, then we would be productive.
Therefore, if we eat variety of food items, then
we would be productive.
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Conti…

A disjunctive syllogism
A disjunctive syllogism is a syllogism having a disjunctive
statement, that is, an “either…… or …… statement”, for one of its
premises.
Example:
A. People are either good or evil.
B. Gemechu is not good.
C. Therefore, he is evil.
 Rahmet is either Ethiopian or Eritrean.
 Rahmet is not Eritrean.
 Therefore, Rahmet is Ethiopian
A. Either breach of contract is a crime or it is not punishable by the
state.
B. Breach of contract is not crime.
C. 09/17/2021
Therefore, it is not punishable by the state. 61
Conti…


Inductive Arguments

An inductive argument is an argument,
which makes the claim that the reasoning,
evidences or premises offered in support of
the conclusion with the force of
probability.

That is, an inductive argument is one
whose conclusion is claimed to follow from
its premises only with probability.
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Conti…

Example:
In the past five years, practice of good
governance in Ethiopia is appreciative.
This year too, there is a practice of good
governance in Ethiopia.
Therefore, probably next year there will
be practice of good governance in
Ethiopia.

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Conti…

There are three methods used to identify inductive

arguments. These are as follows:-
1.Using Indictor Words
2.Studying the Actual Strength of the Premise and the
Conclusion
3.The Character or Form of Argumentation the Arguer Uses
1. Using Indicator words
The following words signal inductive arguments:
 Probably
 Improbably
 Plausible
 Implausible
 09/17/2021
Likely etc… 64
Conti…

Example:
The rainfall in Tepi has been more than 20 inches
every year for the past ten years. Therefore, the
rainfall next year will probably be more than 20
inches.
In this argument an indictor word “probably”
shows the argument is inductive argument.

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Conti…

Studying the Actual Strength of the Premise and

the Conclusion
If the conclusion actual does not follow with
strict necessity from the premises but does
follow probably, then it is usually best to
consider the argument inductive.
Example:
 The vast majority of sales women are extroverts.
 Aster Taylor is a saleswoman.
 Therefore, Aster Taylor is an extrovert.
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Conti…

The Character or Form of Argumentation the Arguer Uses

When an argument contains no indicator words and the
conclusion does not follow probably from the premises, in
this case we use the following typically inductive forms of
argumentation.
The inductive argumentation forms that the arguer uses
include the following:
An argument based on prediction
An argument from analogy
 An inductive generalization
 An argument from authority
An argument based on signs and
Argument
09/17/2021 based on casual inference. 67
Conti…
An argument based on prediction
In an argument based on prediction, the
premises deal with some known event in the
past or present, and the conclusion moves
beyond this event to some event in the future.
 Therefore, arriving at conclusion about the
future condition based on the past and present
condition will not be certain rather it is probable
or likely to happen.

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Conti…

Example:
 Yesterday, there was rainfall in Tepi.
 Today also there is rainfall.
 Therefore, there will be rainfall tomorrow.
 It has been raining for the whole day of this
week. This shows that it will rain for the
coming week.

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Conti…

An argument from analogy

An argument from analogy is an argument that depends
on the existence of an analogy or similarity, between
two things.
Because of the existence of this analogy, a certain
condition that affects the better-known thing or
situation is concluded to affect the similar, lesser-known
thing or situation.
Example:
 Computer A is manufactured in 2012; easy to access
and fast in processing; Computer B is also
manufactured in 2012; easy to access. It follows that,
Computer
09/17/2021 B is also fast in processing. 70
Conti…
An inductive generalization (An argument based
on statistics)
An inductive generalization (An argument based
on statistics) is an argument that proceeds from
the knowledge of selected sample to some claim
about the whole group.
In other words, a reasoning process that
proceeds from particular facts to general truths
is called inductive generalization.

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Conti…

Example:
 There are 50 students in this class.
 I have evaluated the answer sheets of 25
students and all of them scored above 85%.
 It implies that all students of this class are smart.
 One may argue that because three out of four
people in a single prison are black, one may
conclude that three-fourth of prison
populations are blacks.

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Conti…
 An argument from authority
An argument from authority is argument based on
citation, interview, or witness of a person who has a
better position or access to the required
qualification. Or
 This is an argument whose conclusion depends upon
a statement made by some presumed authority or
witness.
Example:
According to Mr. Balcha who is a lawyer in Tepi town,
Chaltu committed murder because an eye witness
testified to that effect under oath(divine witness). 73
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Conti…

An argument based on signs

An argument based on signs is an argument that proceeds
from the knowledge of a certain sign (may be it is a traffic
sign, a trademark, a cautionary mark, a symbol,) to a
knowledge of the thing or situation symbolized by the sign.
Example:
 The package material says that “keep it out of the reach of
children.”
 Therefore, this package must consist of some sort of
medicine.
 After observing No Parking sign posted on the side of a
road, one may infer that the area is not allowed for
parking.
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Conti…

An argument based on causation

An argument based on causation is an argument that
proceeds from the knowledge of a cause to knowledge
of the effect, or conversely, from the knowledge of an
effect to the knowledge of a cause.
It depends on instances of cause and effect which can
never be known with absolute certainty.
 Example:
 The cloud is becoming dark and the thunder is roaming.
So, let us go home quickly, the rain is inevitable.
 The meat is dry so that it had been over cooked 
effect to cause.
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Conti…
Evaluating Arguments: deductive and
inductive
Deductive argument
Valid and invalid
sound and unsound
Inductive argument
Strong and weak
Cogent and un-cogent

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Conti…
Evaluating Argument
Validity, Truth, Soundness, Strength, Cogency
 These terminologies are required to evaluate deductive
and inductive arguments.
Evaluating Deductive Arguments
 A deductive argument can be classified into valid and
invalid arguments; and a deductive valid argument can
be further classified into valid-sound and valid-
unsound.
 Similarly, all invalid arguments are unsound arguments.
Therefore, valid, invalid, sound, and unsound are the
central concepts for evaluating deductive arguments.
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Conti…
In a deductive argument, a valid deductive
argument is an argument such that if the
premises are true, it is impossible for the
conclusion to be false. In such arguments the
conclusion follows with strict necessity from the
premises.
 An invalid deductive argument is a deductive
argument such that if the premises are assumed
true, it is possible for the conclusion to be false.
In these arguments the conclusion does not
follow with strict necessity from the premises,
even though it is claimed to.
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Conti…

If the truth of the premise supports or become

relevant to the truth of conclusion, then the
argument is valid.
Example:
 All television networks are media companies.
 EBC is a television network.
 Therefore, EBC is a media company.

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Conti…
If the truth of the premise does not support or
become irrelevant to the truth of the conclusion, the
argument is invalid.
The following argument has true premises and true
conclusion, but the reasoning is invalid.
 Example:
 All cows are animals.
 All mammals are animals.
 Therefore, all cows are mammals.
 All philosophers are rational.
 Socrates was rational.
09/17/2021
Therefore, Socrates was a philosopher 80
 validity and Truth value
 No direct relationship b/n validity and truth value of
statements
 Exception: an argument T=P & F=C is always invalid
 Therefore , An argument has the following four possibilities Of
Truth vale combinations
Premise Conclusion Valid Invalid
True True  
False False  
True False X invalid
False True  
 Validity is not determined by actual truth value of
premise/conclusion rather by FORM.

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Conti…
 Possibility # 1: A combination of True premises and
True conclusion (the first case) allows for both valid
and invalid arguments.
 Consider the following examples:
Example-1 (Valid):
 All women are mammals. (Tp)
 My mother is a mammal. (Tp)
 Therefore, my mother is a woman. (Tc)
Example-2 (Invalid):
 All philosophers are critical thinkers. (Tp)
 Plato was a critical thinker. (Tp)
 09/17/2021
Therefore, Plato was a philosopher. (Tc) 82
Conti…
Possibility # 2: A combination of True premises
and false conclusion (the second case) allows
only for invalid arguments.
Consider the following example:
 Example-1 (Invalid):
 All biologists are scientists. (Tp)
 Meseret was a scientist. (Tp)
 Therefore, Meseret was a biologist. (Fc)
Based on the features of validity, the above
example, which combines True premises and
False conclusion, is an invalid argument.
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Conti…

Possibility # 3: A combination of false premises

and True conclusion (the third case) allows for
both valid and invalid arguments.
Consider the following examples:
Example-1 (Valid):
 All birds are mammals. (Fp)
 All women are birds. (Fp)
 Therefore, all women are mammals. (Tc)

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Conti…

Possibility # 4: A combination of false premises and false

conclusion (the fourth case) allows for both valid and
invalid arguments.
Consider the following examples:
 Example-1 (Valid):
 All Americans are Ethiopians. (Fp)
 All Egyptians are Americans. (Fp)
 Thus, all Egyptians are Ethiopians. (Fc)
 Example-2 (Invalid):
 All birds are mammals. (Fp)
 All ants are mammals. (Fp)
 Therefore,
09/17/2021
all ants are birds. (Fc) 85
Conti…
Based on the features of valid and invalid
arguments, the above two examples, each of which
combine False premises and False conclusion, are
valid argument and invalid argument, respectively.
Therefore, the fourth combination also allows for
both valid and invalid arguments.
In general, the basic idea of evaluating deductive
argument, validity (valid and invalid) is not
something that is determined by the actual truth
or falsity of the premises and conclusion. Rather,
validity is something that is determined by the
relationship between premises and conclusion.
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Conti…
Soundness of deductive argument
Sound and unsound arguments
A sound argument is a valid argument which
contains two essential features: it is valid and its
premises are all true with true conclusion.
 Sound argument is a “good” or the most
“perfect” deductive argument.
 Example:
 All human beings are mortal.
 All Ethiopians are human beings.
 Therefore, all Ethiopians are mortal.
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Conti…

If a deductive argument fails to meet these two requirements,

it is said to be unsound. Accordingly, an unsound deductive
argument falls into one of the following three categories.
 It is invalid but all its premises are true .
 It is valid but has at least one false premise.
 It is invalid and has at least one false premise.
Example:
 All Ethiopians are Europeans.
 Sintayehu is an Ethiopian.
 Therefore, Sintayehu is a European.
This argument is valid because if we assume that the premises
are true, the conclusion would be necessarily true. But as the
argument involves plainly false premise, then it is unsound.
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Conti…
Evaluating Inductive Arguments
Inductive arguments are evaluated using the
following technical terms:
Strong
Weak
Cogent and
 Uncogent.

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Conti…
A strong inductive argument
A strong inductive argument is an inductive argument such that it is
improbable that the premises to be true and the conclusion to be
false.
In such arguments, the conclusion follows probably from the
premises.
 A strong inductive argument has this essential feature: it is highly
probably that if its premises are true, then its conclusion is
probable true.
 Example :
 This basket contains one hundred oranges.
 Eighty oranges selected at random were found to be ripe(ready to
eat).
 Therefore, probably all one hundred oranges are ripe(ready to
eat)..
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Conti…

A weak inductive argument

A weak inductive argument is an inductive
argument such that the conclusion does not
follow probably from the premises, even though
it is claimed to. In other words, a weak inductive
argument has this essential feature:
it is not likely that if its premises are true, the
conclusion is true.

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Conti…

Example :
 This basket contains one hundred oranges.
 Three oranges selected at random were found to
be ripe.
 Therefore, probably all one hundred oranges are
ripe(ready to eat)..

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 Strength and Truth Value
 No direct relationship b/n Strong/Weak and truth value of
statements
 Exception: an argument T=P & probably F=C is always Weak
 Therefore , An argument with Strength and weakness is not a
matter of actual truth value rather DEGEREE.
Premise Conclusion Strong Weak

True Pro. True  

False Pro. False  

True Pro. False X Weak

False Pro. True  

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Conti…
Cogency of inductive argument
A cogent argument is an inductive argument that is
strong and has all true premises which contains the
following two features: that is, it is strong and it
has all true premises with probably true
conclusion.
A cogent argument, therefore, is a ‘‘good’’ or the
most “prefect” inductive argument. Because the
conclusion of a cogent argument is genuinely
supported by true premises, it follows that the
conclusion of every cogent argument is probably
true.
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Conti…
 cogent argument has two essential features:
Should be strong and
all its premises should be true
 If one of these two conditions is missed, the
argument would be un-cogent.
Example:
 Nearly all lemons that have been tasted were
sour. Therefore, nearly all lemons are sour.

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Conti…

Cogent Argument = Strong Argument + All True

Premises .
An argument is uncogent if it does not satisfy
these two conditions.
Thus, an uncogent argument is an inductive
argument that is weak, has one or more false
premises, or both.

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Conti…
An argument is uncogent if it involves one of the
following characteristics.
First, all weak inductive arguments are uncogent.
Second, it is strong but has at least one false
premise.
Third, it is weak and has at least one false
premise.

09/17/2021 97
Deductive Argument Inductive argument
_________________________________________
If we assume the P=T , If we assume the P=T ,
________________________________________
IMPOSSIBLE for C=F or IMPROBABLE for C=F
The ________________________________________
relationship b/n P&C is a The relationship b/n P&C is a
matter of necessity matter of probability
________________________________________
The C follow the premise with The C follow the premise with
________________________________________
certainty likelihood
________________________________________
Valid : if we assume P=T ,its Strong: If we assume the P=T ,
________________________________________
IMPOSSIBLE for the C=F IMPROBABLE for C=F

________________________________________
Invalid :Valid : if we assume P=T ,its Weak :If we assume the P=T ,
POSSIBLE for the C=F probable for C=F
________________________________________
 validity is not a matter of actual Strength/weakness is not a matter of
truth________________________________________
value of statements rather a actual truth value of statements rather
mater of FORM a mater of degree
________________________________________
Hence no direct relationship b/n
_________________ Hence no direct relationship b/n
truth value and validity truth value and S/Weak
09/17/2021 98
DEDUCTIVE ARGUMENT INDUCTIVE ARGUMENT
SOUND : Must fulfill two criteria COGENT : Must fulfill two criteria
1.Valid 1.Strong
2.all actually true premises 2.all actually true premises

IF fail to fulfill the above IF fail to fulfill the above
criteria=UNSOUND criteria=UNCOGENT

All SOUND arguments are VALID All COGENT arguments are STRONG
arguments arguments

All INVALID arguments are All WEAK arguments are

UNSOUND arguments UNCOGENT arguments

VALID argument can be STRONG argument can be

UN/SOUND depending on the UN/COGENT depending on the
actual truth value of its statements actual truth value of its statements

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THANK YOU !!

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