Midterm 2

Question 1

A (particular) argument is _______ _______ if it is an instance of a valid argument form.

Answer 1

deductively valid

Question 2

An argument form is _______ _______ if and only if its truth table contains no counterexamples.

Answer 2

deductively valid

Question 3

A ________ for an argument form is a row of its truth table in which all the premises are true and the conclusion is false.

Answer 3

counterexample

Question 4

A sentence is ________ if it logically contains another complete sentence as a component.

Answer 4

compound

Question 5

A sentence is ________ if it is not compound.

Answer 5

simple

Question 6

A _______ _______ is a pattern of words (or symbols) and blanks such that, whenever the blanks are filled with complete sentences, the result is a complete sentence.

Answer 6

sentential operator

Question 7

A sentential operator is _______-________ if the truth or falsity of a compound sentence containing that operator is completely determined by the truth or falsity of its compound sentences.

Answer 7

truth-functional

Question 8

The sentences that fill in the blanks for a conjuction are called ________.

Answer 8

conjuncts

Question 9

The sentences that fill in the blanks of a disjunction are called ________.

Answer 9

disjuncts

Question 10

The sentence that fill in the first blank of a conditional is called the ________.

Answer 10

antecedent

Question 11

The sentence that fills in the second blank of a conditional is called the _________.

Answer 11

consequent

Question 12

A well-formed formula (wff) is defined “recursively”:

Answer 12

1. Any sentence letter (e.g. A;B;C; : : :) is a wff.
2. If is a wff, so is .
3. If and are wffs, so are ( & ), ( _ ), ( ! ), and ( $ ).
4. And that’s all.

Question 13

The ______ _______ of a wff is the last operator that was added as the wff was constructed.

Answer 13

major operator

Question 14

A statement form is a ________ if every substitution instance of that form is true; that is, it is true in every row in its truth table.

Answer 14

tautology

Question 15

A statement form is a ________ (or inconsistent) if every substitution instance of that form is false; that is, it is false in every row in its truth table.

Answer 15

contradiction

Question 16

A statement form is a _________ if some substitution instance of that form is true and some is false; that is, it is true in at least one row in its truth table and false in at least one row in its truth table.

Answer 16

contingency

Question 17

Two statement forms are ________ ________ if an instance of the first form is true just in case the corresponding instance of the second form is true; that is, the columns below their major operators in their truth tables are identical.

Answer 17

logically equivalent

Question 18

An __________ is a set of determinately true or false sentences with three elements: 1. One
or more premises, which provide evidence or support. 2. One conclusion, which follows from
or is supported by the premises. 3. A claim about the connection between the premises and
the conclusion.

Answer 18

argument

Question 19

A sentence is ______ if it has absolute borderline cases.

Answer 19

vague

Question 20

A ________ _________ is an argument in which the premise(s) are claimed to lend
absolute support to the conclusion.

Answer 20

deductive argument

Question 21

An _________ ________ is an argument in which the premise(s) are not claimed to
lend absolute support to the conclusion. Instead, the premises are claimed to make the
conclusion probable or likely.

Answer 21

inductive argument

Question 22

An argument is _______ _______ if it has no counterexamples

Answer 22

deductively valid

An argument is DEDUCTIVELY INVALID otherwise.

Question 23

An argument has ______ ________ ______ if the truth of the conclusion is
very likely given the truth of the premises.

Answer 23

high inductive probability

An argument has LOW INDUCTIVE PROBABILITY otherwise.

Question 24

A _________ to an argument is a possible situation (or possible world) in which
all of the premises of the argument are true, and the conclusion false.

Answer 24

counterexample

Question 25

An argument is _______ if its premises are true and it is deductively valid.

Answer 25

sound

Question 26

A kind of reasoning is _________ if adding new premises will not make an argument
that succeeds in providing the claimed support for its conclusion fail to do so

Answer 26

monotonic

Question 27

A kind of reasoning is ____-___________ if adding new premises could make an
argument that succeeds in providing the claimed support for its conclusion fail to do so.

Answer 27

non-monotonic

Question 28

A ________ is a faulty argument or a faulty kind of argument.

Answer 28

fallacy

Question 29

A person commits a ________ ___ ________ if she supports her conclusion with
premises that are not relevant to the truth of the conclusion.

Answer 29

fallacy of relevance

Question 30

A person commits a ________ ________ if her argument relies on words or phrases
with ambiguous or vague meanings.

Answer 30

semantic fallacy

Question 31

A person commits a __________ _________ if she claims that the truth of her premises
would provide absolute support for the truth of the conclusion when in fact the truth of the
premises would not.

Answer 31

deductive fallacy

Question 32

A person commits an _________ __________ if she claims that the truth of her premises
would provide a certain degree of support for the truth of the conclusion when in fact the
truth of the premises would only provide some significantly weaker degree of support.

Answer 32

inductive fallacy

Question 33

a _______ is a sequence of statements, each of which is either a premise or a statement that is obtained from one or more earlier statements by applying one of the rules inference

Answer 33

proof