3: Statements and Truth Flashcards
What is a class?
a collection of individuals having a certain attribute, feature, trait, or property
- “persons”
- “living things”
- “eaters”
- etc.
What is communication?
what occurs when the expression of a thought is mutually understood
What is a conceptual analysis?
the method of identifying the necessary and sufficient conditions that must be met for something to be a thing of a certain sort, or for a certain belief to be true.
What is analysandum?
the concept, idea, or statement being analyzed
What is analysans?
the necessary and sufficient conditions
What is a connective?
- a word, phrase, or symbol whose linguistic or logical function is to conjoin statements into a compound statement.
- and
- but
- or
- then
- that
- if and only if
What is a counterexample?
an argument that has exactly the same structure (“form”) as the argument you wish to evaluate, but where it is obvious that the conclusion is false even when the premises are true
What is a definite description?
a descriptive phrase beginning with ‘the’
What is emotionally neutral language?
terms, rhetoric, or writing that are not
- derogatory,
- inflammatory, or
- laudatory
What is an exclusive disjunction?
- a statement of the form ‘(p or q) but it is false that (p and q)’
- the assertion that exactly one alternative is true
What is a function?
a rule or algorithm for taking an INPUT and producing an OUTPUT
What are the four functions of language?
- interrogative: to ask questions
- directive: to cause (or to prevent) actions
- emotive: to express or to evoke emotions
- informative: to make assertions
What is inclusive disjunction?
the assertion that at least one alternative is true.
What is an individual?
Any person, creature, place or object about whom something can be said.
What is a main connective?
the connective that determines what type of compound statement is being asserted
What are the types of names?
Everything that we can name is an individual.
- proper (or possessive),
- pronoun phrase (a descriptive phrase beginning with ‘my’, ‘your’, ‘his’, ‘her’, ‘our’, or ‘their)
- definite description (a descriptive phrase beginning with ‘the’)
What is a necessary condition?
something such that it MUST be the case for a certain event to occur or for a certain belief to be true: ‘p only if q’
What is necessary and sufficient condition?
all of the things that MUST be the case for a certain event to occur or for a certain belief to be true: ‘p if and only if q’
What is a nontruth-functional compound statement?
a compound statement whose truth-value is NOT determined just by the truth-values of its component(s)
What is predicate?
a property, trait or attribute
What are propositional attitudes?
the content of any thought expressible as a proposition (statement) together with the mental attitude toward that thought (e.g., believes, fears, desires, hopes, perceives, loves, hates, hopes, etc.)
What are quantifiers?
the quantity indicator of a general statement
What are universal quantifiers?
include such affirmative words as ‘all’, ‘every’, ‘everything’, ‘everyone’, and ‘anything’, along with such negative words as ‘no’ and ‘nothing.
What are existential quantifiers?
include such words or phrases as ‘some’, ‘someone’, ‘something’, ‘there exists’, and ‘there is’
What is a sentence?
the linguistic expression of a complete thought
What is a subject?
the individual (or class of individuals) asserted to have a certain property, trait, or attribute
What is a substitution instance?
the statement that results when a statement is substituted for a variable in a statement form
What is sufficient condition?
- something such that if it is the case, it follows that a certain event will occur or a certain belief is true: ‘p if q’
- “good enough”
What is truth-condition?
that which determines whether a statement is true