Phi 270
Fall 2013
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Phi 270 F11 test 1

F11 test 1 topics

The following are the topics to be covered. The proportion of the test covering each will approximate the proportion of the classes so far that have been devoted to that topic. Your homework and the collection of old tests will provide specific examples of the kinds of questions I might ask.

Basic concepts of deductive logic. You will be responsible for entailment, tautologousness and absurdity, and the relations between pairs of sentences (i.e., implication, equivalence, exclusiveness, joint exhaustiveness, and contradictoriness). You should be able to define any of these ideas in terms of truth values and possible worlds (see appendix A.1, 1.2.8, and 1.4.1 for samples of such definitions), and you should be ready to answer questions about these concepts and explain your answers in a way that uses the definitions.

Implicature. Be able to define it and distinguish it from implication. Be able to give examples and explain them. Be ready to answer questions about it, justifying your answer in a way that uses the definition.

Analysis. Be able to analyze the logical form of a sentence as fully as possible using conjunction and present the form in both symbolic and English notation (that is, with the logical-and symbol ∧ and with the both … and … way of expressing forms).

Synthesis. Be able to synthesize an English sentence that has a logical form that I specify (as in the second part of the homework on 2.1).

Derivations. Be able to construct derivations to show that entailments hold and to show that they fail. I may tell you in advance whether an entailment holds or leave it to you to check that using derivations. There may be some derivations where the rule Adj introduced in 2.4 would be convenient to use; but it is never necessary. You should be ready to use EFQ and ENV (the rules for ⊤ and ⊥) in addition to Ext, Cnj, and QED; but derivations that require EFQ or ENV are much less likely than ones that require only Ext, Cnj, and QED.


F11 test 1 questions

1.

Define the idea of sentences φ and ψ being contradictory by completing the following with a definition in terms of truth values and possible worlds:

φ and ψ are contradictory (i.e., φ ⋈ ψ) if and only if …
answer
2.

Consider the following two items of information about sentences φ, ψ, and χ:

(i) both φ ⊨ χ and ψ ⊨ χ
(ii) φ, ψ ⊨ χ

Which of (i) and (ii) indicates stronger logical relations among these sentences by ruling out more patterns of truth values for the three? And which further patterns does it rule out?

answer
3.

Suppose you know that φ implicates ψ and that ψ implies (i.e., entails) χ. Can you tell whether φ implicates χ? (Be sure to explain you answer by reference to the definitions of implication and implicature.)

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4.

Analyze the sentence below in as much detail as possible, presenting the result using symbolic notation and (and present the same analysis also using English notation—i.e., using bothand … to indicate conjunction). Be sure that the unanalyzed components of your answer are complete and independent sentences, and give a key to the abbreviations you use for them; also try to respect any grouping in the English.

The first baseman went after the ball but fumbled it, and the runner went on to second.

answer
5.

Synthesize an English sentence that has the analysis below. Choose a simple and natural sentence whose organization reflects the grouping of the logical form.

N ∧ (P ∧ B)

N: Tom flew to New York; P: Tom drove to Philadelphia; B: Tom drove to Baltimore

answer

Use derivations to check whether each of the claims of entailment below holds. If an entailment fails, confirm a counterexample by providing a table in which you calculate the truth values of the premises and conclusion on an assignment of truth values that is a counterexample lurking in an open gap. (Your table should indicate the value of any compound component by writing this value under the main connective of the component.) Do not use the rule Adj from §2.4.

  6. A ∧ G, F ∧ C ⊨ F ∧ G
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  7. (A ∧ B) ∧ C ⊨ (B ∧ C) ∧ D
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F11 test 1 answers

1.

φ and ψ are contradictory (φ ⋈ ψ) if and only if there is no possible world in which φ and ψ share the same truth value (or: if and only if, in each possible world, φ has a truth value different from the one ψ has).

2.

Both (i) and (ii) rule out certain values for φ and ψ when χ is false. While (ii) says that φ and ψ cannot be both true in this sort of case, (i) says more. It says of each of φ and ψ that it cannot be true when χ is false, so it says, on top of what (i) says, that neither the pattern φ true and ψ false nor the pattern φ false and ψ true can occur when χ is false. So (i) rules out three of the eight possible patterns of truth values for three sentences while (ii) rules out only one of the eight.

3.

The basic idea is that ψ says part of what φ suggests, and χ says part of what ψ says. So χ says part of what φ suggests and is therefore an implicature of φ. This can be explained in terms of the definitions as follows. To say that φ implicates ψ is to say that ψ is true whenever φ is appropriate. But if ψ implies χ, then χ must be true whenever ψ is, so it must be true whenever φ is appropriate. Therefore, φ does implicate χ.

4.

the first baseman went after the ball but fumbled it, and the runner went on to second

the first baseman went after the ball but fumbled it ∧ the runner went on to second

(the first baseman went after the ball ∧ the first baseman fumbled the ball) ∧ the runner went on to second

(B ∧ F) ∧ S
both both B and F and S

B: the first baseman went after the ball; F: the first baseman fumbled the ball; S: the runner went on to second

5.

Tom flew to New York ∧ (Tom drove to PhiladelphiaTom drove to Baltimore)

Tom flew to New YorkTom drove to Philadelphia and Baltimore

Tom flew to New York, and [or: but] he drove to Philadelphia and Baltimore

6.
│A ∧ G1
│F ∧ C2
├─
1 Ext│A
1 Ext│G(5)
2 Ext│F(4)
2 Ext│C
││●
│├─
4 QED││F3
││●
│├─
5 QED││G3
├─
3 Cnj│F ∧ G
7.
│(A ∧ B) ∧ C1
├─
1 Ext│A ∧ B2
1 Ext│C(6)
2 Ext│A
2 Ext│B(5)
│││●
││├─
5 QED│││B4
││
│││●
││├─
6 QED│││C4
│├─
4 Cnj││B ∧ C3
││○A, B, C ⊭ D
│├─
││D3
├─
3 Cnj│(B ∧ C) ∧ D
ABCD(AB)C/(BC)D
TTTFTT