Symbolic logic

	Cogito ergo sum; Logic and rhetoric
	Key articles
	Logical fallacy; Syllogism; Argument;
	General logic
	Ad iram; False dilemma; Hierarchy of disagreement; Pragmatic fallacy; Professor of nothing; Reasoning;
	Bad logic
	Adding epicycles; Appeal to shame; Bait-and-switch; Confounding factor; Negative evidence; Straw man; v - t - e

Symbolic logic is a logical technique that allows reduction of a logical argument stated in natural language to mathematical logic. This helps to avoid issues of semantics that plague many logical debates. A proof in symbolic logic is only as true as its premises.

Example

Let A be defined as "Water has memory of chemicals dissolved in it."
Let B be defined as "Nearly every chemical has been dissolved in the oceans at some point."
Let C be defined as "The oceans have memory of nearly every chemical."
Let D be defined as "The oceans are as effective a homeopathic treatment as anything you could buy."

Postulates:
1: A
2: B
3: A&B→C
4: C→D

Proof:
Line a: By 1, 2, and 3: C
Line b: By 4 and a:D

Conclusion:
D

This article is a stub.
You can help RationalWiki by expanding it.

gollark: If people want to for whatever insanely bizarre reason, I don't see why not.

gollark: If you force the price to be fixed low, you just get a shortage where the quantity actually sold is below the quantity demanded.

gollark: No, markets in the economicsy sense.

gollark: Limiting purchase numbers seems like a bad hack to prevent the market from working properly but at least make some people vaguely happy since they're paying the normal price.

gollark: … also, what if someone wants to buy an entire set of computer parts in order to, say, build a computer?

This article is issued from Rationalwiki. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.