Giving good reasons.

When listening to others, we cannot concentrate only on our own feelings and reactions We must listen to what they are saying to determine whether it is true, regardless of how we feel

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.” Adolf Hitler “Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?” Joseph Stalin

“One of the best remedies for bad reading and writing is good logic, especially the analysis of propositions. For thinking clearly, expressing your thoughts clearly (in writing or speaking), and interpreting another’s expressions (written or spoken) clearly are three arts that are very closely allied; no one of them can be done well without doing the other two. And the part of logic that is most directly related to this is the part that studies propositions.”

We write a proposition as a declarative sentence. Ex.: All the students at Willard are human. We must identify in every proposition a subject and a predicate. Subject – what we are talking about Predicate – what we say about the subject Propositions are either true or false. Finding the truth is the main goal of logic, so finding true propositions is essential for finding truth.

Correspondence with reality: A thought matches the thing The mind matches the world “Telling it like it is.” “If a man says of what is that it is, or of what is not that it is not, he speaks the truth” - Aristotle

What is practical To convince me that it is practical, you have to appeal to reality What benefits you To prove that it benefits you, you must show how it benefits you in reality Your opinion To persuade me to agree with you, your opinion must be based on some real value that exists

To make an argument easier to understand, you can re-phrase each premise into one of the four classic forms: 1. Universal affirmative “All men are mortal.” 2. Universal negative “No men are mortal.” 3. Particular affirmative “Some men are mortal.” 4. Particular negative “Some men are not mortal.”

Quality AffirmativeNegative Quantity Universal All ___ are ___.All ___ are not ___. Particular Some ___ are ___.Some ___ are not ___.

Rule 1: Whatever is universally true of a subject must be true of everything contained in that subject. Example: All men are mortal, I am a man, therefore I am mortal. Rule 2: Whatever is universally false of a subject must be false of everything contained in that subject. Example: No kittens are dogs, Fluffy is a kitten, therefore Fluffy is not a dog.

Rule 3: Two things identical with the same thing are identical with each other. Example: Ashley is my sister, Ashley is married to Brandon, therefore my sister is married to Brandon. Rule 4: If one thing is identical with something that a second thing is not identical with, then the first and second things are not identical with each other. For example: No men are angels, I am a man, therefore I am not an angel.

Rule 5: A thing cannot be the opposite of itself. Example: A magnetic pole is either positive or negative. Rule 6: A thing either has a certain attribute or it does not have it. Example: “Is you is or is you ain’t my baby?” In other words, a premise is either true or false.

1. Making a Hasty Generalization. “The Browns keep losing this season. They’ll always be losers.” 2. Assuming that what comes before is the cause of what comes after. “I ate a snickers bar, then failed my test, therefore eating snickers bars makes me fail tests.” 3. Jumping to conclusions based on what a person does not say. 4. Selecting only the evidence that supports an argument. 5. Slanting the question. “Shouldn’t a woman be free to choose?”

1. Blessed are the poor in spirit. 2. Whatever a man sows, he shall reap. 3. He who is not with me is against me. 4. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit 5. Some people are just lucky and some aren’t.

1. All the poor in spirit are blessed. 2. All that a man sows is what he shall reap. 3. All who are not with me are those against me. 4. No good tree is one that can bring forth evil fruit 5. Some people are lucky; some people are not lucky.

Bishop Robert Baron on The New Atheism The New Atheism