Why is it so much trouble to communicate well? I mean will we have to "diagram" every time we speak?? I don't think so!! As we practice these formulas, over time we will get better and faster at them. We will be able to spot whether a claim is true or false and "how it is compounded from other claims."
How compound claims use the words (and, or not if...then...) "depends on the truth or falsity (truth-value) of the claims from which they are built." We are not to rely on anything else except "whether the claim is true or false and how it is compounded from other claims." (Epstein, p. 359)
The symbols used for these words are ˄ for and, ˅ for or, ┐for not, and → for if…then… These symbols help us be precise about "how we will understand these words in arguments, relative to the classical abstraction.
CLASSICAL ABSTRACTION:
The only aspects of a claim we'll pay attention to are whether the claim is true or false, and how it is compounded from other claims.
For example, Jill is a girl and John is a boy. When is this true? When both are true. According to Epstein, this is the only way it can be true. Epstein p.360.
The topic you chose to talk about is very interesting and I like how you started your response with much enthusiasm. Compound claims are indeed interesting and depend whether it is true or false. I like how you included the symbols and terminology used throughout this chapter which I don’t think many people included in their responses. Also, it was nice of you to include the pages of where you got your information so we could see where you got it from and if we wanted to read more about it. The example you gave was very clear and concise as well.
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