knowledge key terms

sufficient condition

proposition 1 cannot be true while proposition 2 is false

eg. being a dog is sufficient for being an animal, can’t be a dog without being an animal

necessary condition

proposition 2 cannot be true while proposition 1 is false

eg. being a man is a necessary condition of being a bachelor, cannot be a bachelor without being a man

ability knowledge

knowing ‘how’ to do something, eg. ‘i know how to ride a bike’

acquaintance knowledge

knowing ‘of’ someone or some place, eg. ‘i know Oxford’

propositional knowledge

knowing ‘that’ a proposition is true or false, eg. ‘i know Paris is the capital of France’

proposition

a declarative statement that goes after ‘that’, eg. ‘I believe that mice are animals’

conditional

a proposition that takes the form of ‘if… then…’ - the conditional asserts that if the antecedent is true then the consequent is also true, eg. ‘if it is raining then the ground is wet’

antecedent

the proposition that forms the first part of a conditional statement, usually coming after ‘if’

consequent

the proposition that forms the second part of a conditional statement, usually coming after ‘then’

contingent truth

a proposition that could be either true or false, a state of affairs that may or may not hold, depending on how the world actually is

deduction

relates to an argument where the conclusion is logically entailed by the premises, if the premises are true the conclusion cannot be false

induction

relates to an argument where the conclusion is supported by its premises, but is not logically entailed by them, if the premises are true then this makes it likely the conclusion is true, but could still be false

necessary truth

a proposition that must be true (or if false, must be false), a state of affairs that must hold

sound

relates to the form of an argument, a deductive argument is sound if it is valid, the premises are true, and the conclusion logically follows the premises

validity

refers to the form of an argument, a deductive argument is valid if the conclusion is entailed by the premises. if the premises are true then the conclusion must be true