Role of language in Logic

The need of precision

Dr Sajid Awan
Associate Professor, AUAACK
 Language and Definitions
• 1. Language Functions
• 2. Emotive Language, Neutral Language, and Disputes
• 3. Disputes and Ambiguity
• 4. Definitions and Their Uses
• 5. The Structure of Definitions: Extension and Intension
• 6. Definition by Genus and Difference
 1. Language Functions
• When people reason, they typically do so using language, manipulating propositions in a
logical or informative spirit
• But language is used in a great variety of ways, only some of which are informative.
• Without the intention to inform, we may express ourselves using language
• Of course, some expressive discourse also has informative content, and may express
attitudes as well as beliefs.
Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life for which the first was made.
 1. Language Functions
• Some discourse is directive, with or without expressive or informative
elements. It seeks to guide or to command.
• “Step on the scale, please,” we may be told,
• or we may receive this good advice:
• Drive defensively. The cemetery is full of law-abiding citizens who had
the right of way
 1. Language Functions
• A mixture of functions is a natural feature of almost all our uses of language. We can see
this in our own speech and writing.
• Emotive language may be used to advance our purposes in directing others:
“That conduct is utterly disgusting!” says parent to child, expressing an attitude, seeking
to direct behavior, and (with those same words) probably reporting a fact.
• Language may have three major functions:
• 1. Informative
• 2. Expressive
• 3. Directive
 1. Language Functions
• Less common types of functions:
• 4. Ceremonial language (as when we say, “How do you do?” upon being
introduced to a stranger), in which words may combine expressive and
other functions; and
• 5. Performative language (as when we say, “I apologize for my foolish
remark”), in which words themselves serve, when spoken or written, to
perform the function they announce. Other examples are “I congratulate
you, . . .” “I accept your offer, . . .” and “I promise you that. . . .”
 Principal function
• Logicians are chiefly concerned with language used
informatively–
• affirming or denying propositions,
• formulating or evaluating arguments, and so on.
• In reasoning it is this informative function of language that is
the principal concern
 Principal function
• In this informative mode we can distinguish between facts a sentence formulates and
facts about the speaker who formulates them.
• If someone says, “War is always the wrong solution to international conflict,” that may
indeed be true, but it is also evidence of the beliefs of the person who utters that remark.
• When someone says, “I strongly oppose our involvement in this war on moral grounds,”
that is a statement (very probably true) about the speaker, but it also serves to express a
judgment about the morality of the war under discussion.
• To open an argument with a statement of one’s own views is by no means deceptive; it is
one of the common ways in which judgment and biographical report are appropriately
integrated.
 The forms of language
• Sentences are the units of our language that express complete thoughts.
• Forms of sentences could be:
1. Declarative (reasoning)
2. Exclamatory (emotions)
3. Imperative (directing)
4. Interrogative (questioning)
• There is no strict correlation between function and form.
 Word of wisdom

• Logic is the great disperser of hazy and confused

thinking: it clears up the fogs which hide from us
our own ignorance, and make us believe that we
understand a subject when we do not. (John
Stuart Mill)
 Basic logical Concepts
• In evaluating any argument, one should always ask two key
questions:
• 1. Are the premises true? And
• 2. Do the premises provide good reasons to accept the
conclusion?
 Bases of logic
• An argument, as that term is used in critical thinking, is a claim defended
with reasons.
• Arguments are composed of one or more premises and a conclusion.
• Premises are statements in an argument offered as evidence or reasons in
support of another statement.
• A statement is a sentence that can be viewed as either true or false.
• A conclusion is the statement in an argument that the premises are
intended to support or prove.
 Question

• What does it mean to say that an argument’s

premises provide “good reasons” for its
conclusion, and how can we know when such
reasons are being offered?
 Deductive arguments
• Examples:
• 1. All humans are mortal.
• Fazeel is human.
• Therefore, Fazeel is mortal.
• 2. If the president Mr. Arif Alvi lives in the Presidency, then he lives in Islamabad.
• The president Mr. Arif Alvi does live in the presidency. So, he lives in Islamabad.
• Conclusions of these arguments flow from the premises with a kind of inescapable logic.
Their premises are intended to provide a kind of rigorous, airtight logical support for
their conclusions.
 Think!

• We think in logic, as we talk in prose, without aiming at

doing so. —John Henry Newman
• The study of logic appeals to no criterion not already
present in the learner’s mind. —C. I. Lewis
 Exercises –deductive reasoning
• Either A was the murderer, or B was the murderer.
• If A was the murderer, then traces of phosphorus should have been found
on the body.
• No traces of phosphorus were found on the body.
• Whodunnit?
 Exercises –deductive reasoning
• The murder did not occur in the library.
• If Adam was the murderer, then the weapon was a revolver.
• Either Hope was the murderer, or Adam was the murderer.
• If Hope was the murderer, then the murder took place in the library.
• Whodunnit? With what weapon?
 Exercises –deductive reasoning
• At a picnic, Mike went for soft drinks for Amy, Brian, Lisa, and Bill, as well as for himself.
• He brought back iced tea, grape juice, Diet Coke, Pepsi, and 7-Up.
• Mike doesn’t like carbonated drinks.
• Amy would drink either 7-Up or Pepsi.
• Brian likes only sodas.
• Lisa prefers the drink she would put lemon and sugar into.
• Bill likes only clear drinks.
• What drinks did Mike bring for each person?
 Inductive arguments
• Simply claim that their conclusions are likely or probable given the
premises offered.
• Examples:
• Gallop Polls show that 57 percent of people favor PTI government.
• Sh. Rashid is in PTI government. He is liked by 57 percent of people.
 Inductive arguments
• The bank safe was robbed last night.
• Whoever robbed the safe knew the safe’s combination.
• Only two people know the safe’s combination: Faizi and Nina.
• Faizi needed money to pay his outstanding debts. He was seen sneaking
around outside the bank last night.
• It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that Faizi robbed the safe.
 Difference between deductive &
inductive
• Because the standards for evaluating deductive and inductive arguments
are quite different, it is important to understand the difference between
these two types of arguments.
• Deductive arguments try to prove their conclusions with rigorous,
inescapable logic.
• Inductive arguments try to show that their conclusions are plausible or
likely given the premise(s).
 Difference between deduction & induction
• Generally speaking, deduction moves from general premises to particular
conclusions
• Whereas, induction moves from particular premises to general conclusions.
• That, however, is a misconception.
• Example:
• Lincoln was president from 1861 to 1865. (particular premise)
• So, all persons born during Lincoln’s presidency were born in the nineteenth
century. (general conclusion)
 Difference between deduction &
induction
• All of Stephen King’s previous novels have been good. (general premise)
Therefore, Stephen King’s next novel will probably be good. (particular
conclusion)
•To be continued!