Lesson 7: Self-Supporting Statements

Question 1

What is a self-supporting statement?

Answer 1

A self-supporting statement is a statement whose truth value can be determined by looking at the statement itself.

Question 2

What are the three kinds of self-supporting statements?

Answer 2

1. Self-report: His or her own desires
2. Statements that are true or false by logical structure: by how the sentence is put together
   Two kinds: Tautology and Self-contradiction
3. Statements that are true or false by definition: Statements that are necessarily true or false because of definitions of words in the sentence.

Question 3

What is a tautology?

Answer 3

A statement which is true due to its logical structure.

Question 4

What is a self-contradiction?

Answer 4

A statement that is false due to its logical structure.