Terms in Philosophy & Logic Truism, Aphorism YouTube Lecture Handouts

Get unlimited access to the best preparation resource for competitive exams : get questions, notes, tests, video lectures and more- for all subjects of your exam.

Truism, Aphorism, Dictum, Dogma, Tautology, Contradiction, Contingency: Terms in Philosophy & Logic

Terms in Philosophy & Logic

Truism, Aphorism, Dictum, Dogma, Tautology, Contradiction, Contingency

Illustration: Truism, Aphorism, Dictum, Dogma, Tautology, Contradiction, Contingency
  • Truism: example – “Under appropriate conditions, the sun rises.” Without contextual support – a statement of what those appropriate conditions are – the sentence is true but incontestable. “No one was there when life first appeared on earth”
  • Argument: It is Truism to say that no one was there when life first appeared on earth. Any assertion about life՚s origin thus, should be treated as a theory.
  • Aphorism: Actions speak louder than words (traditionally passed from generations to generations)
  • Dictum: An example of dictum is a rule found in the Constitution or a ruling issued by a judge.
Illustration: Truism, Aphorism, Dictum, Dogma, Tautology, Contradiction, Contingency
  • Dogma: An example of dogma is the Ten Commandments in the Christian faith.
  • Tautology or Conditional Disjunction: example double negation
  • Contradiction: I respect you and I do not respect you

Tautology Explained

Tautology ExplainedTautology Explained
P~PP ~P
TFT
FTT
  • Indira Gandhi was assassinated or else she was not – tautology (P ~P)
  • Contingency: Neither true under every possible valuation (i.e.. tautologies) nor false under every possible valuation (i.e.. contradictions)
  • A contingent proposition is neither necessarily true nor necessarily false. It has some true and some false substitution instances.
  • If roses are red and violets are blue, then roses aren՚t red.

Manishika