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A Concise Introduction to Logic 13th

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Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
4.7 Translating Ordinary Language
Statements into Categorical Form 260
Exercise 4.7 267

5 Categorical Syllogisms 274


5.1 Standard Form, Mood, and Figure 274
Exercise 5.1 279

5.2 Venn Diagrams 282


Exercise 5.2 293

5.3 Rules and Fallacies 296


Exercise 5.3 302

5.4 Reducing the Number of Terms 305


Exercise 5.4 307

5.5 Ordinary Language Arguments 308


Exercise 5.5 311

5.6 Enthymemes 312


Exercise 5.6 314

5.7 Sorites 318


Exercise 5.7 321

6 Propositional Logic 327


6.1 Symbols and Translation 327
Exercise 6.1 337

6.2 Truth Functions 341


Exercise 6.2 351

6.3 Truth Tables for Propositions 354


Exercise 6.3 361

6.4 Truth Tables for Arguments 364


Exercise 6.4 367

6.5 Indirect Truth Tables 371


Exercise 6.5 379

6.6 Argument Forms and Fallacies 381


Exercise 6.6 393

CONTENTS vii
Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
7 Natural Deduction in Propositional Logic 403
7.1 Rules of Implication I 403
Exercise 7.1 411

7.2 Rules of Implication II 416


Exercise 7.2 422

7.3 Rules of Replacement I 426


Exercise 7.3 433

7.4 Rules of Replacement II 440


Exercise 7.4 445

7.5 Conditional Proof 453


Exercise 7.5 457

7.6 Indirect Proof 460


Exercise 7.6 463

7.7 Proving Logical Truths 466


Exercise 7.7 467

8 Predicate Logic 470


8.1 Symbols and Translation 470
Exercise 8.1 477

8.2 Using the Rules of Inference 480


Exercise 8.2 489

8.3 Quantifier Negation Rule 493


Exercise 8.3 496

8.4 Conditional and Indirect Proof 498


Exercise 8.4 502

8.5 Proving Invalidity 505


Exercise 8.5 510

8.6 Relational Predicates and Overlapping Quantifiers 512


Exercise 8.6 520

8.7 Identity 523


Exercise 8.7 532

viii CONTENTS

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
PA RT I I I INDUCTIVE LOGIC
9 Analogy and Legal and Moral Reasoning 540
9.1 Analogical Reasoning 540
9.2 Legal Reasoning 543
9.3 Moral Reasoning 547
Exercise 9 551

10 Causality and Mill’s Methods 560


10.1 “Cause” and Necessary and Sufficient Conditions 560
10.2 Mill’s Five Methods 562
10.3 Mill’s Methods and Science 572
Exercise 10 577

11 Probability 585
11.1 Theories of Probability 585
11.2 The Probability Calculus 589
Exercise 11 599

12 Statistical Reasoning 604


12.1 Evaluating Statistics 604
12.2 Samples 605
12.3 The Meaning of “Average” 609
12.4 Dispersion 611
12.5 Graphs and Pictograms 616
12.6 Percentages 619
Exercise 12 621

13 Hypothetical/Scientific Reasoning 627


13.1 The Hypothetical Method 627
13.2 Hypothetical Reasoning: Four Examples from Science 630
CONTENTS ix
Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
13.3 The Proof of Hypotheses 636
13.4 The Tentative Acceptance of Hypotheses 639
Exercise 13 641

14 Science and Superstition 646


14.1 Distinguishing Between Science and Superstition 646
14.2 Evidentiary Support 647
14.3 Objectivity 652
14.4 Integrity 657
14.5 Concluding Remarks 661
Exercise 14 664

Answers to Selected Exercises 676


Glossary/Index 720

x CONTENTS

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Preface

The most immediate benefit derived from the study of logic is the
skill needed to construct sound arguments of one’s own and to
evaluate the arguments of others. In accomplishing this goal, logic
instills a sensitivity for the formal component in language, a thor-
ough command of which is indispensable to clear, effective, and
meaningful communication. On a broader scale, by focusing at-
tention on the requirement for reasons or evidence to support our
views, logic provides a fundamental defense against the prejudiced
and uncivilized attitudes that threaten the foundations of our dem-
ocratic society. Finally, through its attention to inconsistency as a
Logic : The key to all learning fatal flaw in any theory or point of view, logic proves a useful de-
vice in disclosing ill-conceived policies in the political sphere and,
ultimately, in distinguishing the rational from the irrational, the sane from the insane. This
book is written with the aim of securing these benefits.

About A Concise Introduction to Logic


The new edition of A Concise Introduction to Logic maintains the text’s tradition of careful
sequencing, precision, elegance, and clarity, by retaining a number of signature features:
● Chapters are organized so that earlier sections provide the foundation for later ones.
Later sections can be skipped by instructors opting to do so.
● The main points are always presented up front so students cannot possibly
miss them.
● Relevant and up-to-date examples are used extensively.
● Key terms are introduced in boldface type and defined in the Glossary/Index.
● Central concepts are illustrated in graphic boxes.
● Numerous exercises, many drawn from real-life sources such as newspapers, text-
books, and magazines, are included to perfect student skills—the current edition
includes over 2,700 exercises.
● Biographical vignettes of prominent logicians are included to give logic a human face.

xi
Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
● Dialogue exercises illustrate the application of logical principles to real-life situations.
● Venn diagrams for syllogisms are presented in a novel and more effective way, using
color to identify the relevant areas.
● End-of-chapter summaries facilitate student review.
● The solution to every third exercise is provided in the Answer section, so students
can easily check their work.
● Important rules and tables are printed on the inside covers for ready access, and
they are also presented on a tear-out card.

New to This Edition


New to MindTap
Important to this revision is the introduction of several new features
in MindTap. MindTap is a personalized, fully online digital learning
platform that offers an interactive eBook, a tutorial program, and homework all in one
place. We have enhanced the resources in MindTap and added to them.
Revised Learning Path In response to user and reviewer feedback, we have modi-
fied the MindTap learning path. The Concise Introduction to Logic MindTap for this edi-
tion still includes the prized tools that contribute to this product’s popularity, including
● The interactive version of some of the textbook’s exercise sets
● ApliaTM
● Learning Logic tutorials
● Video lectures
In addition, the revised learning path incorporates improvements and new resources to
help guide students and instructors.
● Each chapter opens with stated Learning Objectives.
● The section folders now include the reading, with video lectures when available,
along with the interactive version of most of the text’s exercise sets, and an online
writing exercise—see the more detailed description of this new addition that follows.
● The Learning Logic tutorials and Aplia are now found at the chapter level, with all
their respective sections in a folder.
● The new Living Logic activity, the Chapter Review (the textbook’s Chapter Sum-
mary), and the Chapter Test (now available as an online gradable activity) round out
the new learning path’s offerings.
How Logical Are You? These short, real-life scenarios, which replace the Previews
of the prior edition, engage students creatively with the themes of the chapter. The
questions posed in these scenarios are answered online in MindTap.

xii PREFACE

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Annotated Answers We have added explanations to the exercise answers, detailing
why the answer is correct, for most sections of Chapter 1 (Sections 1.1–1.4) and Chap-
ter 3 (Sections 3.1–3.4).
Writing Exercises Any set of exercises that did not already include a writing activity
now does. These new writing activities require students to create a short example of a con-
cept presented in the section, such as an explanation, a deductive argument, or a dispute.
In performing this activity, students are further engaged and retention is reinforced.
Living Logic This integrative digital activity helps students apply their logic skills to
a current real-world problem: climate change. It offers exercises targeted to the content
of Chapters 1 through 7, bringing to life the practical and relevant nature of this content.
Chapter Tests These multiple-choice questions, offered as PDFs in the prior edition
of MindTap, are now available, at the end of each chapter, as gradable interactive quizzes.
Visualizing Inferences This new technique, introduced in Chapter 7 (Natural De-
duction in Propositional Logic) uses geometrical shapes in the place of “p” and “q” to
help students visually understand the rules of inference. The technique is introduced in
the textbook and expanded in MindTap. We have also added exercises that offer prac-
tice in creating instances of the rules of inference.
Well-Formed Formulas A more detailed account of this subject supplements the
account found in Chapter 6 of the textbook.

New Text Features


● A feature entitled “How Logical Are You?” replaces the prior edition “Preview” and oc-
curs at the beginning of every section of the textbook (except for Chapters 9–14, where
it occurs at the beginning of every chapter). These prompts are intended to get the stu-
dents thinking about the content of the pertinent section before they actually start read-
ing that material. The questions presented in these selections are answered in MindTap.
● Every exercise set now includes a writing component—an activity to engage the stu-
dent’s creativity. These usually involve creating arguments of various kinds, defini-
tions, fallacies, and symbolized expressions.
● “Why Study Logic?” has been added to the front material. This section aims to mo-
tivate the study of logic by emphasizing its importance across a variety of activities.
Among other things, it compares studying logic to going to the gym for your brain.
New Chapter Content
As you proceed through the textbook, you will encounter numerous improvements.
For example, many exercises have been rewritten and updated. A more detailed list of
the substantive changes follows:
Chapter 3
● Slippery slope has been expanded by noting that the fallacy is usually committed to
defend the status quo and by pointing to the importance of identifying the precise
causal link where the reasoning fails.

PREFACE xiii
Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Chapter 4
● New exercises have been added to Sections 4.1 and 4.2.
● A subsection entitled “Boole, Venn, and Existential Import” has been written to ad-
dress student questions about the Boolean standpoint, which makes no assumption
as to whether the things referred to actually exist. Students often ask about the util-
ity of a logic that deals with nonexisting things. This subsection also sketches the
history of the Boolean standpoint in the nineteenth century.
● The concept of vacuous falsity is introduced in Section 4.3.
● A note, added to Section 4.5, addresses the truth value of statements such as “All
unicorns are two-horned animals,” and “Some unicorns are one-horned animals.”
Chapter 6
● Truth tables are now introduced using the technique of writing the truth values of
the simple propositions to the left of the truth table and using those truth values to
generate the truth values of the compound propositions. The presentation of this
technique is followed by the abbreviated technique whereby truth values are entered
initially beneath the simple components of the compound propositions.
● New exercises for using truth tables to test arguments for validity have been added
to Section 6.4.
● Section 6.6 has been reorganized so that the valid argument forms are introduced in
the same order as the inference forms in Section 7.1. Also, the invalid forms (affirm-
ing the consequent and denying the antecedent) are assigned to a separate subsec-
tion to help prevent their being confused with the valid forms.
Chapter 7
● A new way of visualizing modus ponens and disjunctive syllogism, using squares and
circles, is introduced to aid students who learn best through visual imagery. This
technique is expanded in MindTap.
● In Section 7.3 a dialogue entitled “New Cradle” replaces “With This Ring.”
Chapter 10
● A simpler characterization of the joint method of agreement and difference is given
to ease students through the more complicated definition of this method.
Chapter 11
● A brief account is given of recent applications of Bayes’s theorem. These include the
attempt to use Bayes’s theorem to locate Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
Chapter 12
● A paragraph has been added to show how samples become biased in clinical trials
intended to disclose drug side effects.
● A brief explanation is given as to how pharmaceutical companies use tricks with
percentages to mislead customers.
xiv PREFACE

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Chapter 14
● An account is given explaining how large corporations undermine the integrity
of science by enlisting the services of university scientists to sway public opinion
regarding the safety of their products.

Note to the Student


Imagine that you are interviewing for a job. The person across the desk asks about your
strengths, and you reply that you are energetic, enthusiastic, and willing to work long
hours. Also, you are creative and innovative, and you have good leadership skills. Then the
interviewer asks about your weaknesses. You hadn’t anticipated this question, but after a
moment’s thought you reply that your reasoning skills have never been very good.

The interviewer quickly responds that this weakness could create big problems.
“Why is that?” you ask.
“Because reasoning skills are essential to good judgment. And without good judgment
your creativity will lead to projects that make no sense. Your leadership skills will
direct our other employees in circles. Your enthusiasm will undermine everything we have
accomplished up until now. And your working long hours will make things even worse.”
“But don’t you think there is some position in your company that is right for me?” you ask.
The interviewer thinks for a moment and then replies, “We have a competitor on the
other side of town. I hear they are hiring right now. Why don’t you apply with them?”
The point of this brief dialogue is that good reasoning skills are essential to doing any-
thing right. The business person uses reasoning skills in writing a report or preparing
a presentation; the scientist uses them in designing an experiment or clinical trial, the
department manager uses them in maximizing worker efficiency, the lawyer uses them
in composing an argument to a judge or jury. And that’s where logic comes in. The
chief purpose of logic is to develop good reasoning skills. In fact, logic is so important
that when the liberal arts program of studies was formulated fifteen hundred years ago,
logic was selected as one of the original seven liberal arts. Logic remains to this day a
central component of a college or university education.

From a more pragmatic angle, logic is important to earning a good score on any of
the several tests required for admission to graduate professional schools—the LSAT,
GMAT, MCAT, GRE, and so on. Obviously, the designers of these tests recognize that
the ability to reason logically is a prerequisite to success in these fields. Also, logic is a
useful tool in relieving what has come to be called math anxiety. For whatever reason,
countless students today are terrified of any form of reasoning that involves abstract
symbols. If you happen to be one of these students, you should find it relatively easy to
master the use of logical symbols, and your newly found comfort with these symbols
will carry over into the other, more difficult fields.

In addition to the existing and new features described in the “New to This Edition”
section of this preface, MindTap also includes the following supplements. Critical

PREFACE xv
Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Thinking and Writing offers practice in writing arguments about real-life topics; Truth
Trees presents a standard introduction to the method of truth trees, which can be used
as a supplement or alternative to the truth-table method; and Logic and Graduate-
Level Admission Tests shows how the principles learned in studying logic can be used
to answer questions on the LSAT, GMAT, MCAT, and GRE. Finally, Existential Import
traces the history of existential import through the logic of Aristotle and George Boole.

Among the MindTap offerings that I would especially urge you to investigate is Learning
Logic. This interactive tutorial program teaches the basics of the entire course in a very
user-friendly way. It tracks the textbook chapter by chapter, but your computer must be
equipped with speakers or headphones, because the audio component is essential.

Note to the Instructor


The image on the front cover is intended to convey the message that logic is the key to
all learning. Keys open doors. Logic is the key that opens the door to reasoned discourse
and dialogue, unlocking an important opportunity for learning. Through logic, students
learn to support their views with reasons and to open their minds to the reasons of oth-
ers. Logic creates a common foundation upon which individuals who hold opposing
points of view can learn from each other. What might otherwise devolve into a shouting
match of conflicting opinions becomes a venue for the rational exchange of ideas.

To promote the achievement of this goal, this new edition features selections entitled
“How Logical Are You?” at the beginning of chapter sections, that are designed to get
students thinking, activate prior learning, and induce the students to read the section
that follows. The instructor can also use these selections as springboards for in-class
lectures. While the inclusion of these selections is probably the most visible change in
the new edition, as you proceed through the book you will encounter numerous less-
visible improvements. Many of them are listed previously in “New Chapter Content,”
and a complete list is given in the Instructor’s Manual.

The online resource, MindTap, continues to be a central component of this new


edition. One of the more noteworthy offerings on MindTap is Learning Logic. This
tutorial program teaches the fundamentals of the whole course, and it is especially
helpful for students who have difficulty mastering logical principles directly from the
textbook or from classroom lectures alone. The program is multimedia, which means
that students learn not only by seeing but also by hearing. In addition, it incorporates
easy-to-use forward and reverse buttons, so students who have failed to understand
something the first time can easily go back to hear the lesson repeated. Learning Logic
contains over two thousand practice problems not contained in the textbook, and
students get immediate feedback for correct and incorrect answers.

Another great product available on MindTap is Aplia, an online homework program


that improves student comprehension by increasing effort and engagement. Students
get immediate feedback on their work—not only what they got right or wrong—but
why; and they can choose to see another set of related problems if they want further

xvi PREFACE

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
practice. Aplia’s simple-to-use course management interface allows instructors to post
announcements, host student discussions, e-mail students, and manage the grade
book. Personalized help is available from a knowledgeable and friendly support team.
To learn more, ask your Cengage Learning sales representative for a demonstration, or
view a specific demonstration for this book at www.aplia.com.

Also note that the Instructor’s Companion Website contains the Instructor’s Manual
and the Test Bank. The Instructor’s Manual includes answers to all the book’s exer-
cises and a complete list of the improvements introduced in this edition. The 600-page
author-generated Test Bank includes numerous tests for each chapter in the book, and
most of them are in easily gradable multiple-choice format.

This thirteenth edition marks a break with its predecessors in that it has a coauthor, Lori
Watson. One of Professor Watson’s contributions has been to ensure that the new edition
engages the interests of today’s students. When we began our collaboration we split up the
work so that Professor Watson would focus mainly on the online material, while Profes-
sor Hurley would revise the hard-copy book. But as work progressed, it turned out that
each of us contributed to both areas. For example, Watson wrote the piece on the value
of studying logic following this preface, and she contributed to many of the new exercises
and the “How Logical Are You?” selections, while Hurley contributed to some of the on-
line annotated answers to the exercises and the Living Logic activity.

Type of Course
Informal logic
Traditional course, critical- Course emphasizing
logic course reasoning course modern formal logic
Recommended Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Chapter 1
material Chapter 3 Chapter 2 Sections 4.1–4.3
Chapter 4 Chapter 3 Section 4.7
Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Sections 6.1–6.5
Chapter 6 Sections 5.1–5.3 Chapter 7
Sections 7.1–7.4 Sections 5.5–5.6 Chapter 8
Sections 6.1–6.4 Truth Trees supplement
Section 6.6
Chapter 9
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Critical Thinking and
Writing supplement

Optional Chapter 2 Section 5.4 Chapter 3


material Sections 7.5–7.7 Section 5.7 Sections 4.4–4.6
Chapters 9–14 Section 6.5 Sections 5.1–5.2
Chapter 10 Section 5.7
Chapter 11 Section 6.6

PREFACE xvii
Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Let us now turn to alternate ways of approaching the textbook. In general, the material
in each chapter is arranged so that certain later sections can be skipped without affecting
subsequent chapters. For example, those wishing a brief treatment of natural deduction in
both propositional and predicate logic may want to skip the last three sections of Chapter
7 and the last four (or even five) sections of Chapter 8. Chapter 2 can be skipped alto-
gether, although some may want to cover the first section of that chapter as an introduc-
tion to Chapter 3. Finally, Chapters 9 through 14 depend only slightly on earlier chapters,
so these can be treated in any order one chooses. However, Chapter 14 does depend in
part on Chapter 13.

Digital Options
A Concise Introduction to Logic is available in multiple formats, including as a printed
textbook that can be bought alone [ISBN: 9781305958098], and it can be combined
with digital solutions in a variety of ways, including the following:
1. MindTap (alone) [ISBN: 9781305959644]. Available with the interactive eBook (MindTap
Reader), this option includes Learning Logic (the tutorial), Aplia quizzing assignments, videos (covering
difficult-to-master topics), chapter learning path activities, quizzing, and appendices. Available only at
www.cengagebrain.com, this option can be a cost-saving choice for students.

2. Aplia (alone) [ISBN: 9781305959712]. Available with the interactive eBook (MindTap
Reader), this option includes everything in Option 2 except the printed textbook. Available only at
www.cengagebrain.com, this option can be a cost-saving choice for students.

Contact your personal Learning Consultant, http://www.cengage.com/repfinder/, for


more information about all available options, pricing, and assistance in selecting the
best solutions for your students and your course.

Acknowledgments
For their reviews and suggestions leading to this thirteenth edition I want to thank the
following:
Karl Aho, Baylor University; Benjamin Arah, Bowie State University; Peter Barry, Saginaw Valley
State University; Jeff Broome, Arapahoe Community College; Louis Colombo, Bethune-Cookman
University; Rosibel Cruz, Harold Washington College; Benjamin Easton, Azusa Pacific University;
Samantha Emswiler, John Tyler Community College; William Ferraiolo, San Joaquin Delta College;
Albert Filice, Mesa Community College; Paul Gass, Coppin State University; Dimitria Gatzia,
University of Akron Wayne College; Douglas Hill, Saddleback College and Golden West College;
Ron Jackson, Clayton State University; Stephen Leach, University of Texas–Pan American; Chris
Lorkowski, Kent State University–Trumbull Campus; Leemon McHenry, California State University
Northridge; Daniel Metz, Metropolitan State College of Denver (Program chair at CCCOnline);
Mike Monge, Orange Coast College; Tim O’Neill, Rochester Community and Technical College;
Christopher Pallotti, Los Angeles Valley College/CSUN; Sean Stidd, Wayne State University; Corine
Sutherland, Cerritos College; Catherine S. Sutton,Virginia Commonwealth University; Michael Thune,
Joliet Junior College; Dennis Weiss, York College of Pennsylvania; Elaine Yoshikawa, Arizona State
University; Xiaoyu Zhu, Antelope Valley College.

xviii PREFACE

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Of course any errors or omissions that may remain are the result of my own oversight.
Those who have contributed reviews and suggestions leading to the twelve previous
editions, and to whom I express my continued thanks, are the following:
James T. Anderson, University of San Diego; Carol Anthony,Villanova University; Joseph Asike, Howard
University; Harriet E. Baber, University of San Diego; Kent Baldner, Western Michigan University;
James Baley, Mary Washington College; Jerome Balmuth, Colgate University; Victor Balowitz, State
University of New York, College at Buffalo; Ida Baltikauskas, Century College; Gary Baran, Los
Angeles City College; Robert Barnard, University of Mississippi; Peter Barry, Saginaw Valley State
University; Gregory Bassham, Kings College; Thora Bayer, Xavier University of Louisiana; David
Behan, Agnes Scott College; John Bender, Ohio University, Athens; James O. Bennett, University of
Tennessee, Knoxville; Victoria Berdon, IUPU Columbus; Robert Berman, Xavier University of
Louisana; Kevin Berry, Ohio University; Joseph Bessie, Normandale Community College; John R.
Bosworth, Oklahoma State University; Andrew Botterell, University of Toronto; Jeff Broome,
Arapahoe Community College; Tom Browder, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Harold Brown,
Northern Illinois University; Kevin Browne, Indiana University Southeast; Ken Buckman, University of
Texas, Pan American; Robert Burch, Texas A&M University; Keith Burgess-Jackson, University of Texas,
Arlington; Michael Byron, Kent State University; Scott Calef, Ohio Wesleyan University; Gabriel
Camacho, El Paso Community College; James Campbell, University of Toledo; Joseph Keim Campbell,
Washington State University; Loren Cannon, Humboldt State University; Charles Carr, Arkansas
State University; William Carroll, Coppin State University; Jennifer Caseldine-Bracht, IUPU Fort
Wayne; John Casey, Northern Illinois University; Robert Greg Cavin, Cypress College; Ping-Tung
Chang, University of Alaska; Prakash Chenjeri, Southern Oregon University; Drew Christie, University
of New Hampshire; Timothy Christion, University of North Texas; Ralph W. Clarke, West Virginia
University; David Clowney, Rowan University; Darryl Cohen, Mesa Community College; Michael
Cole, College of William and Mary; Michael Coledu, Reedley College; Louis Colombo, Bethune-
Cookman University; Michael J. Colson, Merced College;William F. Cooper, Baylor University;William
Cornwell, Salem State College; Victor Cosculluela, Polk Community College; Mike Coste, Front
Range Community College; Ronald R. Cox, San Antonio College; Houston A. Craighead, Winthrop
University; Donald Cress, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb; Jack Crumley, University of San Diego;
Drew Dalton, Florida Southern College; Linda Damico, Kennesaw State University; Ray Darr,
Southern Illinois University; William J. DeAngelis, Northeastern University; Joseph DeMarco,
Cleveland State University; Paul DeVries, Wheaton College; Jill Dieterle, Eastern Michigan University;
Mary Domski, University of New Mexico; Beverly R. Doss and Richard W. Doss, Orange Coast
College; Paul Draper, Purdue University; William A. Drumin, King’s College, Pennsylvania; Clinton
Dunagan, Saint Philips College; Jeffrey Easlick, Saginaw Valley State University; Paul Eckstein, Bergen
Community College; Anne M. Edwards, Austin Peay State University; Michael Epperson, California
State University, Sacramento; Lenore Erickson, Cuesta College; Cassandra Evans, San Diego City
College; Frank Fair, Sam Houston State University; Evan Fales, University of Iowa; Thompson Faller,
University of Portland; William Ferraiolo, San Joaquin Delta College; Albert Filice, Mesa Community
College; Lewis S. Ford, Old Dominion University; Gary Foulk, Indiana State University, Terre Haute;
Timothy C. Fout, University of Louisville; LeAnn Fowler, Slippery Rock University; Craig Fox,
California University of Pennsylvania; Thomas H. Franks, Eastern Michigan University; Bernard D.
Freydberg, Slippery Rock University; Thomas J. Frost, Biola University/Long Beach City College; Dick
Gaffney, Siena College; George Gale, University of Missouri–Kansas City; Pieranna Garavaso,
University of Minnesota at Morris; Paul Gass, Coppin State University; Dimitria Gatzia,The University
of Akron Wayne College; Joseph Georges, El Camino College; Kevin Gibson, University of Colorado;

PREFACE xix
Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
James Granitto, Santiago Canyon College; Victor Grassian, Los Angeles Harbor College; Catherine
Green, Rockhurst University; James Greene, Northern Michigan University; Harold Greenstein,
SUNY Brockport; J. Randall Groves, Ferris State University; Shahrokh Haghighi, California State
University; Alexander W. Hall, Clayton State University; Dean Hamden, Montclair State University;
Courtney Hammond, Cuyamaca College; Ken Hanly, Brandon University; Anthony Hanson, West
Valley College; Merle Harton, Edward Waters College; Larry Hauser, Alma College; Deborah Heikes,
University of Alabama in Huntsville; Ryan Hickerson, Western Oregon University; Ronald Hill,
University of San Diego; Lawrence Hinman, University of San Diego; Lynn Holt, Mississippi State
University; Jeremy Hovda, Minneapolis Community & Technical College; John B. Howell, III,
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; R. I. G. Hughes, University of South Carolina, Columbia;
Peter Hutcheson, Texas State University; Debby Hutchins, Gonzaga University; William H. Hyde,
Golden West College; Ron Jackson, Clayton State University; William Jamison, University of Alaska
Anchorage; Sandra Johanson, Green River Community College; Gary Jones, University of San Diego;
Richard A. Jones, Howard University; Russel Jones, University of Oklahoma; Glenn C. Joy, Texas State
University, San Marcos; Olin Joynton, North Harris County College; Grant Julin, St. Francis University;
Patrick Kenny, Onondaga Community College; Glen Kessler, University of Virginia; Charles F. Kielkopf,
Ohio State University; Moya Kinchla, Bakersfield College; Kristin Klamm-Doneen, Anoka Ramsey
Community College; Bernard W. Kobes, Arizona State University; Keith W. Krasemann, College of
DuPage; Richard La Croix, State University College at Buffalo; Sandra LaFave, West Valley College,
Saratoga, California; William Lawhead, University of Mississippi; Stephen Leach, UTPA; Richard Lee,
University of Arkansas; Lory Lemke, University of Minnesota, Morris; Robert Levis, Pasadena City
College; Chenyang Li, Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois; Chris M. Lorkowski, Kent State
University; Keane Lundt, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts; Ardon Lyon, City University of
London; Scott MacDonald, University of Iowa; Ian MacKinnon, The University of Akron; Krishna
Mallick, Salem State College; Thomas Manig, University of Missouri–Columbia; James Manns,
University of Kentucky; Dalman Mayer, Bellevue Community College; Larry D. Mayhew, Western
Kentucky University; Leemon McHenry, California State University Northridge; Robert McKay,
Norwich University; Rick McKita, Colorado State University; Phillip McReynolds, Pennsylvania State
University; Erik Meade, Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville; Noel Merino, Humboldt State
University; Kenneth R. Merrill, University of Oklahoma; Daniel Metz, Metropolitan State College of
Denver; Thomas Michaud, Wheeling Jesuit College; Alexander Miller, Piedmont Technical College;
Dolores Miller, University of Missouri–Kansas City; George D. Miller, DePaul University; Richard
Miller, East Carolina University; Frederick Mills, Bowie State University; Jeff Mitchell, Arkansas Tech
University; John Mize, Long Beach City College; Allyson Mount, Keene State College; Seyed Mousavian,
University of Alberta; Dwayne Mulder, California State University, Fresno; John D. Mullen, Dowling
College; Madeline Muntersbjorn, University of Toledo; Henry Nardone, Kings College; Nathaniel
Nicol, Washington State University; Theresa Norman, South Texas Community College; David
O’Connor, Seton Hall University; Len Olsen, Georgia Southern University; Tim O’Neill, Rochester
Community and Technical College; Elane O’Rourke, Moorpark College; Brendan O’Sullivan, Rhodes
College; Stephen Pacheco, University of San Diego; Joseph Pak, Los Angeles City College; Christopher
Pallotti, Los Angeles Valley College/CSUN; Christopher Pearson, Southern Illinois University
Edwardsville; Rodney Peffer, University of San Diego; Linda Peterson, University of San Diego; Robert
G. Pielke, El Camino College; Cassandra Pinnick, Western Kentucky University; Nelson Pole,
Cleveland State University; Norman Prigge, Bakersfield State University; Gray Prince, West Los
Angeles College; R. Puligandla, University of Toledo; T. R. Quigley, Oakland University; Nani Rankin,
Indiana University at Kokomo; Robert Redmon, Virginia Commonwealth University; Bruce
Reichenbach, Augsburg College; Herminia Reyes, San Diego State University; Fernando Rincon-Tellez,

xx PREFACE

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Piedmont Technical College; David Ring, Southern Methodist University; Tony Roark, Boise State
University; Matthew Roberts, Patrick Henry College; Michael Rooney, Pasadena City College; Phyllis
Rooney, Oakland University; Beth Rosdatter, University of Kentucky; Michelle M. Rotert, Rock Valley
College; Paul A. Roth, University of Missouri–Saint Louis; Daniel Rothbart, George Mason University;
Robert Rupert, University of Colorado, Boulder; Sam Russo, El Camino College; Frank Ryan, Kent
State University; Eric Saidel, George Washington University; Kelly Salsbery, Stephen F. Austin State
University; Paul Santelli, Siena College; Stephen Satris, Clemson University; Philip Schneider, George
Mason University; James D. Schumaker, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Stephanie Semler,
Radford University; Pat Sewell, University of North Texas; Elizabeth Shadish, El Camino College;
Joseph G. Shay, Boston College; Candice Shelby, University of Colorado Denver; Janet Simpson,
Suffolk County Community College; Robert Skipper, St. Mary’s University; Aeon Skoble, Bridgewater
State College; Matthew Slater, Bucknell University; Kent Slinker, Pima Community College; Dennis L.
Slivinski, California State University, Channel Islands; Arnold Smith, Youngstown State University;
John-Christian Smith, Youngstown State University; Joshua Smith, Central Michigan University; Paula
Smithka, University of Southern Mississippi; Eric W. Snider, University of Toledo; Bob Snyder,
Humboldt University; Joseph Snyder, Anne Arundel Community College; Lynne Spellman, University
of Arkansas; David Stern, University of Iowa; James Stuart, Bowling Green State University; Paul
Studtmann, Davidson College; Krys Sulewski, Edmonds Community College; John Sullins, Sonoma
State University; Weimin Sun, California State University, Northridge; Corine Sutherland, Cerritos
College; Robert Sutton, Cape Fear Community College; John Sweigart, James Madison University;
Clarendon Swift, Moorpark College; Wayne Swindall, California Baptist College; Mojgan Taheri,
California State University, Northridge; Brian Tapia, Foothill College; Bangs Tapscott, University of
Utah; J. Ramon Tello, Shasta College; Mark Thames, El Centro College; Jan Thomas, University of
Arkansas at Little Rock; Phil Thompson, Eastern Illinois University; Michael Thune, Joliet Junior
College; Richard Tieszen, San Jose State University; Larry Udell, West Chester University; Ted Ulrich,
Purdue University; Robert Urekew, University of Louisville; William Uzgalis, Oregon State University;
William Vanderburgh, Wichita State University; Michael Ventimiglia, Sacred Heart University; Susan
Vineberg, Wayne State University; Mark Vopat, Youngstown State University; Thomas H. Warren,
Solano College; Andrew J. Waskey, Dalton State University; Roy Weatherford, University of South
Florida; Chris Weigand, Our Lady of the Lake University; David Weinburger, Stockton State College;
Paul Weirich, University of Missouri–Columbia; David Weise, Gonzaga University; Dennis Weiss, York
College of Pennsylvania; Robert Wengert, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign; Shannon
Grace Werre, Edmonds Community College; Gerald Joseph Williams, Seton Hall University; Derrick
Willis, Temple College; Frank Wilson, Bucknell University; W. Kent Wilson, University of Illinois,
Chicago; Katherine D.Witzig, Southwestern Illinois College; Sandra Woien, Mesa Community College;
Stephen Wykstra, Calvin College; Julie Yoo, California State University, Northridge; Marie Zaccaria,
Georgia Perimeter College; Jeffrey Zents, University of Texas; Xiaoyu Zhu, Antelope Valley College.

Finally, it has been a pleasure working with philosophy editor Debra Matteson, product
director Paul Banks, content developer Florence Kilgo, production supervisor Greg Hubit,
copy editor Marne Evans, and proofreader Debra Nichols. Most of all, I want to thank my
wife, Linda Peterson, for her countless suggestions and support.

PREFACE xxi
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Why Study Logic?

Logic can be a challenging subject for beginners. Much like learning a new language,
it takes patience and hard work to master the skills necessary to truly excel at logic.
Given that challenging work can sometimes prove frustrating, students often wonder
why logic is a required course for their major, or what the real value of learning logic
truly is. This latter concern is often expressed as: How does logic help me in the “real”
world? Given that students raise this question over and over, it’s worthwhile to provide
an answer right at the beginning of this textbook.

On the first day of any logic class, we ask our students if they regularly go to the gym.
The majority say that they do. We then ask them what they do at the gym; many reply
that they walk or run on a treadmill and that they lift weights. We ask them “why do
you do this?” After all, they are not likely to encounter a treadmill in “real” life or to
bench press weights in any other than a gym setting. As the dialogue continues, students
eventually reveal that the reason they do these specific activities in the gym is because by
doing so they build or maintain the muscles they need for other activities they enjoy do-
ing, such as, surfing, hiking, biking, skateboarding, or just going for a walk on the beach.

We tell them that doing logic is, in many ways, like going to the gym for your brain.
While you may never be called upon to do a formal logic proof in the context of your
everyday activities, learning how to construct such a proof hones the skills needed for
those routine activities. If asked what distinguishes human beings from the rest of the
animal kingdom, one common answer is that humans have the ability to reason in a
particular way. Learning the various techniques of logic improves and perfects that
very reasoning ability that is so essential to our being human.

Moreover, recognizing that logic is primarily concerned with distinguishing good rea-
soning from bad reasoning may lessen some of the anxiety you have with learning this
new material. It should soon become clear that you already engage in the kind of rea-
soning that you will learn in this textbook all the time. Studying logic will just make
explicit the rules of inference (reasoning) that are already a part of your everyday life.

For example, consider the kinds of inferences you made today just to arrive at class on
time: Last night, you may have set your alarm clock to wake you up in the morning. You
may have reasoned, “If I want to arrive at class on time, I need to get up by 8:00 a.m. I do
want to arrive at class on time, so I will set my alarm for 8:00 a.m.” That is a basic form

xxii
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of reasoning that logicians call modus ponens. We will study this particular rule of infer-
ence and many others in later chapters of the book. While calling it modus ponens and
representing it symbolically may seem intimidating at first, remember that you already
know and understand how to make this inference and you do it all the time.

To the point, if you didn’t understand this rule already or couldn’t draw the correct
conclusion, you would likely not be alive. That is, you would have walked off a cliff
or strolled in front of a speeding car or succumbed to some other tragedy. But, you
stop walking when you get to the edge of a cliff, you pause at a red light and look both
ways before crossing the street, and you do many other such things because you real-
ize the importance of making inferences that are necessary to preserve your life. You
are “doing logic”!

Whatever your college major or career plans, a strong foundation in making good
inferences (doing logic) will improve your performance. If you are interested in sci-
ence—designing an experiment, testing hypotheses, drawing warranted conclusions
from the evidence, all of these involve making basic logical inferences. If you are in-
terested in business, economics, or finance, making sound financial decisions requires
knowing how to make correct inferences. If you are interested in marketing, you will
do well to understand the kinds of tactics that convince people to purchase the prod-
ucts you are trying to promote. Sometimes this will involve asking them to make good
inferences; for example, if you are marketing products or medications that claim to
improve their lives.

However, sometimes marketing involves appealing to the emotions of consumers or to


their vanity, or convincing the potential buyer that your product is necessary in some
way. While such appeals are not grounded in logic, they reflect common mistakes of
reasoning we call “fallacies.” Chapter 3 of the textbook will introduce many of these
common mistakes of reasoning. If you are a marketer you may want to draw on such
appeals, for they often work! If you are a consumer, you may hope to arm yourself
against such appeals so you aren’t taken in by advertising claims that lead you to buy
products you don’t need. Either way, you are using logic.

If you are interested in computer science, you will quickly realize how necessary logic is
to computer programing. In fact, the first person to invent a computer was a logician and
mathematician! All the technology we have come to rely on as a part of our daily lives—
our mobile phones, our iPads, our computers, and so on—are made possible by logic.

If you are interested in the humanities, philosophy, literature, the arts, or history, you too
rely on logic as a fundamental part of your engagement with these subjects. There is a
reason that logic is taught in philosophy departments, and that is because philosophers
make and evaluate arguments across a wide range of subjects, including what gives value
and meaning to life, whether it is rational to believe in a God, and what counts as having
knowledge as opposed to mere belief or opinion on these and other topics. If you study
literature, engaging with a text critically means evaluating its coherence, its development
of characters and their motivations, and many other things, almost all of which involve

W H Y S T U DY L O G I C ? xxiii
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logic. In short, logic teaches and improves the kinds of knowledge and basic skills that
are relevant to almost everything you do or want to study.

Finally, it’s worth saying that logic can also be fun! Undertaking any new form of study
can, of course, prove frustrating and challenging at times, but with patience and hard
work the material gets easier and clearer. We think you will find that mastering some of
these skills is rewarding in itself, and once you become good at it, you will see just how
much fun it can be to identify a fallacy, point out someone else’s poor argument, and
even construct a proof.

xxiv WHY STUDY LOGIC?

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1 Basic Concepts
1.1 Arguments, Premises, and Conclusions
1.2 Recognizing Arguments
1.3 Deduction and Induction
1.4 Validity, Truth, Soundness, Strength, Cogency
1.5 Argument Forms: Proving Invalidity
1.6 Extended Arguments

1.1 Arguments, Premises,


and Conclusions
HOW LOGICAL ARE YOU? After a momentary absence, you return to your table in the library
only to find your smartphone is missing. It was there just minutes earlier. You suspect the student
sitting next to you took it. After all, she has a guilty look. Also, there is a bulge in her backpack
about the size of your phone, and one of the pouches has a loose strap. Then you hear a “ring” come
from the backpack—and it’s the same ringtone that you use on your phone. Which of these pieces of
evidence best supports your suspicion?
Find the answer on MindTap.

Logic may be defined as the organized body of knowledge, or science, that evalu-
ates arguments. All of us encounter arguments in our day-to-day experience. We
read them in books and newspapers, hear them on television, and formulate them
when communicating with friends and associates. The aim of logic is to develop a
system of methods and principles that we may use as criteria for evaluating the ar-
guments of others and as guides in constructing arguments of our own. Among the
benefits to be expected from the study of logic is an increase in confidence that we
are making sense when we criticize the arguments of others and when we advance
arguments of our own.

Read, study, reflect, and prepare for exams online, anytime, anywhere.

1
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An argument, in its simplest form, is a group of statements, one or more of which
1 (the premises) are claimed to provide support for, or reasons to believe, one of the others
(the conclusion). Every argument may be placed in either of two basic groups: those in
which the premises really do support the conclusion and those in which they do not,
even though they are claimed to. The former are said to be good arguments (at least to
that extent), the latter bad arguments. The purpose of logic, as the science that evaluates
arguments, is thus to develop methods and techniques that allow us to distinguish good
arguments from bad.
As is apparent from the given definition, the term argument has a very specific
meaning in logic. It does not mean, for example, a mere verbal fight, as one might
have with one’s parent, spouse, or friend. Let us examine the features of this definition
in greater detail. First of all, an argument is a group of statements. A statement is a
sentence that is either true or false—in other words, typically a declarative sentence
or a sentence component that could stand as a declarative sentence. The following
sentences are statements:
Chocolate truffles are loaded with calories.
Melatonin helps relieve jet lag.
Political candidates always tell the complete truth.
No wives ever cheat on their husbands.
Tiger Woods plays golf and Maria Sharapova plays tennis.
The first two statements are true, the second two false. The last one expresses two state-
ments, both of which are true. Truth and falsity are called the two possible truth values
of a statement. Thus, the truth value of the first two statements is true, the truth value
of the second two is false, and the truth value of the last statement, as well as that of its
components, is true.
Unlike statements, many sentences cannot be said to be either true or false. Ques-
tions, proposals, suggestions, commands, and exclamations usually cannot, and so are
not usually classified as statements. The following sentences are not statements:
Where is Khartoum? (question)
Let’s go to a movie tonight. (proposal)
I suggest you get contact lenses. (suggestion)
Turn off the TV right now. (command)
Fantastic! (exclamation)
The statements that make up an argument are divided into one or more premises
and exactly one conclusion. The premises are the statements that set forth the reasons
or evidence, and the conclusion is the statement that the evidence is claimed to support
or imply. In other words, the conclusion is the statement that is claimed to follow from
the premises. Here is an example of an argument:
All film stars are celebrities.
Halle Berry is a film star.
Therefore, Halle Berry is a celebrity.
The first two statements are the premises; the third is the conclusion. (The claim that the
premises support or imply the conclusion is indicated by the word “therefore.”) In this

2 CHAPTER 1 BASIC CONCEPTS

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argument the premises really do support the conclusion, and so the argument is a good
one. But consider this argument: 1
Some film stars are men.
Cameron Diaz is a film star.
Therefore, Cameron Diaz is a man.
In this argument the premises do not support the conclusion, even though they are
claimed to, and so the argument is not a good one.
One of the most important tasks in the analysis of arguments is being able to distin-
guish premises from conclusions. If what is thought to be a conclusion is really a prem-
ise, and vice versa, the subsequent analysis cannot possibly be correct. Many arguments
contain indicator words that provide clues in identifying premises and conclusion. Some
typical conclusion indicators are
therefore accordingly entails that
wherefore we may conclude hence
thus it must be that it follows that
consequently for this reason implies that
we may infer so as a result
Whenever a statement follows one of these indicators, it can usually be identified as
the conclusion. By process of elimination the other statements in the argument are the
premises. Example:
Tortured prisoners will say anything just to relieve the pain. Consequently, torture is not
a reliable method of interrogation.
The conclusion of this argument is “Torture is not a reliable method of interrogation,”
and the premise is “Tortured prisoners will say anything just to relieve the pain.”

Premises Claimed
evidence

What is claimed to follow


Conclusion from the evidence

If an argument does not contain a conclusion indicator, it may contain a premise


indicator. Some typical premise indicators are
since in that seeing that
as indicated by may be inferred from for the reason that
because as inasmuch as
for given that owing to

SECTION 1.1 ARGUMENTS, PREMISES, AND CONCLUSIONS 3


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Any statement following one of these indicators can usually be identified as a premise.
1 Example:
Expectant mothers should never use recreational drugs, since the use of these drugs can
jeopardize the development of the fetus.
The premise of this argument is “The use of these drugs can jeopardize the development of
the fetus,” and the conclusion is “Expectant mothers should never use recreational drugs.”
In reviewing the list of indicators, note that “for this reason” is a conclusion indicator,
whereas “for the reason that” is a premise indicator. “For this reason” (except when fol-
lowed by a colon) means for the reason (premise) that was just given, so what follows
is the conclusion. On the other hand, “for the reason that” announces that a premise is
about to be stated.
Sometimes a single indicator can be used to identify more than one premise. Con-
sider the following argument:
It is vitally important that wilderness areas be preserved, for wilderness provides essential
habitat for wildlife, including endangered species, and it is a natural retreat from the stress
of daily life.
The premise indicator “for” goes with both “Wilderness provides essential habitat for
wildlife, including endangered species,” and “It is a natural retreat from the stress of
daily life.” These are the premises. By method of elimination, “It is vitally important that
wilderness areas be preserved” is the conclusion.
Some arguments contain no indicators. With these, the reader/listener must ask such
questions as: What single statement is claimed (implicitly) to follow from the others?
What is the arguer trying to prove? What is the main point in the passage? The answers
to these questions should point to the conclusion. Example:
We must get serious about modernizing our nation’s crumbling infrastructure. Many of
our bridges are practically falling down, and our transit system is in dire need of repair.
Furthermore, making these improvements would create jobs for millions of workers.
The conclusion of this argument is the first statement, and all of the other statements
are premises. The argument illustrates the pattern found in most arguments that lack in-
dicator words: The intended conclusion is stated first, and the remaining statements are
then offered in support of this first statement. When the argument is restructured ac-
cording to logical principles, however, the conclusion is always listed after the premises:
P1: Many of our bridges are practically falling down.
P2: Our transit system is in dire need of repair.
P3: Making these improvements would create jobs for millions of workers.
C: We must get serious about modernizing our nation’s crumbling infrastructure.
When restructuring arguments such as this, one should remain as close as possible
to the original version, while at the same time attending to the requirement that prem-
ises and conclusion be complete sentences that are meaningful in the order in which
they are listed.
Note that the first two premises are included within the scope of a single sentence
in the original argument. For the purposes of this chapter, compound arrangements of

4 CHAPTER 1 BASIC CONCEPTS

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statements in which the various components are all claimed to be true will be consid-
ered as separate statements. 1
Passages that contain arguments sometimes contain statements that are neither
premises nor conclusions. Only statements that are actually intended to support the
conclusion should be included in the list of premises. If, for example, a statement serves
merely to introduce the general topic, or merely makes a passing comment, it should not
be taken as part of the argument. Examples:
The claim is often made that malpractice lawsuits drive up the cost of health care. But if
such suits were outlawed or severely restricted, then patients would have no means of
recovery for injuries caused by negligent doctors. Hence, the availability of malpractice
litigation should be maintained intact.
Massive federal deficits push up interest rates for everyone. Servicing the debt
gobbles up a huge portion of the federal budget, which lowers our standard of living.
And big deficits also weaken the value of the dollar. For these reasons, Congress must
make a determined effort to cut overall spending and raise taxes. Politicians who ignore
this reality imperil the future of the nation.
In the first argument, the opening statement serves merely to introduce the topic, so it
is not part of the argument. The premise is the second statement, and the conclusion is
the last statement. In the second argument, the final statement merely makes a passing
comment, so it is not part of the argument. The premises are the first three statements,
and the statement following “for these reasons” is the conclusion.
Closely related to the concepts of argument and statement are those of inference and
proposition. An inference, in the narrow sense of the term, is the reasoning process
expressed by an argument. In the broad sense of the term, “inference” is used inter-
changeably with “argument.” Analogously, a proposition, in the narrow sense, is the
meaning or information content of a statement. For the purposes of this book, however,
“proposition” and “statement” are used interchangeably.

Note on the History of Logic


The person who is generally credited as the father of logic is the ancient Greek philoso-
pher Aristotle (384–322 b.c.e.). Aristotle’s predecessors had been interested in the art of
constructing persuasive arguments and in techniques for refuting the arguments of oth-
ers, but it was Aristotle who first devised systematic criteria for analyzing and evaluating
arguments.
Aristotle’s chief accomplishment is called syllogistic logic, a kind of logic in which
the fundamental elements are terms, and arguments are evaluated as good or bad
depending on how the terms are arranged in the argument. Chapters 4 and 5 of this
textbook are devoted mainly to syllogistic logic. But Aristotle also deserves credit for
originating modal logic, a kind of logic that involves such concepts as possibility, neces-
sity, belief, and doubt. In addition, Aristotle catalogued several informal fallacies, a topic
treated in Chapter 3 of this book.
After Aristotle’s death, another Greek philosopher, Chrysippus (280–206 b.c.e.), one of
the founders of the Stoic school, developed a logic in which the fundamental elements were

SECTION 1.1 ARGUMENTS, PREMISES, AND CONCLUSIONS 5


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whole propositions. Chrysippus treated every proposition as either true or false and devel-
1 oped rules for determining the truth or falsity of compound propositions from the truth or
falsity of their components. In the course of doing so, he laid the foundation for the truth-
functional interpretation of the logical connectives presented in Chapter 6 of this book and
introduced the notion of natural deduction, treated in Chapter 7.
For thirteen hundred years after the death of Chrysippus, relatively little creative work
was done in logic. The physician Galen (c.e. 129–ca. 199) developed the theory of the
compound categorical syllogism, but for the most part philosophers confined themselves
to writing commentaries on the works of Aristotle and Chrysippus. Boethius (ca. 480–524)
is a noteworthy example.
The first major logician of the Middle Ages was Peter Abelard (1079–1142). Abelard
reconstructed and refined the logic of Aristotle and Chrysippus as communicated by
Boethius, and he originated a theory of universals that traced the universal character
of general terms to concepts in the mind rather than to “natures” existing outside the
mind, as Aristotle had held. In addition, Abelard distinguished arguments that are valid
because of their form from those that are valid because of their content, but he held that
only formal validity is the “perfect” or conclusive variety. This textbook follows Abelard
on this point.
After Abelard, the study of logic during the Middle Ages flourished through the work
of numerous philosophers. A logical treatise by William of Sherwood (ca. 1200–1271)
contains the first expression of the “Barbara, Celarent . . .” poem quoted in Section 5.1
of this book, and the Summulae Logicales of Peter of Spain (ca. 1205–1277) became the
standard textbook in logic for three hundred years. However, the most original contri-
butions from this period were made by William of Ockham (ca. 1285–1347). Ockham
extended the theory of modal logic, conducted an exhaustive study of the forms of valid
and invalid syllogisms, and further developed the idea of a metalanguage, a higher-level
language used to discuss linguistic entities such as words, terms, and propositions.
Toward the middle of the fifteenth century, a reaction set in against the logic of the
Middle Ages. Rhetoric largely displaced logic as the primary focus of attention; the logic
of Chrysippus, which had already begun to lose its unique identity in the Middle Ages,
was ignored altogether, and the logic of Aristotle was studied only in highly simplistic
presentations. A reawakening did not occur until two hundred years later through the
work of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716).
Leibniz, a genius in numerous fields, attempted to develop a symbolic language or
“calculus” that could be used to settle all forms of disputes, whether in theology, philoso-
phy, or international relations. As a result of this work, Leibniz is sometimes credited
with being the father of symbolic logic. Leibniz’s efforts to symbolize logic were carried
into the nineteenth century by Bernard Bolzano (1781–1848).
In the middle of the nineteenth century, logic commenced an extremely rapid period
of development that has continued to this day. Work in symbolic logic was done by many
philosophers and mathematicians, including Augustus De Morgan (1806–1871), George
Boole (1815–1864), William Stanley Jevons (1835–1882), and John Venn (1834–1923).
The rule bearing De Morgan’s name is used in Chapter 7 of this book. Boole’s interpreta-
tion of categorical propositions and Venn’s method for diagramming them are covered in
Chapters 4 and 5. At the same time a revival in inductive logic was initiated by the British

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philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), whose methods of induction are presented
in Chapter 10. 1
Across the Atlantic, the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
developed a logic of relations, invented symbolic quantifiers, and suggested the
truth-table method for formulas in propositional logic. These topics are covered in
Chapters 6 and 8 of this book. The truth-table method was completed independently by
Emil Post (1897–1954) and Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951).
Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the foundations of modern mathematical
logic were laid by Gottlob Frege (1848–1925). His Begriffsschrift sets forth the theory
of quantification presented in Chapter 8 of this text. Frege’s work was continued
into the twentieth century by Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) and Bertrand
Russell (1872–1970), whose monumental Principia Mathematica attempted to reduce
the whole of pure mathematics to logic. The Principia is the source of much of the sym-
bolism that appears in Chapters 6, 7, and 8 of this text.
During the twentieth century, much of the work in logic focused on the formal-
ization of logical systems and on questions dealing with the completeness and con-
sistency of such systems. A now-famous theorem proved by Kurt Gödel (1906–1978)
states that in any formal system adequate for number theory there exists an unde-
cidable formula—that is, a formula such that neither it nor its negation is derivable
from the axioms of the system. Other developments included multivalued logics and
the formalization of modal logic. Most recently, logic has made a major contribution
to technology by providing the conceptual foundation for the electronic circuitry of
digital computers.

EXERCISE 1.1
I. Each of the following passages contains a single argument. Using the letters “P” and
“C,” identify the premises and conclusion of each argument, writing premises first
and conclusion last. List the premises in the order in which they make the most
sense (usually the order in which they occur), and write both premises and conclu-
sion in the form of separate declarative sentences. Indicator words may be elimi-
nated once premises and conclusion have been appropriately labeled. The exercises
marked with a star are answered in the back of the book.
★1. Carbon monoxide molecules happen to be just the right size and shape, and
happen to have just the right chemical properties, to fit neatly into cavities
within hemoglobin molecules in blood that are normally reserved for oxygen
molecules. Consequently, carbon monoxide diminishes the oxygen-carrying
capacity of blood.
(Nivaldo J. Tro, Chemistry: A Molecular Approach, 2nd ed.)

Complete exercises online for immediate feedback.

SECTION 1.1 ARGUMENTS, PREMISES, AND CONCLUSIONS 7


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2. Since the good, according to Plato, is that which furthers a person’s real in-
1 terests, it follows that in any given case when the good is known, men will
seek it.
(Avrum Stroll and Richard Popkin, Philosophy and the Human Spirit)
3. As the denial or perversion of justice by the sentences of courts, as well as in
any other manner, is with reason classed among the just causes of war, it will
follow that the federal judiciary ought to have cognizance of all causes in which
the citizens of other countries are concerned.
(Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers, No. 80)
★4. When individuals voluntarily abandon property, they forfeit any expectation of
privacy in it that they might have had. Therefore, a warrantless search or seizure
of abandoned property is not unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment.
( Judge Stephanie Kulp Seymour, United States v. Jones)
5. Artists and poets look at the world and seek relationships and order. But they
translate their ideas to canvas, or to marble, or into poetic images. Scientists
try to find relationships between different objects and events. To express the
order they find, they create hypotheses and theories. Thus the great scientific
theories are easily compared to great art and great literature.
(Douglas C. Giancoli, The Ideas of Physics, 3rd ed.)
6. The fact that there was never a land bridge between Australia and mainland
Asia is evidenced by the fact that the animal species in the two areas are very
different. Asian placental mammals and Australian marsupial mammals have
not been in contact in the last several million years.
( T. Douglas Price and Gary M. Feinman, Images of the Past)
★7. It really does matter if you get enough sleep. We need sleep to think clearly,
react quickly, and create memories. Studies show that people who are taught
mentally challenging tasks do better after a good night’s sleep. Other research
suggests that sleep is needed for creative problem solving.
(U.S. National Institutes of Health, “Your Guide to Healthy Sleep”)
8. The classroom teacher is crucial to the development and academic success
of the average student, and administrators simply are ancillary to this effort.
For this reason, classroom teachers ought to be paid at least the equivalent of
administrators at all levels, including the superintendent.
(Peter F. Falstrup, letter to the editor)
9. An agreement cannot bind unless both parties to the agreement know what
they are doing and freely choose to do it. This implies that the seller who
intends to enter a contract with a customer has a duty to disclose exactly what
the customer is buying and what the terms of the sale are.
(Manuel G.Velasquez, “The Ethics of Consumer Production”)
★10. Punishment, when speedy and specific, may suppress undesirable behavior,
but it cannot teach or encourage desirable alternatives. Therefore, it is cru-
cial to use positive techniques to model and reinforce appropriate behavior

8 CHAPTER 1 BASIC CONCEPTS

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that the person can use in place of the unacceptable response that has to
be suppressed. 1
( Walter Mischel and Harriet Mischel, Essentials of Psychology)
11. Profit serves a very crucial function in a free-enterprise economy, such as our
own. High profits are the signal that consumers want more of the output of the
industry. High profits provide the incentive for firms to expand output and for
more firms to enter the industry in the long run. For a firm of above-average
efficiency, profits represent the reward for greater efficiency.
(Dominic Salvatore, Managerial Economics, 3rd ed.)
12. Cats can think circles around dogs! My cat regularly used to close and lock the
door to my neighbor’s doghouse, trapping their sleeping Doberman inside. Try
telling a cat what to do, or putting a leash on him—he’ll glare at you and say, “I
don’t think so. You should have gotten a dog.”
(Kevin Purkiser, letter to the editor)
★13. Since private property helps people define themselves, since it frees people
from mundane cares of daily subsistence, and since it is finite, no individual
should accumulate so much property that others are prevented from accumu-
lating the necessities of life.
(Leon P. Baradat, Political Ideologies, Their Origins and Impact)
14. To every existing thing God wills some good. Hence, since to love any thing is
nothing else than to will good to that thing, it is manifest that God loves every-
thing that exists.
( Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica)
15. Women of the working class, especially wage workers, should not have more
than two children at most. The average working man can support no more and
the average working woman can take care of no more in decent fashion.
(Margaret Sanger, Family Limitations)
★16. Radioactive fallout isn’t the only concern in the aftermath of nuclear explo-
sions. The nations of planet Earth have acquired nuclear weapons with an ex-
plosive power equal to more than a million Hiroshima bombs. Studies suggest
that explosion of only half these weapons would produce enough soot, smoke,
and dust to blanket the earth, block out the sun, and bring on a nuclear winter
that would threaten the survival of the human race.
( John W. Hill and Doris K. Kolb, Chemistry for Changing Times, 7th ed.)
17. An ant releases a chemical when it dies, and its fellows then carry it away to the com-
post heap. Apparently the communication is highly effective; a healthy ant painted
with the death chemical will be dragged to the funeral heap again and again.
(Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember, Cultural Anthropology, 7th ed.)
18. Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought
to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to
be that at which all things aim.
(Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics)

SECTION 1.1 ARGUMENTS, PREMISES, AND CONCLUSIONS 9


Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
★19. Poverty offers numerous benefits to the nonpoor. Antipoverty programs pro-
1 vide jobs for middle-class professionals in social work, penology, and public
health. Such workers’ future advancement is tied to the continued growth of
bureaucracies dependent on the existence of poverty.
( J. John Palen, Social Problems)
20. Corn is an annual crop. Butcher’s meat, a crop which requires four or five years
to grow. As an acre of land, therefore, will produce a much smaller quantity of
the one species of food than the other, the inferiority of the quantity must be
compensated by the superiority of the price.
(Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations)
21. Neither a borrower nor lender be
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
( William Shakespeare, Hamlet I, 3)
★22. The stakes in whistleblowing are high. Take the nurse who alleges that physi-
cians enrich themselves in her hospital through unnecessary surgery; the en-
gineer who discloses safety defects in the braking systems of a fleet of new
rapid-transit vehicles; the Defense Department official who alerts Congress
to military graft and overspending: all know that they pose a threat to those
whom they denounce and that their own careers may be at risk.
(Sissela Bok, “Whistleblowing and Professional Responsibility”)
23. If a piece of information is not “job relevant,” then the employer is not entitled
qua employer to know it. Consequently, since sexual practices, political beliefs, as-
sociational activities, etc., are not part of the description of most jobs, that is, since
they do not directly affect one’s job performance, they are not legitimate informa-
tion for an employer to know in the determination of the hiring of a job applicant.
(George G. Brenkert, “Privacy, Polygraphs, and Work”)
24. Many people believe that a dark tan is attractive and a sign of good health, but
mounting evidence indicates that too much sun can lead to health problems.
One of the most noticeable effects is premature aging of the skin. The sun also
contributes to certain types of cataracts, and, what is most worrisome, it plays a
role in skin cancer.
( Joseph M. Moran and Michael D. Morgan, Meteorology, 4th ed.)
★25. Contrary to the tales of some scuba divers, the toothy, gaping grin on the mouth
of an approaching shark is not necessarily anticipatory. It is generally accepted
that by constantly swimming with its mouth open, the shark is simply avoiding
suffocation. This assures a continuous flow of oxygen-laden water into their
mouths, over their gills, and out through the gill slits.
(Robert A. Wallace et al., Biology: The Science of Life)
26. Not only is the sky blue [as a result of scattering], but light coming from it
is also partially polarized. You can readily observe this by placing a piece of
Polaroid (for example, one lens of a pair of Polaroid sunglasses) in front of

10 CHAPTER 1 BASIC CONCEPTS

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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least


the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,


some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR


MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO


This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second


showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I


came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE


FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE


BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE


LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI


Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK


BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT


SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA


To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

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