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Logical Reasoning
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Goalfinder Classes Logical Reasoning
Logical Reasoning
Goalfinder Classes: CBSE NET 2016 - Paper 1
Table of Content
Reasoning 1
Premise 2
Conclusion 2
Exercise on Premise and Conclusion 4
Argument 5
Valid argument 6
Invalid argument 6
Sound / Unsound argument 6
Exercise Arguments 9
Reasoning 10
Inductive / Deductive Reasoning and Arguments 11
Cogent and Uncogent Arguments 12
Exercise on Inductive and Deductive Arguments 13
Exercise: Sound /Unsound, Valid/ Invalid Arguments 15
Definitions 16
AEIO Forms 20
Exercise - Proposition Translation 24
What are the Main Types of Reasoning? 28
Deductive reasoning 28
Reductive Reasoning 29
Abductive reasoning 29
Inductive reasoning 31
Exercise1: Inductive or Deductive 35
Exercise 2 (Inductive and Deductive) 38
Exercise 2 (Inductive and Deductive) 39
Syllogism (Deductive reasoning) 41
1. Categorical Reasoning 42
2. Hypothetical Reasoning (if- then) 42
3. Disjunctive Reasoning (Either P or Q) 43
Circular reasoning 44
Some types of inductive reasoning: 45
Generalization reasoning 45
Causal reasoning 45
Analogical reasoning 45
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Goalfinder Classes Logical Reasoning
Predictive Conjecture or Analogical Predicting 46
Exercise 1 on Reasoning 47
Exercise 2 on Reasoning 49
Proposition 51
Square of Opposition 51
Exercise: Contradictory, contrary, subcontrary, subaltern 55
Applied Definitions 56
Lexical Definition 56
Stipulative Definition 57
Precising Definition 57
Theoretical Definitions 58
Persuasive Definitions 59
Exercise 1 Definitions 61
Exercise 2 Definitions 62
Assertion and Argument 63
Transitivity, Symmetricity, Reflexivity and Equivalence 64
Transitivity 64
Symmetricity 64
Reflexivity 64
Equivalence 65
Venn Diagram 66
A. EAE-1 68
B. AAA-1 69
C. AII-3 70
D. AII-2 71
E. EAO-4 71
Fallacies in Arguments 73
Answers to exercises 75
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Goalfinder Classes Logical Reasoning Page 1
Premise
Premise: Some common premise-flags are the words because, unless, since, given that, and for. These
words usually come right before a premise. Here are some examples:
Premise Indicators
since as shown by may be inferred from
because In as much as may be deduced from
for as indicated by in view of the fact that
as the reason is that given that
follow from for the reason that granted that
Unless unless For
Example Premise:
(Therefore) Your car needs a major overhaul, for the carburetor is shot. (for the is premise)
Given that euthanasia is a common medical practice, (hence) the state legislatures ought to legalize it
and set up some kind of regulations to prevent abuse.
Because euthanasia is murder, (so) it is always morally wrong.
(So) We must engage in constructive action, because India needs rebuilding.
Since politics is a hotly contested issue in this country, (thus) nobody should force his opinion about it
on anyone else.
Conclusion
Some common conclusion-flags are the words thus, therefore, hence, it follows that, so, and
consequently.
Conclusion Indicators
therefore which shows that accordingly
hence which means that then
thus which entails that consequently
so which implies that we may infer
that
ergo which allows us to infer I conclude that
Subsequently Consequently
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Reasoning
The syllogism is a form of deductive reasoning in which two statements reach a logical conclusion.
With this reasoning, one statement could be Every A is B and another could be This C is A.
Those two statements could then lead to the conclusion that This C is B.
These types of syllogisms are used to test deductive reasoning to ensure there is a valid
hypothesis.
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Conclusions can be proven to be valid if the Conclusions may be incorrect even if the
Validity of
premises are known to be true argument is strong and the premises are
conclusions
(Correctness). true.
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AEIO Forms
Aristotle classified categorical proposition in four, based on Quality and Quantity distribution:
The Ancient Greeks such as Aristotle identified four primary distinct types of categorical proposition and
gave them standard forms (now often called A, E, I, and O) This is based on the Latin affirmo (I affirm),
referring to the affirmative propositions A and I, and nego (I deny), referring to the negative
propositions E and O.
Subject category is named S and the predicate category is named P (A predicate is the completer of a
sentence. A simple predicate consists of only a verb, verb string, or compound verb. The predicate of
"The boys went to the zoo" is "went to the zoo." In case of proposition predicate means something that
is affirmed or denied of the subject in a proposition in logic)
P
A propositions, or universal affirmatives take the form: All S are P. S
A form
An A-proposition distributes the subject to the predicate, but not the reverse. Consider the following
categorical proposition: "All dolphins are mammals". All dolphins are indeed mammals but it would be
false to say all mammals are dolphins. Since all dolphins are included in the class of mammals, " dolphins
" is said to be distributed to "mammals". Since all mammals are not necessarily dolphins, "mammals" is
undistributed to " dolphins ".
example of an E-proposition:
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Deductive reasoning
Here if the premises were true, then the conclusion would Disjunctive
certainly also be true.
Deductive reasoning is a basic form of valid reasoning. Deductive reasoning, or deduction, starts out
with a general statement, or hypothesis, and examines the possibilities to reach a specific, logical
conclusion. The scientific method uses deduction to test hypotheses and theories.
In deductive reasoning, if something is true of a class of things in general, it is also true for all
members of that class. For example, "All men are mortal. Manoj is a man. Therefore, Manoj is mortal."
For deductive reasoning to be sound, the hypothesis must be correct. It is assumed that the premises,
"All men are mortal" and "Manoj is a man" are true. Therefore, the conclusion is logical and true.
An example of deductive reasoning can be seen in this set of statements: Every day, I leave for work in
my car at eight oclock. Every day, the drive to work takes 45 minutes I arrive to work on time. Therefore,
if I leave for work at eight oclock today, I will be on time.
The deductive statement above is a perfect logical statement, but it does rely on the initial premise
being correct. Perhaps today there is construction on the way to work and you will end up being late.
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This is why any hypothesis can never be completely proved, because there is always the possibility for
the initial premise to be wrong.
Here, the major term is die, the minor term is men, and the middle term is mortals. Again, both
premises are universal, hence so is the conclusion.
In syllogism, the two statements a major premise and a minor premise reach a logical conclusion.
For example, the premise "Every A is B" could be followed by another premise, " C is A." Those
statements would lead to the conclusion "Thus C is B." Syllogisms are considered a good way to test
deductive reasoning to make sure the argument is valid.
B
AC
The law of syllogism takes two conditional statements and forms a conclusion by combining the
hypothesis of one statement with the conclusion of another.
1. P Q
2. Q R
3. Therefore, P R.
Categorical
Hypothetical
Disjunctive
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Precising Definition
Exact meaning of a word. This definition gives a quantitative measure of an existing word. A precision
definition takes a word that is normally vague (e.g., lite, low-income, or middle-aged) and gives it a clear,
precisely defined meaning. Most terms used in legal, scientific, or medical settings require precise
meanings. For example,
Example : Light (or lite) foods, according to USDA standards, are foods that contain at least one-third
fewer calories than comparable products
One horsepower is now defined precisely as the power needed to raise a weight of 550 pounds by
one foot in one secondcalculated to be equal to 745.7 watts.
Meter: A meter is the internationally accepted unit of measure for distance. Originally it was defined, by
stipulation, as one ten-millionth of the distance from one of the earths poles to the equator, and this
was represented by a pair of carefully inscribed scratches on a metal bar made of platinum-iridium, kept
in a vault near Paris, France. However, scientific research required more precision. A meter is now
defined, precisely, as the distance light travels in one 299,792,458th of a second. Building on this, a
liter is defined precisely as the volume of a cube having edges of 0.1 meter.
A precise definition is required in case of For example, is a sport utility vehicle (SUV) a car or a light
truck? The fuel economy standards and pollution controls applied to light trucks are more lenient
than those applied to cars,
Dead: A precise definition of who should be considered dead is required. (Death was once defined as
the cessation of heartbeat (cardiac arrest) and of breathing, but the development of CPR and prompt
defibrillation have rendered that definition inadequate because breathing and heartbeat can sometimes
be restarted. Events which were causally linked to death in the past no longer kill in all circumstances;
without a functioning heart or lungs, life can sometimes be sustained with a combination of life support
devices, organ transplants and artificial pacemakers.)
Planet: How, for example, should we define the word planet? For many years it was believed with
little controversy, and all children were taught, that planets are simply bodies in orbit around the sun
and that there are nine planets in the solar systemof which the smallest is Pluto, made of unusual
stuff, with an unusual orbit, and most distant from the Sun. But other bodies, larger than Pluto and
oddly shaped, have been recently discovered orbiting the sun. Are they also planets? Why not? Older
definitions had become conceptually inadequate. An intense controversy within the International
Astronomical Union (IAU), still not fully resolved, has recently resulted in a new definition of planet,
according to which there are only eight planets in our solar system. And now a new category, dwarf
planet (for bodies such as Pluto, Ceres, and Eris) has been defined.
Needed were definitions that would accommodate new discoveries as well as old, while maintaining a
consistent and fully intelligible account of the entire system. Such definitions (not as simple as we might
like) were adopted by the IAU in 2006. A planet is a celestial body that, within the Solar System, (1) is in
orbit around the Sun; and (2) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that
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Equivalence
A relation R is an equivalence iff R is transitive, symmetric and reflexive. For example, identical is an
equivalence relation: if x is identical to y, and y is identical to z, then x is identical to z; if x is identical to y
then y is identical to x; and x is identical to x.
"Is congruent to" is an equivalence relation because it is reflexive (all things are congruent to
themselves), symmetric (if some x is congruent to some y, then that y is congruent to that x), and
transitive, (if x is congruent to y and y is congruent to z then x is congruent to Z.
Example:
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