Logic & Philosophy of Language

TEXTBOOKS

Sanguineti, Juan Jose. Logic. Manila: Sinagtala, 1992. (Parts I to III)

Bittle, Celestine OMCap. The Science of Correct Thinking. New York: Bruce Publishing, 1935.

Copi, Irving M. Introduction to Logic, Macmillan, New York, 1986.

COURSE OUTLINE

I. INTRODUCTION

II. LOGIC OF CONCEPTS (TERMS) | III. LOGIC OF JUDGMENT (PROPOSITIONS) | IV. LOGIC OF REASONING (SYLLOGISMS)

V. SYMBOLIC LOGIC AND METALOGIC | VI. PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

I. INTRODUCTION

1. The Nature of Logic [Notes 1-1]

    1. Spontaneous and Scientific Logic
    2. What's spontaneous logic, what's scientific logic, and how are the two related to each other?
    3. Logic as Art and Logic as Science
    4. What is Art? What is Science? Is Logic both Art and Science? Explain.
    5. Descriptive and Normative Value of Logic
    6. Logic? What For?
    7. Object, Method and Division of Logic
    8. What does Logic study? How does it study its object? Are there different kinds of logic?

2. Logic and other Philosophical Disciplines [Notes 1-2]

    1. Logic, Metaphysics, Gnoseology and Psychology
    2. How are these branches of Philosophy related?
    3. Logic, Mathematics, Computers and Artificial Intelligence
    4. Does Logic have anything to do with Mathematics, Computers and Artificial Intelligence?
    5. Logic, Linguistics, Semiotics, Philosophy of Language and Philosophy of Science
    6. How does Logic relate to all these other fields?

3. Historical Background [Notes 1-3]

    1. Classical Logic: Aristotle and the School of Megara (Stoic Philosophers)
    2. Dude, can you tell me how it all began?
    3. Medieval Scholastic logic
    4. What happened to Logic in the Middle Ages?
    5. Symbolic Logic (also called Mathematical Logic)
    6. How did symbolic logic come about?
    7. The Development of Logic in the Twentieth Century
    8. Tell me the story of logic in recent years.
    9. The Usefulness and Limitations of Symbolic Logic
    10. What's the use of symbolic logic? Its limitations?

I. INTRODUCTION

II. LOGIC OF CONCEPTS (TERMS) | III. LOGIC OF JUDGMENT (PROPOSITIONS) | IV. LOGIC OF REASONING (SYLLOGISMS)

V. SYMBOLIC LOGIC AND METALOGIC | VI. PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

BACK TO TOP

II. LOGIC OF CONCEPTS (or LOGIC OF TERMS) [Read A Mini-course in Logic (Dolhenty)]

1. Terms and Concepts [Notes 2-1]

    1. Notion and Classification of Signs
    2. What is a sign? Are there many kinds of signs? What are these kinds of signs?
    3. Concrete and Abstract Terms
    4. What are "terms"? What are concrete terms? What are abstract terms?
    5. Extension and Comprehension of Terms
    6. Extension? What's that? Comprehension? I don't understand. Can you explain these?
    7. Concepts: Notion and Types
    8. What is a concept? Is it the same as a term? Are there many kinds of concepts?
    9. The Universal Character of Concepts
    10. What does "universal" mean?
    11. Abstraction: Notion and Kinds of Abstraction
    12. Does abstraction mean making something vague? If not, what does it mean? What types of abstraction are there?

2. Properties of Concepts [Notes 2-2]

    1. Meaning (or Sense) and Reference
    2. Are the terms "meaning" and "reference" synonyms? If not, what's the difference?
    3. Univocal, Equivocal and Analogical Terms
    4. When is a term univocal? When is it equivocal? When is a term analogical?
    5. Analogy: Notion
    6. What's analogy? Does it mean comparison?
        1. Analogy of Proportionality
        2. When does analogy fall under this sort? Why is it called "analogy of proportionality"?
        3. Analogy of Attribution
        4. How about this one? What is it? Why is it called "analogy of attribution"?
    7. The Importance of Analogy in the Sciences, in Philosophy and in Theology
    8. So analogy is not some theoretical thing after all! It's got some applications? How is it used in the sciences? How is it used in Philosophy? How about in Theology, is it also useful?

3. The Predicables [Notes 2-3] [Read also The Universal and the Predicables]

    1. Logical Predication
    2. What do we mean by logical predication?
    3. Predicables and the Predicaments
    4. What are predicables? Are predicaments problems? Can you explain what these are?
    5. Genus, Difference, Species, Property and Accident
    6. We seem to be doing Biology here. What do these things have to do with Logic?
    7. Definition
    8. Define "definition".
    9. The Division and Opposition of Terms
    10. What does "division of terms" mean? How about "opposition of terms"?

4. Some Philosophical Considerations [See Notes 2-1]

    1. The meaning of Universals: Nominalism, Conceptualism and Realism
    2. What's the so-called "problem of the universals"? Why was it a problem? What's the difficulty about universals?
    3. Its Repercussion in Different Logical Schools of Thought
    4. What happens when you subscribe to Nominalism? How about Conceptualism? And Realism?

I. INTRODUCTION

II. LOGIC OF CONCEPTS (TERMS) | III. LOGIC OF JUDGMENT (PROPOSITIONS) | IV. LOGIC OF REASONING (SYLLOGISMS)

V. SYMBOLIC LOGIC AND METALOGIC | VI. PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

BACK TO TOP

III. LOGIC OF JUDGMENT (PROPOSITIONS) [Read again A Mini-course in Logic (Dolhenty)] [And read also The Kinds of Statements and Relations of Opposition Between Them]

1. Proposition and Judgment

    1. Nature and Structure of the Proposition
    2. What is a judgment? What is a proposition? What's the difference? Can you show the parallelism with concepts and terms?
        1. Subject
        2. What is the subject? I know this is obvious, but it's good to have a clear idea of what the subject is. BTW, do you know the Latin root of this word?
        3. Predicate
        4. And the predicate? How about the Latin root of this one?
    3. The Different Meanings of the Verb "to be"
    4. Clinton, when interrogated, once said, "It depends on what you mean by 'is'." Whoa! So he was right to say that, then? Does the verb "to be" really have different meanings?
    5. Truth in Judgment
    6. What is truth? (Ooops, does that sound like Pilate?) Why do we say that truth is to be found in judgment?

2. Kinds of Proposition

    1. Enunciation and Affirmation
    2. What is an enunciation? An affirmation?
    3. Categorical Propositions
    4. What are categorical propositions?
    5. Modal Propositions
    6. How about modal propositions? How do these differ from categorical propositions? Can you give some examples?
    7. The Opposition of Propositions
    8. What is the opposition of propositions? Who invented (or rather, discovered) this? Can you explain what it means?

3. Compound Propositions

    1. Structure
    2. What is the structure of compound propositions?
    3. Truth
    4. What is truth? (Ooops, there goes that question again.)
    5. Classification
    6. What are the kinds of compound propositions?

I. INTRODUCTION

II. LOGIC OF CONCEPTS (TERMS) | III. LOGIC OF JUDGMENT (PROPOSITIONS) | IV. LOGIC OF REASONING (SYLLOGISMS)

V. SYMBOLIC LOGIC AND METALOGIC | VI. PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

BACK TO TOP

IV. LOGIC OF REASONING (SYLLOGISMS) [Read again A Mini-course in Logic (Dolhenty)] [Download attachment below Logic_jmom.zip -- Exercises in Logic: Inference and Reasoning]

1. The Nature of Reasoning

    1. Plurality in the Reasoning Process
    2. Plurality? Can you clarify what this means here?
    3. Deduction and Induction
    4. What is deduction? What is induction? What is the difference between the two?
    5. The Structure of Argumentation
    6. Explain the structure of argumentation.
    7. Laws and Types of Arguments
    8. What are the types of arguments?

2. The Syllogism

    1. Simple Syllogism:
        1. Nature
        2. What is a simple syllogism?
        3. Structure
        4. How does it look like?
        5. Laws
        6. Name and explain the laws governing simple syllogism.
    2. Classical and Medieval Laws of syllogism
    3. Any more laws developed after Aristotle?
    4. Modal Syllogism
    5. What is modal syllogism? Why is it called "modal"?
    6. Compound Syllogism
    7. What is a compound syllogism? How does it look like?

3. Other Forms of Reasoning

    1. Inductive (generalizations) and Analogical Arguments
    2. What are inductive arguments? Analogical arguments?
    3. Dialectical Reasoning and its Importance [Read Dialectic]
    4. What does "dialectics" mean? What is its importance?
    5. Sophisms or Fallacies [Read Sophistic Reasoning]:
        1. Nature
        2. What are sophisms? Are they the same as fallacies?
        3. Types
        4. What are the kinds of sophisms and fallacies?
        5. Practical Examples
        6. Can you illustrate this using some examples?

I. INTRODUCTION

II. LOGIC OF CONCEPTS (TERMS) | III. LOGIC OF JUDGMENT (PROPOSITIONS) | IV. LOGIC OF REASONING (SYLLOGISMS)

V. SYMBOLIC LOGIC AND METALOGIC | VI. PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

BACK TO TOP

V. SYMBOLIC LOGIC AND METALOGIC [See Introduction to Logic (Stefan Waner and Steven R. Costenoble) for online interactive exercises]

1. Logic of Propositions

    1. Towards Symbolic Logic
    2. What brought about symbolic logic?
    3. Elements of the Logic of the Proposition: Variables and Propositional Functions
    4. Describe the elements of the logic of the proposition.
    5. Truth tables
    6. What are truth tables? How useful are they?
    7. Methods of Natural Inference
    8. What are these methods of natural inference?

2. Mathematical Logic

    1. First degree
    2. What is mathematical logic? First degree?
    3. Subsequent degrees
    4. Subsequent degrees?
    5. Logic of Relations and Logic of Identity
    6. What is Logic of Relations? How about Logic of Identity?
    7. Logic of Classes
    8. What do we mean by the Logic of Classes?
    9. Fuzzy Logic
    10. Is fuzzy logic vague and abstruse?
    11. Modal Logic
    12. What is modal logic? Why is it called "modal"?

3. Metalogic

    1. Axiomatic Systems and Metalogical Problems
    2. Beyond logic?
    3. Metalogical properties of Formal Systems
    4. What are these properties?
    5. Godel's Theorem
    6. State Godel's Theorem.

4. Artificial Intelligence: Quantifiability of Human Reasoning and its limitations

I. INTRODUCTION

II. LOGIC OF CONCEPTS (TERMS) | III. LOGIC OF JUDGMENT (PROPOSITIONS) | IV. LOGIC OF REASONING (SYLLOGISMS)

V. SYMBOLIC LOGIC AND METALOGIC | VI. PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

BACK TO TOP

VI. PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE [See Notes 6-0 (author unknown)] [See also Analytic Philosophy (International Catholic University)]

1. Historical Background [Notes 6-1]

    1. Theory of meaning in Plato and Aristotle
    2. What did Plato say about meaning? Aristotle?
    3. The word in St. Augustine
    4. What was St Augustine's doctrine on this?
    5. The Metaphysical Content of Language in St Thomas
    6. And what did St Thomas say about language?
    7. The Great Themes of Medieval Philosophy of Language:
        1. modus significandi
        2. What in the world is this?
        3. suppositio
        4. Can you explain what this is?
    8. Cartesian Linguistics
    9. What was Descartes position on language?
    10. The Philosophical Linguistics of Humboldt
    11. Can you give a brief sketch of Humboldt's position?

2. Contemporary Philosophy of Language [Notes 6-2]

    1. The Linguistic Turn of Philosophy
    2. What does the "linguistic turn" consist in?
    3. Analytic Philosophy: Wittgenstein
    4. What was Wittgenstein's contribution to analytic philosophy?
    5. Linguistics and Structuralism: Saussure
    6. What is structuralism?
    7. Semiotics: Peirce
    8. And what is semiotics?
    9. Hermeneutics: Gadamer
    10. Hermeneutics? (Can you pronounce that properly?)
    11. Deconstructionism
    12. Why deconstructionism?

3. The Nature of Language

    1. Levels of study: Linguistic Sciences, Anthropology and Philosophy
    2. In what ways do these fields study language?
    3. The Linguistic Sign and its dimensions:
        1. Syntactics
        2. What aspect of language does syntactics study?
        3. Semantics
        4. What aspect of language does semantics study?
        5. Pragmatics
        6. What aspect of language does pragmatics study?
    4. The Origin and Development of Language
    5. Where does language come from?
    6. Characteristics of Language.
        1. descriptive
        2. What do we mean when we say that language is descriptive?
        3. rational
        4. What do we mean when we say that language is rational?
        5. communicative
        6. What do we mean when we say that language is communicative?
        7. expressive
        8. What do we mean when we say that language is expressive?

4. Semantics

    1. The Problem of Meaning: meaning and reference
    2. What's the problem?
    3. Language and Truth
    4. How are language and truth related?
    5. Synonyms
    6. What about synonyms?
    7. The Problem of Translation: subjective and realist positions
    8. Discuss briefly the problem of translation.
    9. Its Application to Biblical and Catechetical matters
    10. Ah, so it has biblical and catechetical repercussions, eh? What about these repercussions?
    11. The Possibility of Talking about God
    12. State the problem and the solution.
    13. The Ineffability and Limits of Language
    14. Can you delineate these two aspects of language: inexpressibility (ineffability) and limits?

5. Pragmatic aspect

    1. Meaning and the Use of Language
    2. Why the distinction between meaning and use?
    3. Speech acts:
        1. locution (phraseology)
        2. What is locution?
        3. ilocution
        4. What is ilocution?
        5. perlocution
        6. What is perlocution?
    4. Language and Communication
    5. Discuss the use of language for communication.
    6. The Act of Saying the Truth and its Pragmatic Contexts
    7. What is the truth (again!)?
    8. Falsehood and Linguistic Manipulation
    9. True or false? How does one know?
    10. Applications: Liturgical and Biblical Language
    11. What are the applications to liturgical and biblical language?

6. Argumentation

    1. Aristotelian Rhetoric
    2. Describe Aristotelian rhetoric.
    3. The "New Rhetoric"
    4. Just what is the "New Rhetoric"?
    5. Argumentation and Demonstration
    6. Can you tell me once more what these are?
    7. The Poetic Value of Language
    8. Okay, this is a bonus. Tell me about it.

I. INTRODUCTION

II. LOGIC OF CONCEPTS (TERMS) | III. LOGIC OF JUDGMENT (PROPOSITIONS) | IV. LOGIC OF REASONING (SYLLOGISMS)

V. SYMBOLIC LOGIC AND METALOGIC | VI. PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

BACK TO TOP

Please contact jmomandia at gmail dot com for any heresies found here.

This version: 11-Jul-2007