Philosophical analysis

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Philosophical analysis is a general term for the techniques used by philosophers. These techniques vary across time and place. This article will examine philosophical techniques.

Arguments

The term 'argument' in logic is technical. Philosophers do not mean quarrel or fight when they speak of argument. An argument is simply a set of premises and a conclusion in a form such as the following:

• Premise 1: If it is raining I will take an umbrella.
• Premise 2: It is raining.
• Conclusion: I will take an umbrella

Valid logical arguments are truth preserving. This is to say that if the premises are true then the conclusion must be true. Certain words in English are truth functional. Some examples of truth functional words/expressions in English include and, or, not,if...then, and if and only if sometimes abbreviated as iff. Except not, all of these expressions are two-place. So, expressions like "p and q", "p or q", "if p then q", have two empty places where speakers or logicians can place meaningful names or descriptions. Two-place truth functions have four possible truth value combinations for the two inputs. All of the given truth functions are unique in the sense that each function gives a different output (combination of truth values). The truth functions are neatly illustrated with a truth table.

Meaning

Main articles: Meaning and Philosophy of language

Logic

See also

• Analytic philosophy

External links

• [Article on analysis] at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• [Analysis and Synthesis: On Scientific Method based on a study by Bernhard Riemann] From the [The Swedish Morphological Society]

 

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