STATEMENT FORMS AND

MATERIAL EQUIVALENCE
A. STATEMENT FORMS AND STATEMENTS
B. TAUTOLOGOUS, CONTRADICTORY AND CONTINGENT
STATEMENT FORMS
C. MATERIAL EQUIVALENCE
D. ARGUMENTS, CONDITIONAL STATEMENTS, AND
TAUTOLOGIES

A. STATEMENT FORMS AND

STATEMENTS

STATEMENT FORM- an
array of symbols exhibiting
the logical structure of a
statement; it contains
statement variables but no
statements.

 SUBSTITUTION INSTANCE OF A
STATEMENT FORM- any statement
that results from the consistent
substitution of statements for
statement variables in a statement
form.
SPECIFIC FORM OF STATEMENT- the
statement form from which the given
statement results when a different
simple statement is substituted.

B. TAUTOLOGOUS, CONTRADICTORY,
AND CONTINGENT STATEMENT FORMS
TAUTOLOGOUS STATEMENT
FORM- a statement form that has
only true substitution instances; a
tautology.

~p

pv
~p

T
F

T
T

T
T

 The statement Pedro was

incarcerated --symbolized by
(p)
The statement Either Pedro
was incarcerated or else he
wasnt
--symbolized
by (p v ~p)

 SELF- CONTRADICTORY
STATEMENT FORM
-- a statement form that has only false
substitution instances; a contradiction.

p
T

~p
F

p . ~p
F

 The statement Pedro was

incarcerated --symbolized
by (p)
The statement Either
Pedro was both incarcerated
and not incarcerated
--symbolized by (p . ~p)

 CONTINGENT STATEMENT
FORM--- a statement form that has
both true and false substitution
instances.

~q

T
T
F
F

T
F
T
F

F
T
T
T

 The statement Pedro was

incarcerated --symbolized by (p)
The statement Queenie gets
damages symbolized by (q)
The statement If Pedro was
incarcerated, then Queenie does not
get damages symbolized by (P
~q)

 Not all statement forms are so

obviously tautological or selfcontradictory or contingent as the
simple examples cited.
For example, the statement form
[(p
q)
p
p is not at all
obvious, though its truth table will
show it to be tautology. It even has a
special name,
Pierces law.

C. MATERIAL EQUIVALENCE
It is a truth functional relation
asserting that two statement
connected by the three- bar sign (
) have the same truth value.

Two statement that are

equivalent in truth value,
therefore, are materially
equivalent.

TRUTH
FUNCTION
AL
CONNECTI
VE

SYMBOL
(NAME OF
SYMBOL)

PROPOSITI
ON TYPE

NAMES OF
COMPONE
NTS OF
PROPOSITI
ONS

EXAMPLE

AND

.
(dot)

conjunction

conjuncts

Cass is
pretty and
Bianca sings
the blues.
C.B

OR

v
(wedge)

disjunction

disjuncts

Cass is
pretty or
Bianca sings
the blues.
CvB

conditional

antecedent,
consequent

IF. . . THEN
(horseshoe)

IF AND ONLY
IF

biconditiona
l

If Bianca
sings the
blues then
Lara gets
moody. B
L

components Lara gets

moody if

D. ARGUMENTS, CONDITIONAL
STATEMENTS, AND TAUTOLOGIES
An argument form is valid if, and
only if, its expression in the form of a
conditional statement (of which the
antecedent is the conjunction of the
premises of the given argument
form, and the consequent is the
conclusion of the given argument
form) is a tautology.

 For every invalid argument of the

truth-functional variety, however, the
corresponding conditional statement
will not be a tautology.
The statement that the conjunction
of its premises implies its conclusion
is (for an invalid argument) either
contingent or contradictory.