Logical form: basic concepts and criteria

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Logic is one of the oldest scientific disciplines. Its name comes from the Greek language and literally translates as "mind", "reasoning", "thought". This discipline is understood as the science of thinking and human abilities for reasoning, the ability to draw conclusions.

Relates logic to the normative philosophical sciences. Within its framework, methods, forms and patterns of people's thinking processes are studied. One of the main tasks of logic is to determine the path from the receipt by the mind of an informational premise to the formation of a conclusion.

What is a logical form? Definition

Like any science, logic has its own concepts and terms. One of these concepts is the "logical form".

What is this? This expression refers to the relationship between the individual components representing the content of the thought process. The concept of logical form is not analogous to the term "thought content". Form notis something immutable, forever linked to a single variant of thought content.

What are thought processes?

In the general structure of thinking, the following forms of logical knowledge or operations 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 about thought processes

Analysis is understood as a complex mental activity, during which information received from outside is divided into constituent elements that are compared and considered.

Comparisons are the activities of the mind, during which points of similarity and differences 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 that is essentially the opposite of analysis. That is, during this process, a holistic representation is recreated from separate, disparate particles.

Under abstraction is meant mental activity, as a result of which the main, essential elements are separated from the secondary ones, 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 the unification occursinformation, objects or objects on certain grounds.

What are thought 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 a permanent content.

Concepts and their criteria

Concepts are a special logical form of the thought process, which can be either abstract or concrete.

The criteria for concepts are:

• relations of the considered objects or phenomena;
• connections between them and other premises;
• essential characterizing properties.

Concepts can be expressed in speech in one or more words, or in long phrases.

Judgments, inferences and their criteria

Judgments are those forms that are characterized by the reflection of connections in the form of affirmations or denials. It is closest in meaning to the conclusion. The logical form of a proposition can be either true or false. Judgments are also an essential 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 the following criteria:

• analogy;
• deduction;
• induction.

Each of thesecriteria, of course, has its own characteristics.

Analogy is a logical transition from one to another, based on the presence of an obvious similarity. Deduction is that logical form in which the conclusions follow in the direction from the general, holistic, to the particular, specific element. Induction is a reverse process in which thought is directed from particles, details to the general and holistic.

What influences logical thinking?

Thinking processes follow logical patterns, but they are influenced by human emotions.

Feelings and emotions have an extremely strong 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 subjugates the mind, forcing it to find exactly those arguments and prerequisites that correspond to the feelings experienced, lead to initially desired conclusions. This phenomenon is called bias.

However, the effect of emotions on the mind is not always negative. Feelings not only prevent people from thinking sensibly, they often, on the contrary, stimulate the mind. The emotional side of human nature gives purposefulness, tension, inquisitiveness, sharpness and many other qualities to mental activity. For example, if we are talking about the need to invent a drug, then a person experiencing personalinterest, will achieve greater success than one whose emotions do not influence the mind.

Thus, the emotional component is just as necessary for a productive thought process as the logical one.

Do statements have forms?

The forms of logical statements are the form in which thoughts, judgments, conclusions, and 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 constituent terms.

In other words, any inference, statement or reasoning expressed aloud has a unique content, but they are dressed in the same form, which does not change depending on the essence of the 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 written words, symbols.

As an illustrative example, we can draw an analogy with sweets wrapped in candy wrappers. Completely different sweets can be placed in the same wrapper - chocolate, caramel, lollipops, bars, sweets, and so on. However, the properties of the wrapper will not change depending on what kind of candy is wrapped in it.

About the laws of logic

Certain patterns are inherent in each of the existing sciences, and, of course, logic is no exception.

Its main patterns include the following:

• identity;
• no contradiction;
• exception;
• sufficient reason.

The law of identity in philosophical disciplines means similarity, logical relationship. The postulate of the absence of contradictions states that two or more thoughts that are different 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 Middle logically continues the rule that there are no contradictions. Its essence lies in the fact that since contradictory reasoning cannot be simultaneously true, 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 mathematical sciences, social and psychological, in linguistics and pedagogy, and in many other areas. Simply put, logic is present wherever there is room for mental activity.

But its use as a tool, aid 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, convey to others their reasoning;
• ability to distinguish truth from falsehood;
• forming the habit of independent analysis of information coming from outside.

Logic is necessary for conducting discussions or disputes, comprehending current events, developing scientific theories and much more.