Philosophia Polymathematica

In the previous post, we discussed generally which sentences qualify as statements in logic. In doing so, we established that statements are declarative sentences that have a truth value (i.e., they have the capacity to be either true or false). In this post we will discuss how statements are categorized, based on their contents, as either simple statements or compound statements . Axiomatically enough, as its name suggests, a simple statement is a declarative sentence that pertains to a factual matter or claim thereby imbuing it with its truth value with respect to a single idea. And, by corollary, a compound statement is a declarative sentence that asserts a fact or claim with respect to multiple ideas. The common denominator between both types of statements is that they both carry truth values. The differentiator, however, between the two types of statements is that simple statements lack connectives whereas compound statements necessarily contain them. It bears mentioning that th...

Philosophers , concerned most acutely with gaining wisdom and knowledge, use logic to discern the truth or falsity of propositions in order to form justified, true beliefs. This often requires a diligent, studious approach to abstruse written or verbal statements. Since philosophical language tends to be highly compressed, just a few words in a given statement often contain a lot of information. Consequently, deciphering the exact meaning of statements within a philosophical edifice is not optional. It is instead a sine qua non to prevent misunderstanding the implications and applications of an entire body of work. To develop a robust grounding in how philosophers approach interpreting philosophical statements, it would be highly useful in the first place to, of course, begin with understanding how philosophers conceive of statements themselves. For this purpose, it is critical to know, right at the outset, that statement in logic is a technical term that carries a meaning which is, ...