Logic, Critical Thinking, and Western Intellectual History

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering fundamental concepts of logic, mental operations, argumentation, Western intellectual history, and significant scientific contributors.

Truth

The object of thinking.

Critical Thinking

A practice involving knowledge of the science of logic (including logical analysis, correct reasoning, and understanding statistical methods) as well as an understanding of the sources of knowledge, the nature of knowledge, and the nature of truth.

Logic (Simple Definition)

The subject which teaches the rules for correct and proper reasoning.

Logic (Sophisticated Definition)

The science of those principles, laws, and methods, which the mind of man in its thinking must follow for the accurate and secure attainment of truth.

Natural Logic

Common sense; an internal sense of what is logical and what is not, learned from birth through personal experiences in the world and language acquisition.

Scientific Logic

Natural logic trained and developed to expertness by means of well-established knowledge of the principles, laws, and methods which underlie the various operations of the mind in the pursuit and attainment of truth.

Logic as a Science

The systematic knowledge of the principles, laws, and methods of logic itself.

Logic as an Art

The practical application of the science of logic to everyday affairs, directing and assisting the proper use of reasoning.

Simple Apprehension

An operation of the mind whereby we abstract from the non-essential elements of a thing and recognize those essential elements which make it to be precisely that particular thing; its product is a concept or idea, expressed via oral or written terms.

Judgment

An operation of the mind which unites two ideas by affirmation or separates them by negation; produces a mental proposition expressed externally as an oral or written proposition or statement.

Reasoning (Mediate Inference)

An operation of the mind that involves a process whereby from certain truths already known, we proceed to another which is different from those that are given but necessarily follows from them; produces mental agreement or disagreement expressed as an argument.

Argument

A group of statements, one of which (the conclusion) is claimed to follow from the other or others (the premises).

Statement

A sentence that is either true or false; typically a declarative sentence.

Truth-Value

The attribute by which a statement is either true or false.

Premises

The statements in an argument that set forth the evidence.

Conclusion

The statement in an argument that is claimed to follow from the evidence set forth by the premises.

Conclusion Indicator

A word that provides a clue to identifying a conclusion (e.g., "therefore," "hence," "thus," "so," "consequently").

Premise Indicator

A word that provides a clue to identifying a premise (e.g., "because," "since," "for," "inasmuch as").

Inference

In the technical sense of the term, the reasoning process used to produce an argument.

Proposition

In the technical sense, the meaning or information content of a statement.

Conditional Statement

An "if… then…" statement consisting of an antecedent and a consequent; it asserts only that if the antecedent is true, then so is the consequent, without asserting either component presents evidence.

Explanandum

The statement in an explanation that describes the event or phenomenon to be explained.

Explanans

The statement or group of statements in an explanation that purports to do the explaining by showing why something is the case.

Science (Etymology)

Derived from the Latin word "scientia," meaning knowledge.

Technology

The use or application of scientific knowledge for a specific goal or purpose.

Sophists

A group of thinkers who believed people should use knowledge to improve themselves, claimed there was no absolute right or wrong, and developed the art of public speaking and debate.

Socrates

A Greek philosopher and critic of the Sophists who believed in absolute right and wrong, emphasized the mind over the body, and formulated the Socratic Method.

Socratic Method

A method of teaching and learning new things simply by asking questions and considering different options.

Plato

An idealist philosopher, student of Socrates, and teacher of Aristotle who founded the Academy in Athens, rejected democracy in favor of rule by philosopher-kings, and wrote the "Republic."

Aristotle

A realist philosopher who focused on a systematic concept of logic, taught the idea of the Golden Mean, emphasized observation and comparison, wrote over 200 books, and classified governments into three basic types.

Golden Mean

The Aristotelian principle that living a balanced, moral life is the ultimate goal.

Epicureans

Followers of Epicurus who taught that happiness is the goal in life, achieved through seeking out continual physical pleasures and living free from worry.

Stoics

A philosophical school started by Zeno teaching that happiness comes from following reason rather than unreliable emotions, prioritizing duty above feelings.

Origen of Alexandria

An early Christian thinker who firmly believed that the knowledge of the good (God) is itself sufficient to remove all taint of sin and ignorance from souls.

St. Anselm

A medieval thinker who defended the existence of God through reason, arguing that the very idea of such a being implies its actual existence.

St. Augustine

A medieval Christian theologian who argued in "De Trinitate" that the very idea of God implies His necessary existence.

Scientific Revolution

A series of events marking the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, in which developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology, and chemistry transformed society's views about nature.

Nicolaus Copernicus

A mathematician and astronomer who authored "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium," proposing a heliocentric model of the universe with the Sun rather than the Earth at the center.

Charles Darwin

An English naturalist, geologist, and biologist who developed the theory of evolution, asserting that diverse species evolve from common ancestors through the mechanism of natural selection.

Sigmund Freud

An Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis who developed an observational method focusing on human sexuality and human nature.

Adelina Adato Barrion

A Filipino entomologist and geneticist dubbed "Asia's Spider Woman" due to her extensive contributions to the study of Philippine spiders.

Eduardo Quisumbing

A Filipino botanist and expert on Philippine medicinal plants and orchids who authored over 129 scientific articles, rebuilt the National Museum Herbarium, and had the plant "saccolabium quisumbingii" named after him.

Angel C. Alcala

A Filipino biologist named a National Scientist of the Philippines in 2014, noted for creating artificial coral reefs to support aquatic ecosystems.

Ramon Cabanos Barba

A Filipino horticulturist proclaimed a National Scientist of the Philippines in June 2014, known for inventing a method to induce flowering in mango trees using ethrel and potassium nitrate.

Dr. Lilian F. Patena

A Filipino scientist who developed tissue culture techniques for garlic.

Fe Villanueva del Mundo

A Filipino pediatrician and first woman admitted to Harvard Medical School who established the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines and is credited with studies leading to an improved incubator and a jaundice-relieving device.