Week 1- Chapts 1-3: Introduction to Logic: Statements, Arguments, and Structure

Vocabulary flashcards defining fundamental concepts in logic, including statements, arguments, premise and conclusion indicators, non-argument forms, and argument diagramming structures.

Statement

A sentence which can be true or false (meaning that it has a truth value).

True

A property of those statements which comport to reality.

Assertion

The act of making a statement while proclaiming that the statement is true.

Logic

The study of the relevance between statements and everything related to that relevance.

Relevance

The relationship between statements where their truths are intertwined, meaning that if one statement is true, it makes the other more or less likely to be true.

Rhetorical Question

A question which is not meant to be answered but is used for rhetorical effect, often functioning as an indirect assertion or statement.

Ought Imperative

A command which is best understood as a "should" statement, typically issued with or supported by reasoning.

Argument

A group of statements, one or more of which is being used as a reason to believe one of the others.

Conclusion

A sentence or statement which is being supported by another statement.

Premise

A statement which is being used to support another statement.

Conclusion Indicator

A word or phrase which generally precedes a logical conclusion (such as "therefore", "thus", or "hence").

Premise Indicator

A word or words which generally precede a premise (such as "because", "since", or "for").

Therefore test

A technique of adding "therefore" in front of a statement to test whether it functions as a conclusion.

Inference

The implicit or explicit idea that one statement follows from other statements.

Conditional Statement

A compound statement asserting that something is true under a certain condition, commonly expressed in an "if/then" structure.

Report

A piece of speech or writing where a person relates information directly, without indicating that there is any inferential relationship between the statements.

Explanation

A passage that attempts to explain why something is true (taking the fact for granted), rather than attempting to prove or establish that it is true.

Subconclusion

A statement which supports a main premise or conclusion while also being supported by other statements, thus functioning as both a premise and a conclusion.

Dependent Premise

A premise which logically depends on another premise to support a conclusion.

Independent Premise

A premise which supports a conclusion by itself without requiring another premise.

Line of Argument

A set of dependent premises and possibly subpremises which work together separately from other premises to support a conclusion.