INTRODUCTION TO LOGIC

Name: Sheena Lenn Puguon

Section: 1-Special Section

Topics for Discussion:

9.1 Formal Proof of Validity

9.2 The Elementary Valid Argument Forms

9.3 Formal Proofs of Validity Exhibited

9.4 Constructing Formal Proofs of Validity

9.1 Formal Proof of Validity

- Truth tables are wildly used in order to test the validity of an argument,
however they become quite confusing as the number of elements in a statement
increases. There is another more efficient way of establishing the validity of an extended
argument and that is by deducing its conclusion from its premise by a sequence of
elementary arguments, each of which is known to be valid.

What is a Formal Proof of Validity?

- Formal proof of validity is a sequence of statements each of which is either a

premise of a given argument, or follows from the preceding statements of the sequence
by one of the rules of inference, or by logical equivalence, where the last statement in
the sequence is the conclusion of the argument whose validity is proved.

What is an Elementary Valid Arguments?

- Any one of a set of specified deductive arguments that serve as rules of

inference and that may therefore be used in constructing a formal proof of validity.

What is a Natural Deduction?

- A method of proving the validity of a deductive argument by using the rules of

inference.

An example for this is as of the following:

1. If Reagan lied about the Iran deal (I), then he either lied about the Contra deal
(C) or he should have known about the Contra deal (K).

2. It is clear he did lie about the Iran deal.

3. But (let's assume) he did not lie about the Contra deal.

4. If he should have known about the Contra deal, then his chief of staff (S)
should not continue in office and McFarlane should be exonerated (E).

5. Also, Meese should continue in office (M) only if Reagan's chief of staff
continues in office.

Therefore, Meese should not continue in office.

Translation of the argument.

1. I  (C v K)

2. I

3. ~C

4. K  (~S  E)

5. M  S

 ~M
Now if we combine some of these premises in isolation, we can derive some "mini"
conclusions by just using our common sense. The first premise says that if I is true, then
C v K is true. Since the second premise says that I is true, we can conclude that C v K is
true. So,

Step 1

I  (C v K)

I / C v K

But the third premise says that C is not true. Since we have concluded that C v K is true,
but now know that C cannot be true, then we can conclude that K is true. So,

Step 2

CvK

~C / K

But the fourth premise says that if K is true, then S is not true and E is true. Since we
now know that K follows from the previous premises, we can conclude that S is not true
and E is true as follows,

Step 3

K  (~S  E)

K / ~S  E

Well, if we know that S is not true and E is true, then we know that S is not true. If we
know two things, then we surely know one thing. So,

Step 4

~S  E

/ ~S

Finally, the last premise says that M is true only if S is true. So, since we have discovered
that S is not true, M is not true.

Step 5

MS

~S / ~M

Reflect now on what we have done. We have shown that if the above premises (1-5) are
true, then ~M is true. In other words, we have shown this argument to be valid by
creating a chain of reasoning in which each mini-step is valid, such that starting with the
premises we created a number of steps until we arrived at the conclusion ~M. Proving
roving this argument to be valid using the truth table method would have required a
complicated table with 64 lines this argument to be valid using the truth table method
would have required a complicated table with 64 lines!

9.2 The Elementary Valid Argument Forms

OBJECTIVE

- is to build a set of logical rules—rules of inference—with which we can

prove the validity of deductive arguments if they are valid. We began with a few
elementary valid argument forms that have already been introduced—Modus Ponens,
for example, and Disjunctive Syllogism. These are indeed simple and common, but we
need a set of rules that is more powerful. The rules of inference may be thought of as a
logical toolbox, from which the tools may be taken, as needed, to prove validity.

Copi’s 9 Rules of Inference

NAME DEFINITION ABBREVIATION FORM

1. Modus The rule of logic stating that if a M.P. pq
Ponens conditional statement p
(“if p then q ”) is accepted, and the q
antecedent ( p ) holds, then the
consequent ( q ) may be inferred.
2. Modus The rule of logic stating that if a M.T. pq
Tollens conditional statement ~q
(“if p then q ”) is accepted, and the  ~p
consequent does not hold ( not-q ),
then the negation of the
antecedent ( not-p ) can be
inferred.
3. Hypothetical Is a valid argument form which is H.S. pq
Syllogism a syllogism having a qr
conditional statement for one or pr
both of its premises.
4. Disjunctive Is a valid argument form which is D.S. pvq
Syllogism a syllogism having a ~p
disjunctive statement for one of its q
premises.
5. Constructive Is a valid rule of inference of C.D. (p  q)  (r  s)
Dillema propositional logic. It is the pvr
inference that, if ( p ) implies ( q ) qvs
and ( r ) implies ( s ) and either ( p )
or ( r ) is true, then ( q ) or ( s ) has
to be true.
Any proposition p always implies
6. Absorption itself, of course. Therefore, if we Abs. pq
know that p  q, we may validly  p  (p  q)
infer that p implies both itself and
q. That is all that Absorption says
 7. The simplification rule Simp. pq
Simplification in logic states that where a p
conjunction of two variables is true
then both variables are true
individually. In plainer English
this means that where a statement
using "and" is true the separate
parts of the statement are true on
their own.
8. Conjunction Conjunction says only that if two Conj. P
propositions, p and q, are known to q
be true, we can put them together pq
into one conjunctive expression, .
We may conjoin them. If they are
true separately, they must also be
true when they are conjoined. In
this case the order presents no
problem, because we may always
treat the one we seek to put on the
left as p, and the other as q. That
joint truth is what a conjunction
asserts
9. Addition Disjunction introduction Add. P
or addition is a rule of inference of pvq
propositional logic and
almost every other deduction
system. The rule makes it possible
to introduce disjunctions
to logical proofs. It is the inference
that if P is true, then P or Q must be
true.

IMPORTANT POINTERS

- Two features of these elementary argument forms must be emphasized. First, they
must be applied with exactitude. An argument that one proves valid using Modus Ponens must
have that exact form: p  q, p, therefore q. Each statement variable must be replaced by some
statement (simple or compound) consistently and accurately.

- The elementary argument form must be fitted precisely to the argument with which
we are working. No shortcut—no fudging of any kind—is permitted, because we seek to know
with certainty that the outcome of our reasoning is valid, and that can be known only if we can
demonstrate that every link in the chain of our reasoning is absolutely solid.
 - Second, these elementary valid argument forms must be applied to the entire lines of
the larger argument with which we are working.

- Formal proofs in deductive logic have crushing power, but they possess that power
only because, when they are correct, there can be not the slightest doubt of the validity of each
inference drawn. The tiniest gap destroys the power of the whole.

- The nine elementary valid argument forms should be committed to memory.

9.3 Formal Proofs of Validity Exhibited

What is a formal proof of validity?

- a formal proof of validity for a given argument as a sequence of

statements, each of which either is a premise of that argument or follows from
preceding statements of the sequence by an elementary valid argument or by a logical
equivalence, such that the last statement in the sequence is the conclusion of the
argument whose validity is being proved.

Example:

1. A  B
2. (A v C)  D
AB
3. A 1, Simp.
4. A v C 3, Add.
5. D 2, 4 M.P.
6. A  D 3, 5 Conj.

The first two lines of this proof are seen to be premises, because they appear
before the “therefore” symbol ( ); what appears immediately to the right of that
symbol is the conclusion of this argument, A  D The very last line of the sequence is (as
it must be if the formal proof is correct) that same conclusion, A  D . What about the
steps between the premises and the conclusion? Line 3, A, we can deduce from line 1, A
 D, by Simplification. So to the right of line 3, we put, the line number from which it
comes and the rule by which it is inferred from that line, “1, Simp.” Line 4 is A v C. How
can that be inferred from the lines above it? We cannot infer it from line 2 by
Simplification. But we can infer it from line 3, A, by Addition. Addition tells us that if p is
true, then is true, whatever q may be. Using that logical pattern precisely, we may infer
from A that A v C is true. To the right of line 4 we therefore put “3, Add.” Line 5 is D. D
appears in line 2 as the consequent of a conditional statement, ( A v C )  D. We proved
on line 4 that A v C is true; now, using Modus Ponens, we combine this with the
conditional on line 2 to prove D. To the right of line 5 we therefore write “2, 4, M.P.” A
has been proved true (on line 3) and D has been proved true (on line 5). We may
therefore validly conjoin them, which is what line 6 asserts: A  D. To the right of line 6
we therefore write “3, 5, Conj.” This line, A  D, is the conclusion of the argument, and it
is therefore the last statement in the sequence of statements that constitutes this proof.
The proof, which had been presented to us complete, has thus been “fleshed out” by
specifying the justification of each step within it. In this example, and the exercises that
follow, every line of each proof can be justified by using one of the elementary valid
argument forms in our logical toolbox. No other inferences of any kind are permitted,
however plausible they may seem. When we had occasion to refer to an argument form
that has two premises (e.g., M.P. or D.S.), we indicated first, in the justification, the
numbers of the lines used, in the order in which they appear in the elementary valid
form. Thus, line 5 in Example 1 is justified by 2, 4, M.P.

9.4 Constructing Formal Proofs of Validity

- Now we turn to one of the central tasks of deductive logic: proving formally
that valid arguments really are valid. In the preceding sections we examined formal
proofs that needed only to be supplemented by the justifications of the steps taken.

Let us begin by constructing proofs for simple arguments. The only rules needed
(or available for our use) are the nine elementary valid argument forms with which we
have been working. This limitation we will later overcome, but even with only these nine
rules in our logical toolbox, very many arguments can be formally proved valid.

We will look first at two examples.

In the first example consider the argument:

1. A

2. B

 (A v C)  B

The conclusion of this argument is a conjunction; we see immediately that the

second conjunct, B, is readily at hand as a premise in line 2. All that is now needed is the
statement of the disjunction, (A v C), which may then be conjoined with B to complete
the proof. (A v C) is easily obtained from the premise A, in line 1; we simply add C using
the rule Addition, which tells us that to any given p with a truth value of true we may
add (disjunctively) any q whatever. In this example we have been told that A is true, so
we may infer by this rule that must be true. The third line of this proof is “3. A v C, 1,
Add.” In line 4 we can conjoin this disjunction (line 3) with the premise B (line 2):
“4. (A v C)  B, 3, 2, Conj.” This final line of the sequence is the conclusion of the
argument being proved. The formal proof is complete.

Here is a second example of an argument whose formal proof requires only two
additional lines in the sequence:

1. D  E

2. D  F

E

The conclusion of this argument, E, is the consequent of the conditional

statement, which is given as the first premise. We know that we will be able to infer the
truth of E by Modus Ponens if we can establish the truth of D. We can establish the truth
of D, of course, by Simplification from the second premise, D  F.

So the complete formal proof consists of the following four lines:

1. D  E

2. D  F/E

3. D 2, Simp.

4. E 1, 3, M.P.

In each of these examples, and in all the exercises immediately following, a formal proof
for each argument may be constructed by adding just two additional statements. This
will be an easy task if the nine elementary valid argument forms are clearly in mind.
Remember that the final line in the sequence of each proof is always the conclusion of
the argument being proved.
Sample exercise:

Given:

1. S  L

2. (HT)  (PX)

3. L  (HT)

4. ~(PX)

5. ~S  (A  B) / A  (AB)

Answer:

1. S  L

2. (HT)  (PX)

3. L  (HT)

4. ~(PX)

5. ~S  (A  B) / A  (AB)

6. S  (HT) (1)(3) HS

7. ~(HT) (2)(4) MT

8. ~S (6)(7) MT

9. A  B (5)(8) MP

10. A  (AB) (9) Abs.

Note: This proof can be done several different ways with the same number of steps.
References:

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