Logical Reasoning(Argument, Assumption,Syllogism)

Logical Reasoning
Argument-

An argument is an act of presenting reasons to support an individual’s position or point of view.

In these types of questions consist of statements followed by certain arguments in favour or against the statement candidates are required to distinguish between the strong and weak argument .

Strong Arguments are those which are both important and directly related to the questions .Weak arguments are those which are minorly important and also not directly related to the questions or maybe related to the tribal aspect of the questions. A weak argument is a very simple super flow ambiguous and long drawn one. Following points should be taken into consideration while choosing is strong argument-

A strong argument should be given a realistic diagnosis of the situation described in the statement .
a strong argument should be given for a deep analysis on the topic health within the statement.
is true or argument should related with the statement and be supported by the fact or established connection
a strong argument should not be read in relation to the situation given in the statement .
for example

Statement-Will elected members fulfill their promises?

Argument-1.yes, otherwise their existence will be in danger

2. No, elected members never seem to remember the promises and commitments.parveeenaa.com

Answer-

If only argument 1 is strong
if only argument 2 is strong
if either 1either 2 is strong
if neither 1 nor 2 strong
if both 1 and 2 are strong

Ans is 5, elected members have to face the electorates after each completion of their terms as their existence or members is decided by people, secondly at the time of election so many commitments are made which are hardly fulfilled.

Statement should all the should the incharge of all the police stations in the country we transfer every 2 years

Argument 1.no this will create a lot of administrative hassles and also will create a lot of inconvenience to the police officer .

2. Yes,this is the only way to the Nexus between police officers and antisocial elements.

Ans-neither 1 nor 2.

Course of Action

A course of action is a step or administrative decision to be taken for improvement.

Some important points are course of action should either lesser the problem and improve the situation created by the problem. A simple problem must have simple course directions and not a complex which may create more problems than to reduce it.It should be feasible and relate with practical aspects of life.

For example

Statement -A number of engineering graduates in the country are not in a position to have gainful employment at present and the number of engineers are likely to be grown in the future.

course of action

1.The government should launch attractive employment generation schemes and grace this graduate two forces schemes to actively use their expertise and knowledge second this happened due to qualifications of engineering College in the country and there by our the quality of engineering graduate the schools which are not occupied to import quality education should be closed in Italy solution first the first second is not a cause of excess acid does not properly address the problem.

ASSUMPTION-

An assumption is the hidden part of an argument and it is something taken for granted. It

means a fact that can be supposed as considering the contents of the given statement. In these

questions, a statement is followed by two or more assumptions. The candidate is required to assess the given statement and decide which of the given assumptions is implicit in the statement?

Direction—In each question below a statement (or a passage) followed by assumptions numbered I and II.

An assumption is something supposed or taken granted. Consider the statement and decide which of the given assumptions is

implicit ?

Give Answer—

(A) if only assumption I is implicit.

(B) if only assumption II is implicit.

(D) if neither assumption I or II is implicit.

(E) if both the assumptions are implicit.

Statement—The patient's condition would improve after this operation.

Assumptions—

I. The patient can be operated upon on this

condition.

II. The patient cannot be operated upon this

condition.

Solution—It is very much clear in the statement that the patient is in a position to be

operated upon. Hence, assumption I an implicit second assumption in contrast to the I assumption. It will not be implicit.

Statement—The Chairman and the Secretary

of the Housing Society have requested society

members to use water economically to help

society to save water on tax.

Assumptions—

I. Majority of members of society are

likely to follow the request.

II. It is desirable to reduce expenditure

wherever possible.

Solution—In assumption I, nothing about the

society members to the society’s request can be

deduced from the statement. So, assumption I is

not implicit. But from assumption II, if it is

possibly the expenditure can be reduced. So,

assumption II is implicit.

Syllogism-

‘Syllogism’ is originally a word given by the Greeks. The term ‘Syllogism’ is used to denote that form of reasoning where conclusion is drawn from two or more statements.

IMPORTANT POINTS ARE-

1. Actually it is an inference or deduction of the given statements. This is ‘undoubtedly’ the most important part of logical reasoning.

2. Syllogism is an indispensable feature of all competitive examinations and tests which determines the candidate’s basic intelligence and aptitude. The questions on logic are to be solved as per the information given without any concern of the formal validity or truth of the statements i.e., conclusion should follow directly from the statement given.

3. In solving the questions of syllogism, some are of the opinion that Venn-diagram can be of great use and, no doubt, a few questions can be solved with the help of Venn-diagrams, but Venn diagram alone does not help the students to solve the various questions on syllogism. The problem of syllogism can be solved by using a little intelligence and common sense but we need to have, therefore, a definite and well defined method to tackle the problem.

Proposition/ Premises—. The proposition is a sentence that makes a statement and gives a relation between two terms. It comprises a Quantifier ,a subject, a predicate and a copula.

Quantifier- The word All, No and Some are used as they express quantity. All and No are universal quantifiers because ther refer to every object in a certain set. And Some IS A particular Quantifier because it refers to at least one existing object in a certain set.

Subject - It is the word about which something is said.

Predicate is the part of the proposition denoting that which is affirmed or denied about the subject and

Copula is the part of the proposition which establishes the relation between the subject and the predicate.

Propositions can be classified into four types—

(1) Universal Affirmative Proposition— This type of proposition distributes only the subject. The predicate is not interchangeable with the subject while maintaining the validity of the proposition A universal affirmative proposition is usually denoted by the letter ‘A’.

Example—All boys are students. Students Boys

From here, we conclude that in A type proposition, only the subject is distributed and we cannot say “All students are boys”.

(2) Universal Negative Proposition—This type of proposition distributes both the subject and the predicate. It means an entire class of predicate terms is denied to the entire class of the subject term. A universal negative proposition is usually denoted by the letter ‘E’.

Example—No man is intelligent.

Man Intelligent We can conclude that Man and Intelligent have nothing in common and hence both subject and predicate are distributed.

(3) Particular Affirmative Proposition— This type of proposition distributes neither the subject nor the predicate. Particular affirmative proposition is denoted by the letter ‘I’.

Example—Some girls are students.

In this type of proposition, subject and predicate have something in common. Particular propositions either only partly include or only partly exclude the subject while making a statement.

(4) Particular Negative Proposition—This type of proposition distributes only in the predicate. It is denoted by the letter ‘O’ Example—Some goats are not men.

Here, the subject term ‘some goats’ is only for a part of its class and hence it is undistributed while the predicate term ‘men’ is denied entirely to the subject term and hence is distributed.

Syllogism is concerned with three terms.

(1) Major Term—It is the predicate of the conclusion and it is denoted by ‘P’.

(2) Minor Term—It is the subject of the conclusion and it is denoted by ‘S’.

(3) Middle Term—It is the term common to both the statements and it is denoted by ‘M’.

Venn Diagram- There is a pictorial way of representing the proposition. Suppose that the proposition is trying to relate the subject (S) with predicate (P).

There are four ways in which the relation could be according to the four propositions.

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Type Proposition Immediate Inference

A All S are P Some P are S

Some S are P

No P is A

E No S is P Some S are not P, Some P are not A

I Some S are P Some P are S

O Some S are not P No inference

Important Point-

All positive sentences which begin with ‘every’, ‘each’ ‘any’ are A-type propositions.
A positive sentence with a particular person as its subject is always an A-type proposition.
A positive sentence with a very definite exception is also an A-type.

All negative sentences beginning with ‘none’ ‘no one’ not a single’ etc are called E-type propositions.
A sentence with a particular person as to its subject but a negative sense is an E-type
proposition.

A negative sentence with a very definite exception is also of E-type.

Positive propositions which begin with words such as ‘most’, ‘a few’, ‘mostly’ ‘generally’, ‘ almost’, frequently’ ‘often’ are to be reduced to the I-type proposition.
A negative proposition which begins with words such as ‘often’, ‘seldom’, ‘hardly’,
‘ scarcely’ ‘rarely’, ‘little’ etc, are to be reduced to the I-type.
All negative propositions beginning with words such as all, every, any, each etc. will not be reduced to ‘O’ type propositions.
Negative propositions with words as most ‘ a few’ ‘mostly’ ‘generally’ ‘almost’ ‘frequently’ will not be reduced to the ‘O type.

The positive proposition with beginning negative sense words such as ‘few’,‘seldom’, ‘hardly’, ‘scarcely’, rarely,little etc are to reduced to the ‘O’ type