Basic Terminology Used in Logic

Critical Thinking: Careful deliberation regarding whether to accept, reject or suspend judgment towards a claim or statement.

Logic: The study of the methods and principles used in evaluating arguments.

Argument: A set of statements where one statement (i.e. the conclusion) is claimed to be evidentially supported by one or more other statements (i.e. the premises).

Example: All brain events are physical events and all mental events are brain events; therefore, all mental events are physical events.

Premise: An evidence statement in an argument.

Conclusion: The statement in an argument that is claimed to be evidentially supported.

Statements: The building blocks of arguments; expressions in our language that convey an idea about the world. Statements all possess a "truth-value"; i.e. they are either true or false.

Inference: The thought-process expressed by an argument. The process by which a statement is arrived at and affirmed on the basis of one or more other statements accepted at the starting point of the process.