A compound claim is made up of other claims, but has to only be viewed as one claim.
For example:
Either we will go to the Spaghetti party or the Haunt at Great America.
*This is one claim, but is made up of two claims.
-1. We will go to the Spaghetti Party.
-2. We will go to the Haunt at Great America.
*The "or" links the two claims together to make it a compound.
The contradictory of a compound claim has the opposite truth-value in all possible circumstances. Sometimes called a "negation" of a claim.
For example:
Claim: She is a dancer.
Contradictory: She is not a dancer.
Claim: He will never finish his food.
Contradictory: He will finish his food.
(In this example, doesn't have "not" in it.)
A claim is conditional if it can be rewritten as an "if...then..." claim that has to have the same truth-value.
In "If A, then B," claim A is the antecedent, and claim B is the consequent. (in a rewritten conditional)
For example:
Claim: Buy me food and I'll come.
Conditional: If you buy me food then I'll come.
Antecedent: Buy me food (this is the antecedent because it follows "if")
Consequent: I'll come.
Contradictory of a conditional: If A, then B has contradictory A but not B.
For example:
Conditional: If I don't know how to cook, then I'll burn the food.
Contradictory: I don't know how to cook, but I didn't burn the food.
I really like how you related your examples to situations that we can relate to. This really helped me, and I'm sure helped others understand the concepts more throughly.
ReplyDeleteI was a little confused as to the exact definition of the concept- contradictory of a compound claim. After reading your examples and your explanation about it, it really helped me fully and clearly understand it.
I was getting conditional and contradictory confused with each other but not i completely understand the difference in the concepts.