Lecture Notes

Lecture Notes by Christopher Lay

Los Angeles Pierce College

Department of History, Philosophy, and Sociology

Mathew Van Cleave's 2016 Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking

https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/BookDetail.aspx?bookId=457

Chapter 1 "Reconstructing and Analyzing Arguments"

§1 "What is an argument?"

Arguments

"An argument, in this sense, is a reason for thinking that a statement, claim or idea is true."

There are "two parts of an argument: the premise and the conclusion."

"The premises of the argument provide a reason for thinking that the conclusion is true."

"An argument is a set of statements, some of which (the premises) attempt to provide a reason for thinking that some other statement (the conclusion) is true."

Statements

"Both premises and conclusions are statements."

"A statement is a type of sentence that can be true or false ... ." A statement is a statement because "it makes sense to inquire whether it is true or false." Note, a statement is still a statement, "even if it is false."

Numbering & The Standard Argument Form

"A standard way of capturing the structure of an argument is by numbering the premises and conclusion."

"By convention, the last numbered statement (also denoted by the 'therefore') is the conclusion and the earlier numbered statements are the premises."

With that numbering we get "what we call putting an argument into standard argument form."

Handling Arguments

Before judging an argument as good or bad, "[i]t is important to be able to identify arguments and understand their structure, [regardless of] whether or not you agree with conclusion of the argument."

Exercise 1

"Which of the following sentences are statements and which are not?"

"1. No one understands me but you."