Monthly Archives: January 2018

The ambiguous OR

Intermediate Logic, Logic

Logic is a symbolic language. It is also a very precise language, every term well defined and unambiguous. English, on the other hand, is a somewhat ambiguous language. The same word can have multiple meanings: a pen is a writing utensil and an enclosure for livestock.

One key term in logic is the disjunction “or”. In English, the word “or” has two meanings. The first is the inclusive or, which means basically “this, or that, or both.” If someone said, “Most Bible students read the King James or the NIV,” this statement is still true for a student who reads both the King James and the NIV. The “or” includes both possibilities.

The exclusive or basically means “this or that, but not both.” This is the sense used in this classic argument for the deity of Christ: “Jesus was either God or a bad man.” If Jesus was God, then He was not a bad man. If He was a bad man, then He was not God.

Symbolic logic deals with the ambiguous “or” this way. The logical operator OR is taken in the inclusive sense. “A or B” is true if A is true, B is true, or both A and B are true. To represent the exclusive or, we use the compound proposition “A or B, but not both A and B.”

King’s Grand Style

Rhetoric

It has been maintained that Martin Luther King Jr. was the last American orator to use the grand level of style appropriately. In  Fitting Words Classical Rhetoric, the grand level defined as that “in which the stylistic devices are intended to be dramatic, apparent, and impressive. Its purpose is not only to inform the mind and persuade the will, but to grip the emotions and heart. It is most appropriate for speeches delivered on formal occasions.”

Anyone who has listened to (or at least read) some of his speeches – especially his most famous “I Have a Dream” – is aware that MLK uses stylistic devices in a dramatic and impressive way, a way that can grip the mind and heart of his hearers.  Here are some quotes from my text which shows his skill in using the grand level of style.

Perhaps no modern orator mastered rhythm as well as Martin Luther King, Jr. Consider the rhythm of these sentences, taken from his powerful speech “I Have a Dream”:

In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.

And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

These beautifully framed words are memorable not only for what they say, but for how they were said. Listen for the rhythm by reading them aloud or, better yet, find a recording of Dr. King’s original delivery of the speech. (Fitting Words, page 279)

A study of the most powerful speeches will reveal that many of them end with a longer, highly-coordinated sentence, a sentence that climaxes in a short, powerful word. A few examples…

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old negro spiritual, ‘Free at last, free at last; Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.’ (Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream.”)

(Fitting Words, page 281f)

Much more could be said. We could identify dozens of figures of speech which he uses masterfully, even including a subtle use of rhyme. The orations of Martin Luther King Jr. are well worth studying by the student of formal rhetoric.

Quick negation rules

Intermediate Logic, Logic

Here are some quick rules to help you symbolize propositions that use negation:

Not both p and q  =  ~(p ⋅ q)
Either not p or not q  =  ~p v ~q
Both not p and not q  =  ~p ⋅ ~q
Neither p nor q  =  ~(p v q)

Truth tables can be used to show that the first two proposition forms are equivalent, and the last two forms are equivalent. The meaning of the sentences also help to show this.

The Biblical Biconditional

Intermediate Logic, Logic

Symbolic logic has five standard logical operators, each of which has a standard translation in English:

negation is “not”
conjunction is “and”
disjunction is “or”
conditional is “if/then”
biconditional is “if and only if”

While the translations of the first four logical operators are frequent in English, the phrase “if and only if” is used very infrequently, and then only occasionally among mathematicians, philosophers, and lawyers.

For instance, while it is easy to find hundreds of nots, ands, ors, and if/thens in the Bible, the phrase “if and only if” is completely absent. However, for those who look carefully, biconditional reasoning is used several times in scripture. Keeping in mind that p if and only if q means if p then q and if q then p — and remembering other equivalences we have learned — the following verses all reflect biconditional reasoning:

Genesis 43:4-5, “If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down… But if you will not send him, we will not go down.”

2 Kings 7:4, “If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”

John 6:53-54, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.”

The first example could be translated as “We will go down if and only if you send our brother with us.” The second, “We will live if and only if they spare us.” The third, “You have eternal life if and only if you eat Christ’s flesh and drink His blood.”

Can you find any other biblical examples of statements that could be translated with the “if and only if”?

If/Then Truth Table

Intermediate Logic, Logic

One of the difficulties new students of symbolic logic must overcome is understanding the defining truth table for the conditional, the “if/then” logical operator. The defining truth table tells us what the truth value of the proposition is, given the truth value of its component parts. For the conditional, it looks like this:

p    q     p ⊃ q
T    T         T
T    F         F
F    T         T
F    F         T

One way to defend this is to look at real-life conditional propositions with known truth values, for which we also know the truth value of the component parts. We will take our examples from the Bible.

The first row of the defining truth table states that a conditional with a true antecedent and a true consequent is true. In Genesis 44:26, Judah says about Benjamin, “If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down.” The antecedent “Our youngest brother is with us” is true, and the consequent, “We will go down” was also true. We also know this is a true statement; Judah is speaking truthfully. There is the first row: If true then true is true.

The second row says a conditional with a true antecedent and a false consequent is false. In Judges 16:7 Samson says to Delilah, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” In verse 8 they bind him with seven fresh bowstrings (i.e. the antecedent is true) , but in verse 9 he breaks them easily (the consequent is false). So in verse 10, Delilah recognizes that Samson had lied to her; that is, she knows the conditional was false. Thus, if true then false is false.

The third row says a conditional with a false antecedent and a true consequent should be considered true. In Genesis 24:41, the servant quotes Abraham: “You will be clear from this oath when you arrive among my family; for if they will not give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.” The antecedent of the conditional (they will not give her to you) is false (they do give her), but the consequent (you will be released from my oath) is true (given the statement in verse 41 prior to the conditional). And we know the conditional was true; Abraham was speaking the truth. So if false then true is true. (See also Genesis 34:17).

Finally, the fourth row says conditionals with false antecedents and false consequents are also true. Here is one example: “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes” (Genesis 18:26). The conditional is true, since it is God speaking. But note that the antecedent (God finds in Sodom fifty righteous people) is false, and the consequent (God spares the city) is also false. (See also Genesis 42:38). Thus, if false then false is true.

We see that it is not difficult to find examples of if/then statements in the Bible that support the traditional defining truth table for the conditional logical operator.