Xjyuk

I have accepted an internship offer. Should I inform companies I have applied to that have not gotten back to me yet?

Can a pizza stone be fixed after soap has been used to clean it?

Could there exist a "locality" field?

What caused Windows ME's terrible reputation?

Why hasn't the U.S. government paid war reparations to any country it attacked?

Possible isometry groups of open manifolds

Spider-Man: Far From Home - Why do they take a detour to Dorset?

HackerRank: Electronics Shop

3D-Plot with an inequality condition for parameter values

Is it rude to tell recruiters I would only change jobs for a better salary?

Does optical correction give a more aesthetic look to the SBI logo?

Alternatives to using writing paper for writing practice

How long do Apple retain notifications to be pushed to iOS devices until they expire?

How are "soeben" and "eben" different from one another?

What is the German equivalent of 干物女 (dried fish woman)?

I quit, and boss offered me 3 month "grace period" where I could still come back

Nested-Loop-Join: How many comparisons and how many pages-accesses?

What are some symbols representing peasants/oppressed persons fighting back?

Relationship between GCD, LCM and the Riemann Zeta function

What are the arguments for California’s nonpartisan blanket primaries other than giving Democrats more power?

Could the crash sites of the Apollo 11 and 16 LMs be seen by the LRO?

Why do candidates not quit if they no longer have a realistic chance to win in the 2020 US presidents election

Can a continent naturally split into two distant parts within a week?

Getting fresh water in the middle of hypersaline lake in the Bronze Age

Can someone explain this logical statement?

What logical fallacy is made in this statement?What logical fallacy is this?Help understanding logical fallacies in this statmentClimate change statement - is there a logical fallacy here?Can someone give me a natural deduction proof for this argument?Why is this Statement correct: G implies ¬Contradiction?What logical fallacy or cognitive bias is in this statement?Is the sentence, 'God exists', a logical statement?What does this statement imply? (formal logic)Please what do we call this type of hypothetical statement?:

.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;

2

I have been trying to teach myself philosophical logic, but my mind is completely stuck. I cannot seem to understand the abstractions, which is unusual for me given that I have taken very advanced mathematics.

Taken from the book "A Short Introduction to Logic":

"Suppose we think of the relevant domain of objects as causes and effects, and write "x is caused by y" as xCy:

1). ∀x ∃y xCy
2).∃y ∀x xCy

Can someone rewrite this in plain English? I'm not sure what's happening here. Where do I plug in words like "and," "or," "true," "if," etc.? What does this sentence mean step by step?

I know that it is very simple, but I'm lost without the other logical symbols.

logic

share|improve this question

asked 9 hours ago

SermoSermo

43722 silver badges77 bronze badges

add a comment | 

2

I have been trying to teach myself philosophical logic, but my mind is completely stuck. I cannot seem to understand the abstractions, which is unusual for me given that I have taken very advanced mathematics.

Taken from the book "A Short Introduction to Logic":

"Suppose we think of the relevant domain of objects as causes and effects, and write "x is caused by y" as xCy:

1). ∀x ∃y xCy
2).∃y ∀x xCy

Can someone rewrite this in plain English? I'm not sure what's happening here. Where do I plug in words like "and," "or," "true," "if," etc.? What does this sentence mean step by step?

I know that it is very simple, but I'm lost without the other logical symbols.

logic

share|improve this question

asked 9 hours ago

SermoSermo

43722 silver badges77 bronze badges

add a comment | 

I have been trying to teach myself philosophical logic, but my mind is completely stuck. I cannot seem to understand the abstractions, which is unusual for me given that I have taken very advanced mathematics.

Taken from the book "A Short Introduction to Logic":

"Suppose we think of the relevant domain of objects as causes and effects, and write "x is caused by y" as xCy:

1). ∀x ∃y xCy
2).∃y ∀x xCy

Can someone rewrite this in plain English? I'm not sure what's happening here. Where do I plug in words like "and," "or," "true," "if," etc.? What does this sentence mean step by step?

I know that it is very simple, but I'm lost without the other logical symbols.

logic

share|improve this question

asked 9 hours ago

SermoSermo

43722 silver badges77 bronze badges

share|improve this question

asked 9 hours ago

SermoSermo

43722 silver badges77 bronze badges

share|improve this question

asked 9 hours ago

SermoSermo

43722 silver badges77 bronze badges

asked 9 hours ago

SermoSermo

43722 silver badges77 bronze badges

asked 9 hours ago

SermoSermo

43722 silver badges77 bronze badges

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

2

1). ∀x ∃y xCy 

Literally: for every x, there exists some y such that x is caused by y. This means that every object x has at least one object y that causes it.

2).∃y ∀x xCy

Literally: there exists some y such that every x is caused by y. This means that there is some object y that is the cause of every object x.

I'm not sure what your text is asking for here. Does it want you to explain these phrases in natural language? Does it want you to evaluate them? Does it want you to combine them somehow, or prove a result? Evaluation would lead you to true/false conditions; combining them would involve 'and,' 'or,' and other logical connectors; trying to prove some result from these premises would likely involve both. What does the text want?

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

Ted WrigleyTed Wrigley

26933 bronze badges

New contributor

Ted Wrigley is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Whoops, misread it. easy enough to fix, though...
  
  – Ted Wrigley
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

0

This is a formal description of causality.

The text specifies a "domain of discourse" or Universe (U).

U = The set of causes and effects

This isn't explicitly written but then the universe is basically divided into two sets of objects.

X = the set of causes
Y = the set of effects

Note: the difference in case is important.

x = an arbitrary element of X
y = an arbitrary element of Y

Then it defines a relationship between those sets.

C ≔ "causes"

In plain English, the statements mean that for any arbitrary cause, there is a corresponding effect and visa versa.

Conditionals or Boolean operators not required.

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 6 hours ago

user40358user40358

111 bronze badge

New contributor

user40358 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

add a comment | 

Your Answer

StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "265"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);

else
createEditor();

);

function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);



);

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);

Sign up using Google

Sign up using Facebook

Sign up using Email and Password

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fphilosophy.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f64552%2fcan-someone-explain-this-logical-statement%23new-answer', 'question_page');

);

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

2

1). ∀x ∃y xCy 

Literally: for every x, there exists some y such that x is caused by y. This means that every object x has at least one object y that causes it.

2).∃y ∀x xCy

Literally: there exists some y such that every x is caused by y. This means that there is some object y that is the cause of every object x.

I'm not sure what your text is asking for here. Does it want you to explain these phrases in natural language? Does it want you to evaluate them? Does it want you to combine them somehow, or prove a result? Evaluation would lead you to true/false conditions; combining them would involve 'and,' 'or,' and other logical connectors; trying to prove some result from these premises would likely involve both. What does the text want?

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

Ted WrigleyTed Wrigley

26933 bronze badges

New contributor

Ted Wrigley is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Whoops, misread it. easy enough to fix, though...
  
  – Ted Wrigley
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

2

1). ∀x ∃y xCy 

Literally: for every x, there exists some y such that x is caused by y. This means that every object x has at least one object y that causes it.

2).∃y ∀x xCy

Literally: there exists some y such that every x is caused by y. This means that there is some object y that is the cause of every object x.

I'm not sure what your text is asking for here. Does it want you to explain these phrases in natural language? Does it want you to evaluate them? Does it want you to combine them somehow, or prove a result? Evaluation would lead you to true/false conditions; combining them would involve 'and,' 'or,' and other logical connectors; trying to prove some result from these premises would likely involve both. What does the text want?

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

Ted WrigleyTed Wrigley

26933 bronze badges

New contributor

Ted Wrigley is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Whoops, misread it. easy enough to fix, though...
  
  – Ted Wrigley
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

1). ∀x ∃y xCy 

Literally: for every x, there exists some y such that x is caused by y. This means that every object x has at least one object y that causes it.

2).∃y ∀x xCy

Literally: there exists some y such that every x is caused by y. This means that there is some object y that is the cause of every object x.

I'm not sure what your text is asking for here. Does it want you to explain these phrases in natural language? Does it want you to evaluate them? Does it want you to combine them somehow, or prove a result? Evaluation would lead you to true/false conditions; combining them would involve 'and,' 'or,' and other logical connectors; trying to prove some result from these premises would likely involve both. What does the text want?

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

Ted WrigleyTed Wrigley

26933 bronze badges

New contributor

Ted Wrigley is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

1). ∀x ∃y xCy 

2).∃y ∀x xCy

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

Ted WrigleyTed Wrigley

26933 bronze badges

New contributor

Ted Wrigley is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

answered 8 hours ago

Ted WrigleyTed Wrigley

26933 bronze badges

New contributor

Ted Wrigley is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

answered 8 hours ago

Ted WrigleyTed Wrigley

26933 bronze badges

0

This is a formal description of causality.

The text specifies a "domain of discourse" or Universe (U).

U = The set of causes and effects

This isn't explicitly written but then the universe is basically divided into two sets of objects.

X = the set of causes
Y = the set of effects

Note: the difference in case is important.

x = an arbitrary element of X
y = an arbitrary element of Y

Then it defines a relationship between those sets.

C ≔ "causes"

In plain English, the statements mean that for any arbitrary cause, there is a corresponding effect and visa versa.

Conditionals or Boolean operators not required.

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 6 hours ago

user40358user40358

111 bronze badge

New contributor

user40358 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

add a comment | 

0

This is a formal description of causality.

The text specifies a "domain of discourse" or Universe (U).

U = The set of causes and effects

This isn't explicitly written but then the universe is basically divided into two sets of objects.

X = the set of causes
Y = the set of effects

Note: the difference in case is important.

x = an arbitrary element of X
y = an arbitrary element of Y

Then it defines a relationship between those sets.

C ≔ "causes"

In plain English, the statements mean that for any arbitrary cause, there is a corresponding effect and visa versa.

Conditionals or Boolean operators not required.

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 6 hours ago

user40358user40358

111 bronze badge

New contributor

user40358 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

add a comment | 

This is a formal description of causality.

The text specifies a "domain of discourse" or Universe (U).

U = The set of causes and effects

This isn't explicitly written but then the universe is basically divided into two sets of objects.

X = the set of causes
Y = the set of effects

Note: the difference in case is important.

x = an arbitrary element of X
y = an arbitrary element of Y

Then it defines a relationship between those sets.

C ≔ "causes"

In plain English, the statements mean that for any arbitrary cause, there is a corresponding effect and visa versa.

Conditionals or Boolean operators not required.

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 6 hours ago

user40358user40358

111 bronze badge

New contributor

user40358 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

U = The set of causes and effects

X = the set of causes
Y = the set of effects

x = an arbitrary element of X
y = an arbitrary element of Y

C ≔ "causes"

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 6 hours ago

user40358user40358

111 bronze badge

New contributor

user40358 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

answered 6 hours ago

user40358user40358

111 bronze badge

New contributor

user40358 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

answered 6 hours ago

user40358user40358

111 bronze badge