Logic is the study of correct reasoning. Formal logic aims to determine
the correctness of arguments based on their structure alone and often
uses a formal language to analyze them. Informal logic examines
arguments expressed in natural language and also takes their content and
context into account. Logic distinguishes between deductive, inductive,
and abductive arguments. Deductive arguments have the strongest form of
support: if their premises are true then their conclusion must also be
true, such as in the argument "today is Sunday; if today is Sunday then
I do not have to work today; therefore I do not have to work today".
Inductive arguments are generalizations, like inferring that all ravens
are black based on many individual observations. Abductive arguments are
inferences to the best explanation, for instance, when a doctor
concludes that a patient has a certain disease that explains the
symptoms they suffer. Arguments that fall short of the standards of
reasoning embody fallacies.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1943:
World War II: An unknown aircraft dropped four bombs on
Vatican City, which maintained neutrality during the war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_the_Vatican>
1995:
Aline Chrétien thwarted André Dallaire's attempt to
assassinate her husband, Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien, by
locking the bedroom door in 24 Sussex Drive, their official residence
in Ottawa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Sussex_Drive>
2003:
American serial killer Gary Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 counts
of first-degree murder.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Ridgway>
2013:
The Indian Space Research Organisation launched the Mars
Orbiter Mission, India's first interplanetary probe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Orbiter_Mission>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
praise to the skies:
(transitive, idiomatic) To praise or laud (someone or something)
excessively.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/praise_to_the_skies>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Science tells us how to heal and how to kill; it reduces the
death rate in retail and then kills us wholesale in war; but only wisdom
— desire coordinated in the light of all experience — can tell us
when to heal and when to kill. To observe processes and to construct
means is science; to criticize and coordinate ends is philosophy: and
because in these days our means and instruments have multiplied beyond
our interpretation and synthesis of ideals and ends, our life is full of
sound and fury, signifying nothing. For a fact is nothing except in
relation to desire; it is not complete except in relation to a purpose
and a whole. Science without philosophy, facts without perspective and
valuation, cannot save us from havoc and despair. Science gives us
knowledge, but only philosophy can give us wisdom.
--Will Durant
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Will_Durant>
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