Peter Bradley

TTh 10:00-11:30

Hill 005

The central question for the study of logic is this:

What makes a instance of reasoning good? What makes a instance of reasoning bad?

Prescriptive (logic) v. Descriptive (Critical Thinking)

Good arguments preserve the truth of the premises -

so that if you start out with truth statements, and you use only the principles of good argumentation, you will arrive at other true statements.

Good arguments are good in virtue of the fact that they conform to a pure, valid form.

1) That the virtue of good arguments is truth preservation.

2) That truth preservation happens in virtue of form, not the content.

virtue of good truth-preservation will never turn up false

virtue of good the prob. that the conclusion is true possibility of falsification

virtues hold in virtue of the form, not the content

virtues hold in virtue of the content, not the form

A = all A's are B's

E = no A's are B's

I = some A's are B's * some equals at least one *

O = some A's are not B's