Methods in Psychological Research

Psychologists collect empirical data with various methods for different reasons. These diverse methods have their strengths as well as weaknesses. Nonetheless, it is possible to rank them in terms of different critieria. For example, the experimental method is used to obtain the least ambiguous conclusion. Hence, it is the best suited to corroborate conceptual, explanatory hypotheses. The interview method, on the other hand, gives the research participants a kind of emphatic experience that may be important to them. It is for the reason the best method to use in a clinical setting. All non-experimental methods owe their origin to the interview method. Quasi-experiments are suited for answering practical questions when ecological validity is importa

Reduction between Categorical Syllogisms Based on the Syllogism EIO-2

Syllogism reasoning is a common and important form of reasoning in human thinking from Aristotle onwards. To overcome the shortcomings of previous studies, this article makes full use of set theory and classical propositional logic, and deduces the remaining 23 valid syllogisms only on the basis of the syllogism EIO-2 from the perspective of mathematical structuralism, and then successfully establishes a concise formal axiom system for categorical syllogistic logic. More specifically, the article takes advantage of the trisection structure of categorical propositions such as Q(a, b), the transformation relations between an Aristotelian quantifier and its inner and outer negation, the symmetry of the two Aristotelian quantifier (that is, no and some), and some inference rules in classical propositional logic, and derives the remaining 23 valid syllogisms from the syllogism EIO-2, so as to realize the reduction between different valid categorical syllogisms

A revision of the Morgan Test of Logical Reasoning

Do we learn to reason logically just as we learn grammar or estimating distances? Philosophers usually say we do and have taught logic as a discipline for thousands of years. They are generally not content to teach about logic, or in the history of it; they generally state their intent is to teach logic for everyday thinking . Appendix VI is a personal communication to the author from a philosopher stating this clearly and comparing the skill of logical reasoning with the skill of using grammar. Or is logical reasoning a relatively inherent trait, as intelligence is generally assumed to be? We all have the subtle feeling that some are more logical than others and usually make this judgment without knowledge of who has been educated in logic. One group of psychologists went so far as to call a reasoning test a status-free test of intelligence apparently assuming not only that logic is innate but is also virtually the whole of innate mental ability

Syllogistics = monotonicity + symmetry + existential import

Syllogistics reduces to only two rules of inference: monotonicity and symmetry, plus a third if one wants to take existential import into account. We give an implementation that uses only the monotonicity and symmetry rules, with an addendum for the treatment of existential import. Soundness follows from the monotonicity properties and symmetry properties of the Aristotelean quantifiers, while completeness for syllogistic theory is proved by direct inspection of the valid syllogisms. Next, the valid syllogisms are decomposed in terms of the rules they involve. The implementation uses Haskell, and is given i

A BIBLIOGRAPHY: JOHN CORCORAN’S PUBLICATIONS ON ARISTOTLE 1972–2015

This presentation includes a complete bibliography of John Corcoran’s publications devoted at least in part to Aristotle’s logic. Sections I–IV list 20 articles, 43 abstracts, 3 books, and 10 reviews. It starts with two watershed articles published in 1972: the Philosophy & Phenomenological Research article that antedates Corcoran’s Aristotle’s studies and the Journal of Symbolic Logic article first reporting his original results; it ends with works published in 2015. A few of the items are annotated with endnotes connecting them with other work. In addition, Section V “Discussions” is a nearly complete secondary bibliography of works describing, interpreting, extending, improving, supporting, and criticizing Corcoran’s work: 8 items published in the 1970s, 22 in the 1980s, 39 in the 1990s, 56 in the 2000s, and 65 in the current decade. The secondary bibliography is annotated with endnotes: some simply quoting from the cited item, but several answering criticisms and identifying errors. As is evident from the Acknowledgements sections, all of Corcoran’s publications benefited from correspondence with other scholars, most notably Timothy Smiley, Michael Scanlan, and Kevin Tracy. All of Corcoran’s Greek translations were done in consultation with two or more classicists. Corcoran never published a sentence without discussing it with his colleagues and students. REQUEST: Please send errors, omissions, and suggestions. I am especially interested in citations made in non-English publications

Richard Whately\u27s Revitalization of Syllogistic Logic

This is an expanded version of the first chapter Richard Whately’s Revitalization of Syllogistic Logic in Aristotle’s Syllogism and the Creation of Modern Logic edited by Lukas M. Verburgt and Matteo Cosci (Bloomsbury, 2023). Drawing upon the author’s 1982 Ph. D. dissertation (https://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/faculty_work/230/ ) and more current scholarship, this essay traces the critical historical background to Whately’s work in more detail than could be done in the published version