Lecture 2 PHIL 210- Symbolization, Connectives and

Truth Tables
Readings for this chapter are 5-6 of Part 2, and Chapter 9 of Part 3

- 3 posted problem sets for Carnap

Do also read Chapter 7 of Part 2 + Do as many exercises as possible for Part 2.

Symbolisation

Symbolizing Arguments:
a) Using letters (capital, italic) to stand for whole sentences.

b) To talks about the form of inferences

Ex (1)

Mandy enjoys skiing or Mandy enjoys hiking. Symbolisation Key

a) S or H Connective Symbols

b) (S H)

Not: Mandy enjoys hiking.

a) Not-H
b) S

 Mandy enjoys skiing.

a)  S
b)  S

 After doing this, we could move onto form (I.e., Disjunctive syllogism)

Symbolisation Key

- Pairs sentence letters with the basic English sentences they represent.

Atomic vs. Complex Sentences

- The five connectives are fundamental ways of putting sentences together ¬, ∧, ∨, →, ↔.

 - Means it should not be possible to break down symbolized sentences by using any of the
connectives.

- The symbolization key should therefore contain only atomic sentences

- Complex Sentence- Contains a logical connective

Paraphrasing Pronouns

- Must keep track of pronouns and their references when making a symbolization key.

Ex

Dmitry fought Fyodor, who denied him his inheritance.

- This case is ambiguous if you have not read the Brothers Karamazov.

Dmitry fought Fyodor and Fyodor denied Dimitri’s inheritance.

 Logicians treat ‘and’ and ‘or’ as ways of joining sentences (conjunction)

 English uses them to form compound noun phrases, so be careful.

Ex (2)

1. Mandy and Sanjiv enjoy hiking

2. [Mandy enjoys hiking] and [Sanjiv enjoys hiking]

Ex (3)

1. Mandy and Sanjiv ate pizza

2. [Many ate pizza] and [Sanjiv ate pizza]

3. Mandy and Sanjiv ate the whole pizza

4. [Mandy ate the whole pizza] and [Sanjiv ate the whole pizza.]

 Sentences 3 + 4 do not work, since strictly speaking these two situations cannot
simultaneously occur; they are jointly impossible
  This means that sentence 3 is a complex sentence.

Translation is an art form; they require practice and technique.

Paraphrasing Verbs

Ex.

1. Mandy enjoys skiing or hiking

2. Either [Mandy enjoys skiing] or [Mandy enjoys hiking.]

Ex (2)

1. If Sanjiv enjoys skiing and hiking, he is from Calgary

2. If [ Sanjiv enjoys skiing] and [ Sanjiv enjoys hiking], [ then] [Sanjiv is from
Calgary].

‘Englishese’

- Understand concepts and logical connections between words and in statements, but do
not look to the ‘real world idea’ of what these statements imply.

- We use TFL to rid ourselves of associations that will cloud our judgements.

Paraphrasing Connectives

- Because is not covered by our five logical connectives

Negation

- Idea of ‘not’
- Paraphrase of grammatical negation = It is not the case that
- A becomes  A

Conjunction

- Paraphrase sentences containing ‘and’ ‘but’, ‘even though’ and ‘although’ using ‘Both A
and B or just A and B’

- A and B becomes (A  B)
Disjunction

- Paraphrase sentences containing ‘or’ and ‘unless’ using ‘either A or B’ or just A or B

- A or B becomes (A B)

- The ‘or’ is always an inclusive ‘or’

- Exclusive or = Either A or B and not- (A and B)

 ((A ∨ B) ∧ ¬ (A ∧ B))

Conditional

If A then B,
If A, B,
A only if B,
B if A,
B provided A.

 All mean If A then B

 (A  B)

Biconditional

Paraphrase ‘If and only if’ or ‘ just in case’ with A if and only if B

 Can also be ‘A iff B’

A if and only if B becomes A  B

Super-Complex Sentences and Bracketing

Ex.

1. Mandy doesn’t enjoy skiing, provided Sanjiv is from Calgary or Edmonton.

2. If [ Sanjiv is from Calgary of Edmonton] then [it is not the case that Mandy enjoys
skiing].

3. If [ either C or E] then [ it is not the case that H]

 4. ((C E)   H))
Note:
Negation is a unary connective and must always connect exactly one sentences

 H is one single complex sentence

All other connectives are binary connectives and must always connect exactly two
sentences (atomic or complex)

(C E) one single complex sentence with two atomic sentences.

The Connective and Truth-Tables

- Curly letters are used to discuss the form of an argument.

- The symbolization key (A, B, C) is the placeholder for a sentence. (Object Language)

- The curly letters are a place holder for a placeholder (Meta-Language)

 This is when we are outside the language (talking about properties of the language)

Connectives and Truth Conditions

- Sentences must be assertoric (true or false)

- These are truth values T and F

- We assume this is the case of all sentences.

 A way to understand how connectives work is to assume that only

atomic sentences are assertoric

 Then assume that the connectives not only generate new sentences
but also generate truth-values.

 Assume you know truth value of A and B.

 These truth values = initial inputs

 Logical connectives act as functions

 New truth values are outputs.

Negation

  A is true if and only if A is false.

- Since negation only connects one sentence, it has only two cases.

A A

T F

F T

Conjunction

 (A B) if and only if A is true and B is true, and false otherwise.

A B (A B)
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F T

Disjunction

 (A B) is true if and only if A is true or B is true (or both) and false otherwise.

A B (AB)
T T T
T F T
F T T
F F F

Conditional

 (AB) is true if and only if A is false or B is true

 Because this one is like the inclusive or.
 A B (AB)
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T

The Bi-Conditional

(A  B) is true if and only if A, B are both true or both false, false otherwise.

- Because this one can act like the idea of ‘both’ and create exclusive or

A B (AB)
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F T

(A  B) is the same as (A → B) ∧ (B → A))

Double Negation

Even negation = affirmation

Odd negation= negation

However.

1. I do not not promise to go to the party

2. I do promise to go to the party.

Remember: Any combination of two truth values as an input will gives us a truth value as
an output.