Lecture 02 Notes: Understanding AI and Fundamentals of Logic (VOCABULARY Flashcards)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key AI, logic, and epistemology concepts from the notes.

Reality Rule #2

Be sceptical about everything.

Skepticism

A cautious attitude toward knowledge claims; used to evaluate sources and arguments.

Proposition

A statement that can be assigned a truth-value (true or false).

Truth value

The truth value of a proposition: true or false.

Premises

Propositions that provide reasons or evidence for a conclusion.

Conclusion

The proposition that an argument infers or aims to establish.

Deductive Argument

An argument where, if the premises are true and the form is valid, the conclusion must be true.

Inductive Argument

An argument in which the conclusion is probable rather than certain; evaluated as stronger or weaker.

Valid

A deductive argument in which true premises guarantee a true conclusion.

Invalid

A deductive argument where the conclusion does not necessarily follow from the premises.

Sound

A deductive argument that is valid and has all true premises; the conclusion is true.

Unsound

A deductive argument that is invalid or has at least one false premise.

Fallacy

A flaw in reasoning; an unsound argument where the conclusion is not adequately supported.

Contradictories

Two propositions that cannot both be true or both be false; one is true, the other false.

Contraries

Two propositions that cannot both be true but can both be false; not exhaustive.

Binary Logic

Logic with two truth-values (true and false) and no third value; includes the Law of the Excluded Middle.

Law of the Excluded Middle

Every proposition is either true or false; no third option.

Law of Identity

A thing is identical to itself (A is A).

Law of Non-Contradiction

A statement and its negation cannot both be true.

Three Laws of Thought

Identity, Non-Contradiction, and Excluded Middle—the foundational principles of classical logic.

Aristotle

First systematizer of binary logic; noted that some future-tense propositions may be undetermined.

Many-Valued Logic

Logic with more than two truth-values beyond true/false.

Fuzzy Logic

A form of many-valued logic dealing with vagueness and degrees of truth.

Sentences vs. Propositions

Sentences are language units; propositions are the truth-conditional content and are language-independent.

Objective reality

The external world that exists independently of beliefs or feelings.

Correspondence Theory of Truth

A proposition is true if it corresponds to a fact about reality.

Facts

Objective states of reality that remain true independently of beliefs.

Common Sense Realism

The view that there is an external world accessible to our senses, independent of our thoughts.

Analytic Knowledge

Truths true by definition or tautologies; often axioms or necessary meanings.

Synthetic Knowledge

Truths about reality that are not true by definition and are empirically verifiable.

Empiricism

Epistemological position that all factual knowledge derives from experience; analytic truths are certain, synthetic truths are not.

Axiom

A fundamental, self-evident starting truth in deductive reasoning.

Tautology

A statement true by definition.

Deduction

Reasoning from given axioms to derive consequences; mathematics is a prime example.

Induction

Reasoning from experience to general conclusions; inherently uncertain but often rational when odds are favorable.

Proposition vs. Sentence

A proposition has truth-value; a sentence is a linguistic form that may or may not express a proposition.