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Introducing Existential Instantiation and Generalization

Logic

Logic is what we use to make sense of reality and to uncover truth. The articles in this category are lessons in symbolic logic and critical thinking. Since they are listed in reverse chronological order, you should go to the end of the last page to start with the earliest lesson.

Introducing Existential Instantiation and Generalization

August 20, 2015 by Fergus Duniho 3 Comments

Existential Instantiation and Existential Generalization are two rules of inference in predicate logic for converting between existential statements and universal statements.

Posted in: Logic Tagged: Symbolic Logic, Video

Introducing Universal Generalization

August 17, 2015 by Fergus Duniho Leave a Comment

Universal Generalization is a rule of predicate logic that lets you go from a statement about an individual to a generalization, but there are restrictions on how it can be used.

Posted in: Logic Tagged: Symbolic Logic, Video

Introducing Predicate Logic and Universal Instantiation

August 14, 2015 by Fergus Duniho 1 Comment

For the past 14 lessons, we have been focused on sentential logic. This is where we use single letters in place of whole sentences and focus on the logical relations made between whole claims. But an argument can be valid without there being logical relations between whole sentences.

Posted in: Logic Tagged: Symbolic Logic, Video

Proving De Morgan’s with Indirect Proof

July 18, 2015 by Fergus Duniho Leave a Comment

In this last lesson on sentential logic, though not on symbolic logic, we go over solutions to proofs for De Morgan’s theorems.

Posted in: Logic Tagged: Symbolic Logic, Video

Introducing Indirect Proof

July 10, 2015 by Fergus Duniho 1 Comment

Indirect proof, or reductio ad absurdum, is a method for proving something by showing that the assumption of its opposite would entail a contradiction.

Posted in: Logic Tagged: Symbolic Logic, Video

Proving Distribution with Conditional Proof

July 7, 2015 by Fergus Duniho Leave a Comment

This symbolic logic lesson goes over proofs of both forms of the rule of Distribution, which is one of the rules of replacement.

Posted in: Logic Tagged: Symbolic Logic, Video

Proving Disjunctions with Conditional Proof

July 5, 2015 by Fergus Duniho Leave a Comment

This lesson in symbolic logic focuses on how to use conditional proof to prove disjunctions.

Posted in: Logic Tagged: Symbolic Logic, Video

Nesting Conditional Proofs

July 4, 2015 by Fergus Duniho 1 Comment

Here we take a closer look at how to nest conditional proofs, illustrating it with a proof of the rule of exportation.

Posted in: Logic Tagged: Symbolic Logic, Video

Rules of Inference for Biconditionals

July 3, 2015 by Fergus Duniho Leave a Comment

To keep the lines in our proofs shorter, this introduces rules of inference for introducing or eliminating biconditionals.

Posted in: Logic Tagged: Symbolic Logic, Video

Silly Syllogisms

June 30, 2015 by Fergus Duniho Leave a Comment

A Syllogisms tutor I originally wrote in 1990.

Posted in: Logic
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