Philosophy, Logic

Question

please I need help.

Logic,

identify if valid or invalid

1, All students are awesome.

Diego is awesome.

Therefore, Diego is a student.

2, Everyone who gets the coronavirus also gets a fever.

Micah has a fever.

Therefore, Micah has the coronavirus.

Answer 1

These are both examples of the fallacy of affirming the consequent.

If we know that “If A then B” is true and we also know that “A is true, we can logically conclude that B is true. This is known as the law of modus ponens in Latin….or affirming the antecedent.

( In our example, A is the antecedent and B is the consequent)

We cannot, however, logically conclude that if “If A then B” is true and that B (the consequent) is true that A is true.

The first example can be written as

If A then B (Where A is “X is a student” and B is “X is awesome “

B is true (“X is awesome”)

Therefore (incorrectly) A (“X is a student”) is “true”.

These are both precisely examples of the fallacy of affirming the consequent B (BAD).

Here’s an easier example:

If a person is in outer space, they must have a a source of oxygen does NOT mean that if a person has a source of oxygen they are in outer space!

Hope this helps!

Joe L