IISER MOHALI

Abstract: We begin with a discussion of logic as a species capacity shared equally by all humans. Without such a capacity and a somewhat universal structure of logic, discussions and debates among humans would not be possible. But with such a structure we can construct valid and convincing arguments to reach opposite conclusions based on different sets of premises, but the inference is the same in both arguments. We display this with the 1950 High Court judgment in the famous Dorairajan case involving reservations. However, the exact nature of the universal structure of logic is open to debate and development. Then, under the broad conception of logic, we provide examples of paintings, poems, cooking, journalism, and so on, as displaying arguments and inferences. With examples we display the difference between valid and invalid arguments and that between sound and unsound arguments. We end with a discussion of different types of inferences: deduction, induction, abduction, model-based, and analogical.