Epistemology, Metaphysics and Logic
Scope
This domain combines epistemology, metaphysics, and logic. Expect questions on the analysis of knowledge, justification, skepticism, substance and causation, validity, syllogistic form, and fallacies.
Core concepts
- Knowledge: the standard analysis is justified true belief (JTB); Gettier cases challenge sufficiency. Justification may be internalist or externalist.
- Metaphysics: substance, universals, personal identity, free will, mind-body relation, and causation. Distinguish necessary from contingent truths.
- Logic: validity concerns form; soundness adds true premises. Deduction guarantees truth preservation; induction supports probability. Categorical syllogisms use mood and figure; propositional logic uses negation, conjunction, disjunction, conditional.
- Fallacies: affirming the consequent, ad hominem, equivocation, false dilemma, post hoc.
Worked example
Question: “If it rains, the ground is wet; the ground is wet; therefore it rained.” Reasoning: symbolize R → W, W, therefore R. This is affirming the consequent. A counterexample: a sprinkler wets the ground without rain. The premises can be true while the conclusion false, so the form is invalid.
Traps
Do not equate validity with truth; do not call inductive strength certainty; do not confuse necessary with sufficient conditions; do not treat a counterexample as a premise. A sound argument must be valid and have true premises.