N A G OYA U N I V E R S I T Y L I B R A R Y W O R K S H O P S 2 0 1 7

Academic WritingandLogical Thinking
May 17 ~ June 14, 2017

Instructor: Dr. Paul Lai

N A G OYA U N I V E R S I T Y L I B R A R Y W O R K S H O P S 2 0 1 6Review

Being Clear
Having a
Truth Condition

One Sentence

ThesisStatement
Non-Compound
Sentence Structure

Minimum Lexical &Structural Ambiguity

3

Thesis Statement

Support 1Support 2Support 3

(Homework)(i) Think about a paperthat you are planningto write.
(ii) Develop a thesis
statement for thepaper.
(iii) Discuss your thesis
statement on June 14.

How to use logic
practicallyTry to make the following reason convincing:Peter cannot submit the assignment on Monday
because his computer broke down on Saturday.

My computer broke down on Saturday.

No direct relation!
I could not submit my assignment on Monday.

My computer broke down on Saturday.

The assignment must be done on a computer.
No other computer was available during the period.
My computer was not repaired in time.
I could not submit my assignment on Monday.What is logic?
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An Instrument forAcquiring Knowledge
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Logic is the “organon”, orinstrument of thought,
which is specifically usedfor acquiring knowledge.
According to Aristotle,
we would not come toknow anything withoutlogic.
384-322 BC

KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION

When you see many people inside a
subway station wearing a wet raincoat or
carrying a wet umbrella, what can you tell?

It must be raining outside.

KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITIONINFERENTIAL
R E L AT I O N

Wet raincoats

Rain outside

What is inference ?
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INFERENTIAL
R E L AT I O NStatement 1

True

Statement 2

Truee.g. If Peter is in Tokyo, then Peter is in Japan.

INFERENTIAL
R E L AT I O NStatement 1

False

Statement 2

False

e.g. If Peter is not in Japan, then Peter is not in Tokyo.

The truth/falsity of statement 1
affects
the truth/falsity of statement 2
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Some examples of logical inferences
All people who live in Yada Residence are teachers.

No one who lives in Yada Residence is not a teacher.
Teacher

YadaResidenceSome examples of logical inferences
Some people who live in Yada Residence are teachers.

Some people who live in Yada Residence are not teachers.

Teacher

YadaResidenceSome examples of logical inferences
No men are angels.

No angels are men.

MenAngelsSome examples of logical inferences
All dogs are animals.

All animals are dogs.

Animals

Dogs

Some examples of logical inferences
All human beings are animals.

Peter is an animal.

Animals

Humanbeings

PeterSome examples of logical inferences
All human beings are animals.
Peter is a human being.
Peter is an animal.

Animals

Humanbeings

PeterHow is logic useful?

Class exercise:
Find the premise that infers the truth of C
Premise:

C: Peter is a student of NU.

CPExercises on
logical inference 1Logical Inference
PremiseConclusion

Part A of the exercises is designed to train you
how to make a proper inference based on apremise.

Each one of the exercises comes with (i) one statement corresponding to afactual event, and (ii) four inference choices that follow from (i). Althoughmore than one of the four choices might be logical, you need to find out
the one that is most likely / certainly true following from the truth of (i).

e.g.
Ex-1. Paul is in London.

England

London(a) Paul is on a business trip.
(b) Paul will not come back to Japan for a while.
(c) Paul is in England.
(d) Paul likes London.

Ex-2. There is a laptop computer found on a classroom
desk in Nagoya University.
(a) The computer belongs to Nagoya University.
(b) The computer belongs to one of the students whoused the classroom.
(c) Someone has forgotten to take the computer whenleaving the classroom.
(d) Someone came to the classroom with the computer.

Ex-3. A car is found parking in an area with the NO
PARKING sign.
(a) The car’s owner will soon receive an illegal parking
ticket.
(b) The car was driven or transported there by someone.
(c) The car was parked by someone who did not notice
the NO PARKING sign.
(d) The parked car will cause disturbance to the normal
traffic.

Ex-4. Tanaka has a piano in his office.
(a) Tanaka likes to play piano in his office.
(b) The piano is taking some space in the office.
(c) Tanaka’s office is very big.
(d) The piano is used for Tanaka’s work.

Exercises on
logical inference 2Fun Exercise!!
Solving Logical Puzzles

Puzzle 1:
Who is doing what?

Alonzo, Kurt, Rudolf, and Willard are four creative artists ofgreat talent. One is a dancer, one is a painter, one is a singer,and one is a writer, though not necessarily in that order.
(1) Alonzo and Rudolf were in the audience the night thesinger made his debut on the concert stage.
(2) Both Kurt and the writer have had their portraits
painted from life by the painter.
(3) The writer, whose biography of Willard was a best-seller,is planning to write a biography of Alonzo.
(4) Alonzo has never heard of Rudolf.
What is each man’s artistic field?

Thank you very much!