An appeal to skepticism about reasoning
Unaided and aided reasoning Humans reason about many things. Some things are more complex than other things. The more complex a thing is, the more probably it is that one…
Valid arguments, contingent truths & forms
n Proposition Symbol Explanation 1 Peter is gay. P1 Premise 2 Peter is male. Q From 1 Valid? Perhaps. A truth table with show: P Q ¬Q P∧¬Q T T…
Complete arguments
A complete argument is as argument that is stated or presented such that: 1. One can see all the propositions in the argument. 2. All the propositions in the argument…
Validity and necessary truths
Validity is defined in a couple of ways. I like to define it like this: An argument is valid iff the superconjunction1 of all the premises and the negation of…
Truth tables and necessary truths
In the essay Validity and necessary truths I used truth tables with necessary truths and impossibilities in it. I did it like this: P □Q P→□Q T T T F…
Sound arguments and rationally convincing arguments
I've read many times and places that an argument is sound iff 1. The argument is valid. 2. All the premises of the argument are true. [1] Let's call this…
The term non-sequitur
As Wikipedia notes,i the term is used in everyday speech to deny a conditional (if-then statement), and it is also used in logic to mean an invalid argument. This together…
Contraries and contradictories
Contraries If one looks in a general dictionary one will not a find a definition of contrary that is philosophically useful.i I looked the word up in a philosophical dictionary…
Tough modal logic formalization
Source. Gamgee wrote: In the Ontological Argument, Anselm refutes Guanilo's Perfect Island criticism by stating that God has Aseity. Anselm does not, as far as i know, make any attempt…
The source of … and definitions
Abstract The problem is how freely we are 'allowed' to define things. In this essay I will address a definition similar to “x is the source of ...”. I conclude…