ALKAN HEALTH SCIENCE BUSINESS AND

TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE

GROUP ASSIGNMENT
Course: critical thinking
Department: nursing
Academic year: 2024 G.C
Year: first semester: first
Group members
1. Bamlak firdawek
2. Firehiwot
3. Foziya delil
4. Hafiza mensur
5. Hurube tamiru
6. Lake wondie
7. Segni Ephrem
8. Wagari Edosa
Submission date: Saturday,24/02/2024
Submitted to: lalisa geremu(ato)
Chapter – 3
LOGIC AND LANGUAGE
Lesson 1 :Philosophy of Language
Philosophy of Language is the reasoned inquiry into the origins of
language, nature of meaning,
The usage and cognition of language, and the relationship between
language and reality.
Language is a body of standard meanings of words and the form of speech
used as a means of
Expressing the feeling, emotion, desire, thought etc in a consistent pattern
of communication.

1.1What is Philosophy of Language?

Philosophy of Language is the reasoned inquiry into the origins of
language, nature of meaning,
The usage and cognition of language, and the relationship between
language and reality. It is an
Important discipline in its own right, and hence, it poses questions like
“What is meaning?”,
“How does language refer to the real world?”, “Is language learned or is it
innate?”, “How does
The meaning of a sentence emerge out of its parts?, and other related
issues.

1.2A Brief Note on the Debates and History of Philosophy

of Language
. In the Western tradition, the early work was covered, by Plato, Aristotle
and the Stoics of
Ancient Greece.
Plato generally considered that the names of things are determined by
nature, With each phoneme (the smallest structural unit that distinguishes
 meaning) representing basic Ideas or sentiments, and that convention
only has a small part to play.
.Aristotle held that the Meaning of a predicate (the way a subject is
modified or described in a sentence) is established Through an abstraction
of the similarities between various individual things (a theory later known
As Nominalism).
.The Stoic philosophers made important contributions to the analysis of
grammar, distinguishing Five parts of speech: nouns, verbs, appellatives,
conjunctions and articles.
.philosophy of language is the reasoned inquiry into the nature, origins,
and usage of Language. As a topic, the philosophy of language, particularly
for analytic Philosophers, has been Concerned with four central problems:
the nature of meaning, language use, language cognition, and the
relationship between language, logic and reality.

1.3Some Philosophical Approaches to the Nature of

Meaning
There are several approaches to the philosophical nature of meaning. Among
others, the Following are the major ones:
1) Idea theories: these theories claim that meanings are purely mental
contents provoked by Signs. This approach is mainly associated with
the British Empiricist traditions of John Locke, George Berkeley and
David Hume, though some contemporary theorists have Renewed it
under the guise of semantic internalism.
2) Truth-conditional theories: these theories hold meaning to be the
conditions under Which an expression may be true or false. This
tradition goes back to Gottlob Frege, Although there has also been
much modern work in this area.
3) Use theories: these theories understand meaning to involve or be
related to speech acts And particular utterances, not the expressions
themselves. This approach was pioneered By Ludwig Wittgenstein and
his Communitarian view of language.
4) Reference theories (or semantic externalism): these theories view
meaning to be Equivalent to those things in the world that are actually
 connected to signs. Tyler Burge And Saul Kripke are the best known
proponents of this approach.
5) Verificationist theories: these theories associate the meaning of a
sentence with its Method of verification or falsification. This
Verificationist approach was adopted by the Logical Positivists of the
early 20th century.
6) Pragmatist theories: these theories maintain that the meaning or
understanding of a Sentence is determined by the consequences of its
application?

Lesson 2: Logic and Meaning

Language is a body of standard meanings of words and the form of speech
used as a means of Expressing the feeling, emotion, desire, thought etc in
a consistent pattern of communication.
Language requires symbol such as words, sounds, gestures, signs that are
patterned and related in A certain way for the purpose of communicating
meanings. . We use language in many different Ways. It is the tool of
communication and the means of expressing ideas. It is the way of
Conveying information and evoking feelings.

2.1The Functions of Language: Cognitive and Emotive

Meanings.
Ordinary language is used for a number of functions. Among other things,
language is used to:
Ask questions
Tell stories
Tell jokes
Tell lies
It is also important to
 Greet someone
 Flirt with some one
 Guess at answers
  Form hypotheses
 Sing songs
 Issue directions
Three linguistic functions are:
1. To convey information and
2. To express/ evoke feelings.
3. Directive
Cognitive meaning: are terminologies that convey information.
Emotive Meaning: is a terminology that expresses/evokes feelings
Emotive Terminologies & Usage
Most of the time in advertising and the military, emotive expressions are
used.
A. Advertising: Though its purpose is to convey information/message
about a product . The claim uses/elicits a favorable emotional
response. ( there is a kind of exaggeration)
B. The Military: Because languages associate with military ventures often
call forth negative emotions. To counteract this effect, the military
spokespersons use neutral terminologies to evoke a neutral response
like: “Human targets”
Disputes in Cognitive Meanings
There are two disputes verbal disputes and factual disputes.
3.2 The Intension and Extension
A term – is any word or arrangement of words that may serve as a subject of
a statement.

I. Proper names,
II. Common names and
III. Descriptive phrases
Words are usually considered to be symbols, and the entities that they
symbolize are usually called Meanings.
Terms being made up of words are also symbols.
The meanings words/ terms symbolize are of two kinds: intentional and
extensional.
The Intentional meaning: consists of the qualities/attributes that the term
connotes.
The Extensional Meaning: consists of the members of the class that the term
denotes.
Sequences of terms
Increasing Intension
Decreasing Intension
Increasing Extension and
Decreasing Extension.
Increasing Intension: a series of terms is in the order of increasing intension
when each term in the series (except the first) connotes more attributes than
the one preceding it.
That is, each term in the series is more specific that the one preceding it. The
reverse is true for decreasing intension
Increasing Extension: a series of terms is in the order of increasing extension
when each term In the series (except the first) denotes a class having more
members.
That is the class size gets larger with each successive term. The reverse is true
for decreasing Extension
3.3Definitions and Their Purpose
Definition: means a group of words that assigns a meaning to some words or
groups of words.
Every definition had two parts:
I. The definiendum and
Ii. The definiens.
 Definiendum: the word or group of words that is supposed to be
defined.
  Definiens: word or group of words that does the defining.
 Ex: “Tiger” means a large, striped, ferocious beast indigenous to the
jungles of India and Asia.
 “Tiger” = definiendum
Everything after “Tiger” = definiens
Kinds of Definitions
There are five kinds:
 Stipulative definition,
 Lexical definition,
 Précising definition,
 Theoretical definition and
 Persuasive definition.
Definitional Techniques
Definitional techniques can be classified as
1. Intentional
2. Extensional
4.1The Extensional (Denotative) Definitional Techniques
An extensional definition is one that assigns a meaning to a term by
indicating the members of
The class that the definiendum denotes. There are at least three
ways of indicating the members of
A class: pointing to them (demonstrative or ostensive definitions),
naming them individually
(enumerative definitions), and naming them in groups (definitions
by subclass).
4.2The Intensional (Connotative) Definitional Techniques
An intensional definition one that assigns a meaning to a word by indicating
the qualities or attributes that the word connotes. There are at least four
strategies that may be used to indicate The attributes/qualities that a word
connotes. These strategies result synonymous definitions, Etymological
definitions, operational definitions, definitions by genus and difference.
Lesson 5: Criteria for Lexical Definitions
Giving the function of a lexical definition, lexical definitions are what we most frequently encounter
and are what most people mean when they speak of the ‗‗definition‘‘ of a word.
Accordingly, it is appropriate that we have a set of rules that we may use in constructing our own
lexical definitions and in evaluating the lexical definitions of others. While some of these rules apply
to the other kinds of definitions as well, the unique functions that are served by stipulative,
précising, theoretical, and persuasive definitions prescribe different sets of criteria.

Rule 1: A Lexical Definition Should Conform to the Standards of Proper Grammar.

Rule 2: A Lexical Definition Should Convey the Essential Meaning of the Word Being Defined.

Rule 3: A Lexical Definition Should Be Neither Too Broad nor Too Narrow.

Rule 4: A Lexical Definition Should Avoid Circularity.

Rule 5: A Lexical Definition Should Not Be Negative When It Can Be Affirmative.

Rule 6: A Lexical Definition Should Avoid Figurative, Obscure, Vague, or Ambiguous Language.

Rule 7: A Lexical Definition Should Avoid Affective Terminology.

Rule 8: A Lexical Definition Should Indicate the Context to Which the Definiens

Pertains.

Chapter Summary
Language is the most important thing in the study of logic. Giving that logic is the study of
Arguments, and language is the fundamental tool of communication, there is not only a
strong Relationship between language and logic but also the former has a prominent
position within the Discipline of the latter. Argument, as the most special subject matter of
logic, is nothing but a Reasoning process that is constructed and conveyed through
language. The clarification and Analysis of terms and statements is the objective of
philosophy in general and logic in particular.
In order to interpret, analyze, and evaluate arguments well, one must pay close attention
to Language. Many errors in logic stem from a careless or imprecise use of language, and
many Misunderstandings about the nature of language. Hence, if we are to successfully
evaluate the Logical correctness of arguments, it is important to pay a special attention to
the language in Which the arguments are cast. More specially, meanings and definitions
are very important both, For clear, effective, and comprehensive communications, and for
logical, scientific, and critical Evaluations of arguments. Before we decide whether the
requirements of a certain argument are Fulfilled, it is necessary to understand the
meanings of the words that make up the statements, Which in its turn, make up the given
argument.
Language has two fundamental functions in logic, conveying information and expressing or
Evoking feeling, which are expressed through some terminologies. Those terminologies
that Convey information are said to have cognitive meanings, and those that expresses or
evokes Feelings are said to have emotive meanings. Emotively charged statements usually
have both Cognitive meaning and emotive meaning. However, since logic is concerned
chiefly with Cognitive meaning, our primary concern should be to distinguish and
disengage the cognitive Meaning of emotive statements from the emotive meaning, which
is commonly known as a Value claim. Value claims are usually the most important part of
the cognitive meaning of Emotive statements. Thus, for the purposes of logic, it is
important that we be able to disengage The value claims of emotively charged statements
from the emotive meaning and treat these Claims as separate statements.
Vagueness and ambiguity are the two linguistic problems that affect our cognitive use of
Language. A linguistic expression is said to be vague if there are borderline cases in which
it is impossible to tell if the expression applies or does not apply. Vague expressions often
allow for a Continuous range of interpretations. An expression is said to be ambiguous
when it can be Interpreted as having more than one clearly distinct meaning in a given
context. The role of Vagueness and ambiguity in arguments may be conveniently explored
in the context of Conflicting arguments between individuals. Such conflicts are called
disputes. Disputes can be Verbal or factual. The former centers on a confusion of cognitive
meanings between disputants, While the later on a matter of fact. Terms symbolize two
kinds of meanings: intensional meaning and extensional meaning. The Intensional
meaning, which is otherwise known as intension or connotation, consists of the Qualities
or attributes that the term connotes, and the extensional meaning, which is otherwise
Known as extension or denotation, consists of the members of the class that the term
denotes. To Avoid the subjective elements that invades the notion of connotation, and of
course that of Denotation, logicians typically restrict the meaning of connotation and
denotation to the Conventional connotation and denotation. Sometimes extensions can
be empty, but intensions. Meanings are conveyed or explicated by definitions. A definition
is a group of words that assigns A meaning to some word or group of words; and consists
of two parts: the definiendum, (the word Or group of words that is supposed to be defined
), and the definiens, (the word or group of words that does the defining). It is, however,
important to note that the definiens is not itself the Meaning of the definiendum; rather,
it is the group of words that symbolizes (or that is supposed to symbolize) the same
meaning as the definiendum. There are various kinds of definitions that Are actually used
in our practical life. Based on the functions they actually serve, definitions can Be
classified as stipulative, lexical, précising, theoretical, and persuasive definitions. These
Definitions can be produced by extensional definitional techniques,
(demonstrative/ostensive, Enumerative, and subclass), and intensional definitional
techniques, (synonymous, etymological, Operational, and genus and difference). Because
lexical definition the most important and Common definition, it is important for it to fulfill
some standard linguistic rules