Logical Perspective

Prof. Kumar Neeraj Sachdev

Department of Humanities and Social
Sciences

Philosophical Perspectives

Ethical Perspective - Values

Logical Perspective - Reasoning
Epistemological Perspective Knowledge
Metaphysical Perspective Reality

Reasoning

Reasoning is a special kind of thinking in which problems

are solved, in which inference takes place, that is, in
which conclusions are drawn from premises.
The logician is concerned primarily with the correctness
of the completed process of reasoning.

Nature of Reasoning

Typically, a piece of reasoning moves from one or more

statements which are, at least provisionally, taken for
granted to some other statement.
A statement means what is typically asserted using a
declarative sentence, and hence always either true or false
although its truth or falsity may be unknown.
The starting points of reasoning are called the premises, the
end-point the conclusion.
A set of statements consisting of some premises and a
conclusion is called an argument.

Examples of arguments: First: All rich people are happy and Hitesh is
rich, therefore, Hitesh is happy. Second: The potatoes have been
boiling for twenty minutes, therefore, they are cooked!
A logical perspective begins in response to questions such as the
following:
Is this argument based on reason or experience?
Is this argument correct (rationally defensible)?
Does this argument preserve or lead to truth?
Arguments are traditionally divided into two different types,
deductive and inductive.

Deductive Argument

A deductive argument is valid when its premises, if true, do

provide conclusive grounds for the truth of its conclusion.
In the realm of deductive logic, the central task is to clarify the
relation between premises and conclusion in valid arguments,
and thus to allow us to discriminate valid from invalid
arguments.
A deductive argument is one whose conclusion is claimed to
follow from its premises with absolute necessity.
This necessity not being a matter of degree and not depending
in any way on whatever else may be the case.
In sharp contrast an inductive argument is one whose
conclusion is claimed to follow from its premises only with
likelihood this likelihood being a matter of degree and
dependent on what else may be the case.

An Example

All honest people are Indians.

All Keralites are honest people.
Therefore, all Keralites are Indians.
Valid or Invalid

Validity

Validity and invalidity characterize deductive arguments, but

never propositions.
An example: If prices rise, citizens will suffer. Prices are rising.
Therefore, Citizens are suffering.
A standard definition of the validity of an argument: An
argument is valid if and only if it is impossible for all the
premises to be true, yet the conclusion is false.
If a deductive argument is invalid, it may be constituted by any
combination of true and/or false premises and a true or false
conclusion.
A deductive argument is sound if and only if it is valid, and all
of its premises are true.

Truth

Truth
and
falsity
characterize
propositions, but never arguments.
An example: All Indians are cricketlovers. (True / False)

Inductive Argument

An inductive argument makes a very different claim: not that

its premises give conclusive grounds for the truth of its
conclusion, but only that its premises provide partial support for
that conclusion.
Inductive arguments, therefore, cannot be valid or invalid in
the sense in which these terms are applied to deductive
arguments.
Of course, inductive arguments may be evaluated as good or
bad / better or worse, according to the degree of support given
to their conclusions by their premises.
Thus, the greater the likelihood, or probability, that its premises
confer on its conclusion, the greater the merit of an inductive
argument.

An Example

A is human and rational.

B is human and rational.
C is human and rational.
Therefore, (possibly) all humans rational.
Good or Bad

Fallacy
Fallacy is a mistake in reasoning; a type of
argument that may seem to be correct, but
that proves upon examination not to be so.
An Example:
All cricketers are rich people.
All film stars are rich people.
Therefore, all film stars are cricketers.