Logic is one of the oldest scientific disciplines. Its name comes from the Greek language and literally translates as “reason”, “reasoning”, “thought”. This discipline is understood as the science of thinking and the human ability to reason, the ability to draw conclusions.
Logic refers to normative philosophical sciences. In its framework, methods, forms and patterns of the processes of thinking of people are studied. One of the main tasks of logic is to determine the path from the receipt by the mind of an informational background to the formation of a conclusion.
What is a logical form? Definition
As with any science, logic is characterized by its own concepts and terms. One of these concepts is the “logical form”.
What it is? This expression refers to the relationship between the individual components representing the content of the thought process. The concept of logical form is not an analogue of the term “content of thought”. Form is not something immutable, forever associated with a single version of the content of thought.
What can be thought processes?
In the general structure of thinking, the following forms of logical cognition or operation are distinguished:
- analysis;
- comparison;
- synthesis;
- abstraction;
- generalization.
Each of the mental operations has its own meaning and is a necessary component of the activity of the mind.
More on thought processes
Analysis is understood as complex mental activity, during which information received from outside is divided into components that are compared and considered.
Comparisons are the activities of the mind, during which moments of similarity and difference in the objects under consideration are revealed. It is as a result of this process that classification arises, that is, the primary logical form of theoretical knowledge of something.
Synthesis is a mental activity, inherently opposite to analysis. That is, during this process, a holistic view is recreated from separate, disparate particles.
By abstraction is meant mental activity, as a result of which the main, essential elements are separated from the secondary, which do not have special significance. The result of this process, as a rule, is the formation of concepts about something.
Generalizations are called those processes of thinking, due to which there is a union of information, objects or objects according to certain signs.
What can be mental forms?
The main logical forms characteristic of thought processes are:
- Judgments
- concepts;
- inferences.
Each of these forms is flexible, that is, it does not have constant content.
Concepts and their criteria
Concepts are a special logical form of the thought process, which can be either abstract or concrete.
Criteria of concepts are:
- relations of the considered objects or phenomena;
- the relationship between them and other premises;
- significant characterizing properties.
Concepts can be expressed in speech in one or several words or in long sentences.
Judgments, conclusions and their criteria
Judgments are called those forms that are characteristic of the reflection of relationships in the form of statements or negations. It is the closest in meaning to the conclusion. The logical form of judgment can be either true or false. Judgments are also an integral component of inferences.
Inference is understood as a mental activity in which a person comes to certain conclusions based on a chain of judgments. Logical forms of thinking, called inferences, are characterized by such criteria:
- analogy;
- deduction;
- induction.
Each of these criteria, of course, has its own characteristics.
An analogy is a logical transition from one to another, based on the presence of obvious similarities. Deduction is the logical form in which inferences follow in the direction from the general, integral, to the particular, concrete element. Induction is the reverse process in which thought is directed from particles, parts to the general and whole.
What influences logical thinking?
Thinking processes are subject to logical patterns, but they are influenced by the emotions experienced by a person.
Feelings and emotions have an extremely powerful effect on the mind. They are able to completely change the attitude to information, the course of judgments and conclusions and, of course, the conclusions to which they lead. The emotional side of human nature subordinates the mind to itself, forcing it to find precisely those arguments and prerequisites that correspond to the feelings experienced, lead to the initially desired conclusions. This phenomenon is called bias.
However, the effect of emotions on the mind does not always become negative. Feelings not only prevent people from thinking sensibly, often they, on the contrary, stimulate the mind. The emotional side of human nature gives mental activity purposefulness, tension, inquisitiveness, sharpness and many other qualities. For example, if we are talking about the need to invent a drug, then a person who is personally interested will achieve greater success than one whose emotions do not affect the mind.
Thus, the emotional component is as necessary for the implementation of a productive thought process as the logical one.
Are there any forms of utterances?
Forms of logical statements are what form thoughts, judgments, conclusions, conclusions are voiced. This term is used not only in philosophy, psychology and social sciences, but also in mathematics and others.
The main characteristic of these forms is that they can be considered in isolation from the direct content of thoughts, reasoning, or conclusions. In other words, any statement, both simple and complex, can be represented as a formula of the components of the terms.
In other words, any inference, statement or reasoning made aloud has a unique content, but they are clothed in the same form, which does not change depending on the essence of thought. The form that a person uses in order to convey the results of his mental activity to other members of society exists abstractly from the content of spoken or recorded words, symbols.
As an illustrative example, we can give an analogy with sweets wrapped in candy wrappers. In the same wrapper you can put completely different sweets - chocolate, caramel, candies, candy bars, sweets and so on. However, the properties of candy wrappers will not change on which particular candy is wrapped in it.
On the laws of logic
Certain laws are characteristic of each of the existing sciences, and, of course, logic is no exception.
Its main laws include the following:
- identity;
- lack of contradiction;
- an exception;
- good reason.
The law of identity in philosophical disciplines refers to similarity, logical relationship. The postulate of the absence of contradictions states that two or more different thoughts in content cannot be true at the same time. In other words, only one argument will be true, the rest will be false.
The law of the excluded third logically continues the rule stating that there are no contradictions. Its essence lies in the fact that since conflicting reasoning cannot be true at the same time, the false must be identified and eliminated. The law of sufficient reason states that any, proven, justified and reasoned thought is true.
What is the meaning of logic?
There is not a single useless scientific discipline. Each of them has its own meaning, they all occupy their own niche. Of course, logic is no exception.
The value of this scientific discipline directly depends on the field in which it is used as a tool. Logic is involved in the mathematical sciences, social and psychological, in linguistics and pedagogy, in many other areas. Simply put, logic is present wherever there is room for thought.
But the use as a tool, help in various scientific disciplines, its value is not limited. The study of logic as an independent subject contributes to:
- development of mental abilities;
- the ability to accurately and clearly state, communicate to others their reasoning;
- ability to distinguish truth from lies;
- the formation of the habit of independent analysis of information coming from outside.
Logic is necessary for conducting discussions or disputes, comprehending current events, working out scientific theories and much more.