Introduction to Philosophy (Spring 2008)

If you want to follow up some of the work we are doing with Lewis Carroll’s literal diagrams, you might find the following resources interesting:

(1) Lewis Carroll, The Game of Logic at Project Gutenberg. A fun, clear presentation by Carroll himself. (Also, in a different format, here.)

(2) Lewis Carroll’s Logic Game at cut-the-knot. Has some interactive applets that are quite nice.

On Sommers notation, there isn’t much online, but you might try looking at this basic summary of it (which is still under construction).

Our objectives for this part of the logic section are for you to be able to:

(1) Identify: the major term, the minor term, the middle term, the major premise, the minor premise, and the conclusion of a syllogistic argument.

(2) Identify the mood and figure of a syllogism.

(3) Distinguish the following notions: legitimacy, validity, and soundness of an argument.

(4) State the dictum de omni.

(5) Distinguish regular and irregular syllogisms.

(6) Distinguish valid and invalid syllogisms.

(7) Use Sommers notation and literal diagrams to analyze syllogistic arguments.

We laid down most of the basics today; we’ll continue with (4) and with more development of (7) next class.

Those interested in further study of this topic may find the following resources handy.

* The Categorical Syllogism section of Lee Archie’s Introduction to Logic page.

* The biliteral diagram section of the Logic Game website. (Note that it is biliteral, not bilateral as the page keeps misspelling it.)

* You can read more about the history of the study of the syllogism in the Medieval Theories of the Syllogism article at the SEP.

Medieval logicians developed a mnemonic for the valid moods and figures. It was:

Barbara, Celarent, Darii, Ferioque prioris;
Cesare, Camestres, Festino, Baroco secundae;
Tertia Darapti, Disamis, Datisi, Felapton, Bocardo, Ferison habet;
Quarta insuper addit Bramantip, Camenses, Dimaris, Fesapo, Fresison.

Each name indicates a mood by its vowels. Thus Barbara is AAA; it’s in the first line, so it is first figure. Fesapo is EAO; it’s in the fourth line, so it’s fourth figure. In addition, s, m, c, and p within the word have special meaning. ’s’ indicates conversion, for instance, and for any syllogism whose name has an ’s’, you can transform it into the first-figure syllogism that starts with the same letter by converting the proposition symbolized by the preceding letter. For instance,

No Y are M
Some X are M
Therefore Some X are not Y

which is Festino, can be converted to Ferio by converting the E premise:

No M are Y
Some X are M
Therefore Some X are not Y.

All of the books on the syllabus can be ordered directly from the publisher, Hackett. Some of them are cheaper than you can get at the ACC bookstore, but some are cheaper at the bookstore. Also, three of them are easy to find online (in older, usually nineteenth-century, translations). Project Gutenberg, The Internet Archive, and Google Books are good places to look for them.

Also, Librivox offers free audio versions of The Consolation of Philosophy and the Discourse on Method. They are older translations as well, and they are put together by volunteers (and so are a bit uneven in quality) — but overall they are quite decent versions.

Our objectives for the unit we began today are for you to be able to:

(a) Distinguish categorical and non-categorical propositions.

(b) Identify the basic parts of a categorical proposition.

(c) Translate sentences expressing categorical propositions into Sommers notation.

(d) Identify and distinguish the basic concepts and relations in the traditional square of opposition.

(e) Diagram categorical propositions with Lewis Carroll’s literal diagrams.

(f) Recognize and use immediate inferences.

We didn’t reach (e) and (f) today, although we laid the groundwork for it. We’ll continue on Tuesday.

Some supplementary reading and resources for today’s lecture, if you found today’s topics interesting.

* David E. Kelley, The Art of Reasoning. This introductory textbook has a useful Logic Tutor program online.

* This set of lecture notes for an introductory course at Lander University (taught by Lee Archie) also has lots of great materials.

Welcome to the Introduction to Philosophy website. I’m still putting things in order around here, but keep checking back; there will be more information up soon.

If you need to reach me for anything you have several options. My email and voicemail # are on the syllabus.

Also, you can plug in a comment here; it always goes to me before it shows up here, so if you need to ask a question privately, just make sure you say PRIVATE at the beginning somewhere.

Cheers,

Brandon