Assignment 1

PHIL240 Introduction to Formal Logic

Spring 2017

1. What is the value of logic? How can logic be used? (2 marks)

2. T F A material conditional with a truth-functionally false conse-

quent must itself be truth-functionally false. Explain(2 marks)

3. T F A sentence is truth-functionally indeterminate if and only if its

negation is truth-functionally indeterminate. Explain (2 marks)

4. Explain validity in terms of truth-functional consistency/inconsistency.

(3 marks)

5. Put the following argument into standard form. (5 marks)

Two people who contradict each other cannot both be lying. The
two witnesses are contradicting each other. So one of them must
be lying.

6. Why is it important to distinguish between the object language and

metalanguage? (3 marks)

7. What is an atomic sentence? (3 marks)

8. Symbolize the following passage in SL using the symbolization key pro-

vided. (10 marks)

Greg is either lazy or incompetent. If he is lazy, then the job isnt

going to get done. If he is incompetent, then hell mess things
up. But Greg doesnt mess things up. So it must be the case that
Greg is lazy.

L: Greg is lazy
I: Greg is incompetent

1
 J: Greg gets the job done.
M: Greg messes things up.

9. Complete the following truth table for the following set of sentences to
determine whether it is truth-functionally consistent or inconsistent.
Be sure to state your answer and say what about the table shows your
answer to be correct. If I cant tell the difference between your Ts and
Fs, I cant mark it. (10 marks)
{A (B (C A)), B A}

10. Use a truth table to show whether the following pair of sentences are
truth-functionally equivalent. Be sure to state your answer and say
what about the table shows your answer to be correct. If I cant tell
the difference between your Ts and Fs, I cant mark it. (10 marks)
{A (A A), (A A)}