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    Logic and Decision Making
    Logic and Decision Making
    Logic and Decision Making
    Ebook152 pages2 hours

    Logic and Decision Making

    By Muhammad Anwar Farooq

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    About this ebook

    Logic is very important subject and it is impossible to deny its role in the development of modern technology. In modern scenarios, sound decision making is just an impossible task without logic and critical thinking. This book is based on the handouts which I had prepared while teaching a course ‘An Introduction to Logic’ in a university class. The handouts were prepared after consulting different books on the topic. The list of the books which were consulted during the preparation of handouts is given at the end of this book. This book contains eight chapters. In first chapter, all introductory concepts required to learn logic are included. In second chapter the discussion is about the concepts of validity, soundness, strength and cogency of arguments. Third chapter would introduce critical think process. Fourth chapter would deal with the fallacies in arguments or fallacies which one would face during critical thinking process. Fifth and sixth chapters would deal with categorical propositions and syllogism respectively. Seventh chapter would elaborate the details of decision making process and in last chapter one would find the details about problem identification and problem solving skills.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMuhammad Anwar Farooq
    Release dateJul 27, 2017
    ISBN9781370789733
    Logic and Decision Making
    Author

    Muhammad Anwar Farooq

    Mr. Muhammad Anwar Farooq is a university lecturer having Sixteen years of teaching and research experience. He is a good researcher and column writer. He is a non-fiction writer. He has written good books on philosophy, logic, science, history and politics. He is good at writing introductory books on several disciplines. His books start at elementary stage and progress, in some places, to intermediate stage. His books are first-rate study guides. He writes in a way that makes the books interesting and easily understandable. This book is a collection of handouts which he prepared for his class. Hopefully this introductory work would help the reader to grab basic concepts in the field.

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      Book preview

      Logic and Decision Making - Muhammad Anwar Farooq

      Logic and Decision Making

      Copyright 2017 Muhammad Anwar Farooq

      Published by Muhammad Anwar Farooq at Smashwords

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Dedication

      This work is dedicated to my parents.

      For their endless love, support and encouragement

      Table of Contents

      Title

      Dedication

      Preface

      Chapter 1

      Introductory Concepts

      Chapter 2

      Validity, Truth, Soundness, Strength, Cogency

      Chapter 3

      Critical Thinking

      Chapter 4

      Fallacies

      Chapter 5

      Categorical Propositions

      Chapter 6

      Syllogism

      Chapter 7

      Decision Making

      Chapter 8

      Problem Identification and Problem Solving Skills

      Sources

      About the Author

      Preface

      Logic is very important subject and it is impossible to deny its role in the development of modern technology. In modern scenarios, sound decision making is just an impossible task without logic and critical thinking. This book is based on the handouts which I had prepared while teaching a course ‘An Introduction to Logic’ in a university class. The handouts were prepared after consulting different books on the topic. The list of the books which were consulted during the preparation of handouts is given at the end of this book. This book contains eight chapters. In first chapter, all introductory concepts required to learn logic are included. In second chapter the discussion is about the concepts of validity, soundness, strength and cogency of arguments. Third chapter would introduce critical think process. Fourth chapter would deal with the fallacies in arguments or fallacies which one would face during critical thinking process. Fifth and sixth chapters would deal with categorical propositions and syllogism respectively. Seventh chapter would elaborate the details of decision making process and in last chapter one would find the details about problem identification and problem solving skills

      Chapter # 1

      Introductory Concepts

      What is Philosophy?

      Quite literally, the term philosophy means, love of wisdom. In a broad sense, philosophy is an activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves, the world in which they live, and their relationships to the world and to each other. As an academic discipline philosophy is much the same. Those who study philosophy are perpetually engaged in asking, answering, and arguing for their answers to life’s most basic questions. To make such a pursuit more systematic academic philosophy is traditionally divided into major areas of study.

      Comparing Philosophy with Science

      In very general terms, philosophy is much like science. We can better understand philosophy by comparing the two as follows:

      Like science, philosophy is really a collection of disciplines. Science, for example, consists of physics, chemistry, astronomy, archaeology, botany, etc. Moreover, these disciplines are interrelated. For example, archeologists make use of findings in both physics and chemistry to study ancient civilizations. Findings in chemistry may be relevant to findings in physics, etc. It is not as if physics and chemistry could conflict, and yet both be correct. Philosophy also consists of several disciplines, each containing various interrelated sub-disciplines: Logic, Value theory, metaphysics, epistemology etc.

      What is the Connection between Logic and Philosophy?

      The connection between logic and philosophy has been debated by logicians and philosophers since the two subjects were first identified. Some people believe that logic is a kind of philosophy, while others believe that logic is a tool used in philosophy. This is a problematic question, because many people are under the impression that logic provides access to objective truth. Logic is often applied outside of philosophy, but whether it is considered philosophy in these other fields is largely a matter of opinion.

      Given these differences, the connection between philosophy and logic would seem to be one of reliance. Philosophy relies on logic in order for its claims to be true, but it does not rely on any specific system of logic in particular. Without reasoning, there cannot be valid solutions to problems faced by philosophy.

      Even so, it could be said that the relationship between logic and philosophy is actually the reverse. Logical systems might be said to depend on philosophical solutions, because logic has been conceived of in many different ways. This understanding of the connection is perhaps less common but no less true. In essence, the science known as logic is a philosophical solution to the problem of reasoning.

      It is also possible to conceive of the connection between logic and philosophy in a historical sense, looking at the many philosophers who have pondered this problem. Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel all considered logic in their times. In this case, philosophy is related to logic through historical proximity, and both sciences affect each other.

      Both logic and philosophy are exercises in thought, and both depend on individual reasoning for their success. While logic does not usually concern itself with the meanings of its conclusions, philosophy seeks to solve problems using logical processes. This perhaps is the biggest difference between logic and philosophy: While logic looks at the process, philosophy desires the conclusion. Even so, these two disciplines are deeply intertwined and cannot be easily separated. (Encyclopedia Bratanica Encarta)

      Logic

      Logic is defined as the organized body of knowledge, or science that evaluates arguments. Logic is the business of evaluating arguments, sorting good ones from bad ones. A logical argument is structured to give someone a reason to believe some conclusion.

      History of Logic

      The person who is generally credited as being the father of logic is the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 B.C.). Aristotle’s predecessors had been interested in the art of constructing persuasive arguments and in techniques for refuting the arguments of others, but it was Aristotle who first devised systematic criteria for analyzing and evaluating arguments. Aristotle’s logic is called syllogistic logic.

      After Aristotle’s death, another Greek philosopher, Chrysippus (279–206 B.C.), one of the founders of the Stoic school, developed a logic in which the fundamental elements were whole propositions. Chrysippus treated every proposition as either true or false and developed rules for determining the truth or falsity of compound propositions from the truth or falsity of their components.

      The physician Galen (A.D. 129–ca. 199) developed the theory of the compound categorical syllogism. The first major logician of the Middle Ages was Peter Abelard (1079–1142). Abelard reconstructed and refined the logic of Aristotle and Chrysippus. After Abelard, the study of logic during the Middle Ages blossomed and flourished through the work of numerous philosophers. It attained its final expression in the writings of the Oxford philosopher William of Occam (ca. 1285–1349). Occam devoted much of his attention to modal logic.

      Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716), a genius in numerous fields, attempted to develop a symbolic language or ‘‘calculus’’ that could be used to settle all forms of disputes, whether in theology, philosophy, or international relations. As a result of this work, Leibniz is sometimes credited with being the father of symbolic logic. Work in symbolic logic was done by a number of philosophers and mathematicians, including Augustus De-Morgan (1806–1871), George Boole (1815–1864), William Stanley Jevons (1835–1882), and John Venn (1834–1923), some of whom are popularly known today by the logical theorems and techniques that bear their names. At the same time, a revival in inductive logic was initiated by the British philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806–1873). In 20th century, Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) and Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), whose monumental Principia Mathematica attempted to reduce the whole of pure mathematics to logic. During the twentieth century, much of the work in logic has focused on the formalization of logical systems and on questions dealing with the completeness and consistency of such systems. A now-famous theorem proved by Kurt Goedel (1906–1978) states that in any formal system adequate for number theory there exists an undecidable formula—that is, a formula such that neither it nor its negation is derivable from the axioms of the system. Other developments include multi valued logics and the formalization of modal logic. Most recently, logic has made a major contribution to technology by providing the conceptual foundation for the electronic circuitry of digital computers

      Statement

      A statement is a sentence that is either true or false. A statement is a declarative sentence or a sentence component that could stand as a declarative sentence. For example:

      Chocolate truffles are loaded with calories. (True)

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