“It’s raining” and “es regnet” both express the proposition that it’s raining one sentence does it in English, the other in German. We also distinguish propositions from the sentences that express them, because a single proposition can be expressed by different sentences. It makes no sense to ask whether these kinds of sentences express truths or falsehoods, so they do not express propositions. Interrogative sentences, for example, ask questions (“Is it raining?”), and imperative sentences issue commands (“Don’t drink kerosene.”). It is important to distinguish sentences in the declarative mood, which express propositions, from sentences in other moods, which do not. We use such sentences to make all sorts of assertions, from routine matters of fact (“the Earth revolves around the Sun”), to grand metaphysical theses (“reality is an unchanging, featureless, unified Absolute”), to claims about morality (“it is wrong to eat meat”). They are expressed by declarative sentences. Propositions are the kinds of things that can be true or false. Propositions are the things we claim, state, assert. Reasoning involves claims or statements-making them and backing them up with reasons, drawing out their consequences. A logic must formulate precise standards for evaluating reasoning and develop methods for applying those standards to particular instances. A logic is just a set of rules and techniques for distinguishing good reasoning from bad. Since there are a variety of different types of reasoning and methods with which to evaluate each of these types, plus various diverging views on what constitutes correct reasoning, there are many approaches to the logical enterprise. In logic, we study the rules and techniques that allow us to distinguish good, correct reasoning from bad, incorrect reasoning. There are many rhetorical tricks one can use to persuade. Hitler relied on threats, emotional manipulation, unsupported assertions, etc. Moreover, his persuasive techniques go beyond reasoning in the sense of backing up claims with reasons. Hitler’s arguments were effective, but not logically correct. You won’t be surprised to hear that if you examine it critically, his reasoning does not pass logical muster. He persuaded an entire nation to go along with a variety of proposals that were not only false but downright evil. In logic, the standard of goodness is not effectiveness in the sense of persuasiveness, but rather correctness according to logical rules.įor example, consider Hitler. In fact, as we shall see in a subsequent chapter on logical fallacies, bad reasoning is pervasive and often extremely effective-in the sense that people are often persuaded by it. Good reasoning is not necessarily effective reasoning. Logic is the discipline that aims to distinguish good reasoning from bad. This reasoning activity can be done well and it can be done badly it can be done correctly or incorrectly. What does rationality consist in? That’s a vexed question, but one possible response goes roughly like this: we manifest our rationality by engaging in activities that involve reasoning-making claims and backing them up with reasons, acting in accord with reasons and beliefs, drawing inferences from available evidence, and so on. There’s an ancient view, still widely held, that what makes human beings special-what distinguishes us from the “beasts of the field”-is that we are rational.
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