Session1: Introduction to

Logic
Course: Logic and Critical Thinking
 Definition and subject matter of Logic
• Logic is the Science of valid Reasoning
• Science means a branch of coherently organized body of knowledge
• The aim of logic is to provide methods, techniques and devices which help in
differentiating right reasoning from wrong and good reasoning from bad.
• Knowledge of Logic helps one to face a problem in a more orderly and
systematic way, and in many cases makes the solution less difficult and more
certain.
• Logic helps us to judge if the conclusion follows correctly from the given
evidences
• Correct reasoning means to discover the right order between evidences and
conclusion
• The moment one is concerned with the idea that one thought follows from
another, one is being logical
• Correct reasoning is the basis of all sciences, natural and social.
• Anyone who knows logic “does” good reasoning and “makes” sound
arguments. A logical person makes right reasoning, good definitions and
good debates.
• Traditionally logic was defined as the study of laws of thought. There are
three laws which have been considered essential for correct reasoning by
ancient logicians. There are (i) Law of identity (ii) Law of Non-Contradiction
and (iii) Law of Excluded- Middle
• Various laws of inference and deduction is equally important for valid
reasoning
• All reasoning is mental activity but not all mental activity is reasoning.
Remembering, imagining, daydreaming are various types of mental activities
but none of them is reasoning
• Reasoning is a special type of thinking, a special type of mental activity
and a special type of mental process. When one thought is more or less
consciously connected with another in order to elicit the conclusion
towards which our thought is directed, then it is reasoning.
• For reasoning to take place there should be some basis, some ground,
some evidences, some premisses which imply conclusion
• In illogical thinking no evidence is provided and no conclusion follows
• Thus logic is the science of valid reasoning.
• While a logician studies “correctness of arguments” a psychologist studies
“actual mental processes”. The Logician is interested in “how we should
reason correctly” whereas the psychologist is interested in “how and why
do we reason”
• For a logician, “norms, standards and criteria of correct reasoning” are
essential, to improve man’s habit of arguing
• What is reasoning?: Reasoning means providing evidences for the conclusion
in the clearest terms and supporting the conclusion with maximum
evidences.
• What are Premisses?: The evidences provided to substantiate the conclusion
are said to premisses
• What is Conclusion?: What is drawn/ deduced/ inferred on the basis of the
premisses is a conclusion
• What is an argument?: An argument or a piece of reasoning is thus a
relational arrangement of premisses and conclusion
• If the premisses are drawn and no conclusion is drawn from them, then there
is no argument.
• Similarly if conclusion is given and no premisses are citied then also there is
no argument.
Examples of arguements
Example 1: All human beings are mortals.
Socrates is a human being.
Therefore, Socrates is mortal.

Example 2: If A Then B.
If B then C
Therefore, if A then C

Example 3: All observed crows are black

Therefore, all crows are black
• What is a Proposition?: Informative or indicative sentences may be said to be
propositions
• Interrogative or Exploratory sentences are not propositions. Questions,
commands and exclamations cannot be affirmed, denied or judged to be
either true or false.
• Example: “Bring a glass of water” is not a proposition whereas “Water is
essential for human beings” is a proposition
• Hence, though every proposition is definitely a sentence, every sentence is
not necessarily a proposition.
• A proposition becomes either a premisses or a conclusion only in the
context of an argument
• The use of words like “hence”, “therefore”, “it follows”, “thus”, “so”
etc are conclusion indicators
• Words or phrases like ”because”, “for”, “since”, “Implies”, etc. are
premiss indicators
• Evidences play a vital role in determining the correctness of an
argument. All scientific enquiries seek evidence
 Form and Matter
• An argument consists both form and matter. The content of the argument is
matter, and the order in which the content is arranged is form.
• Form is the manner in which all constituents of the reasoning (premisses as
well as conclusion) are arranged. Thus “form is not another constituent, but is
the way constituents are put together”
• Innumerable arguments can be constituted having the same form

If All M is P
All S is M
Therefore, all S then P
• One can make innumerable arguments by giving different values to S, P and M
Examples of arguments
Example 2: If A has B.
If A also has C
Therefore, not all A has B
Therefore, not all A has c