Regarding your remarks:" I ask you a justification of the results of the third column that comes from a real experience and
reproducible that helps a person to understand clearly and to fix in the mind the concepts it represents.
P | Q | if P then Q
------------------------
V | V | V
V | F | F
F | V | V
F | F | V
I ask this because in my opinion, "if P then Q" and "only if Q then P" are equivalent is, but I think hide critical aspects
I want to discuss with you."
OK, Fabrizio, here is an ordinary example:
• Suppose someone sincerely asserts S, namely ‘If
the lit match is dropped into the pile of oily rags, the pile will ignite’.
• Consider the corresponding material conditional
(MC): ‘the lit match is dropped… → the pile will ignite’.
• Clearly, if S were true, we would expect the
pile to ignite when the lit match is dropped into it; so the 1st line of the
truth table for MC is uncontroversial.
• Clearly, if we dropped the lit match and the
pile did not ignite, we would regard S as false; so the 2nd line of the truth
table for MC is uncontroversial.
• Some people balk at the 3rd and 4th lines.
• However, if we did not drop the lit match, but
the pile ignited anyway due to spontaneous combustion, this would still be
compatible with S’s being true. So line 3 is vindicated.
• Likewise, if we did not drop the lit match, and
the pile remained unignited, this would also be compatible with S’s being
true. So line 4 is vindicated.
Karl