WHY LOGIC IS IMPORTANT TO LEARN

35 POINTS ABOUT LOGIC – USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE LOGIC & EDUCATION DIAGRAM
By Jeremy Harper

1. Logic is the Science of Correct Thinking

a. Science is:
- Certain Knowledge (Truth)
- Demonstratable Knowledge
- Systemized Demonstratable Knowledge

2. Logic is Almost Gone From School in Postmodern Times & Gone in Posthuman Times
a. Classical Times (Antiquity thru Christendom/Middle Ages) – Classical Education
- Logocentric Education / The aim is Virtue (Arete, Flourishing)

b. Modern Times (Industrial Age) – Progressive Education

- Logic going (disappearing) / New aim is Social Adjustment
- Grandparents’ world

"In our dream, we have limitless resources and the people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding
hand. The present educational conventions fade from their minds; and, unhampered by tradition, we work our
own good will upon a grateful and responsive rural folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their
children into philosophers or men of learning, or men of science. We have not to raise up from among them
authors, editors, poets or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians nor
lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen, of whom we have an ample supply…The task we set before
ourselves is very simple as well as a very beautiful one, to train these people as we find them to a perfectly ideal
life just where they are… So we will organize our children into a little community and teach them to do in a
perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way, in the homes, in the shops and
on the farm." - General Education Board, Occasional Papers, No. 1 "The country school of to-morrow" (General
Education Board, New York, 1913) p. 6.

c. Postmodern Times (after WW2) – Progressive Education with Little to No Logic

- Logic going (almost gone) / Stimulus-Response Conditioning
- Baby boomers’ world

“I was taught basic grammar and the parts of speech in primary grades. I was taught advanced grammar and
diagramming sentences in middle school. I was taught advanced grammar and basic logic in high school. All in
government schools…way back then (I’m 74 now, in 2015). If you are younger than about 65 years old, went to
government schools, and don’t know this stuff (even if you have a Ph.D. from Harvard)…then you done been
screwed.” - Conrad Jarrell, page 10 in his book How to Study the Bible

d. Post-Postmodern Times / Posthuman Times (1989 Internet)

- Logic gone! / Stimulus Response merged with Computer Interface
- Generation X forward
- Transhuman, Transspecies, Transgender

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“We are living in a day, and a time, and a place in which the government and the system that runs the government is doing
its dead level best to keep knowledge from the people at large. For over half a century in our school systems, our public
schools, our colleges, universities, and graduate schools there has been a concerted planned and intentional effort to
remove much of this information from the curriculum, to keep people ignorant of what folks in the former generation,
such as our grandparents and great grandparents and the founding fathers of this country knew full well, and that is
knowledge about the innate reality of this world, the relationships between people and this world, and this world and its
creator. Such information and such knowledge is not easy to accumulate by any one person on their own, but thanks to
literally centuries and millenniums of thoughtful men who have recorded their considerations and deliberations, such
information and knowledge is available to us if we seek for it.
Those of us who believe in God and that the Bible is His word of course, have a wealth of information ready to our
hand. But I’m speaking predominately to information that leads us to believe the Bible and leads us to believe in God that
comes from simply looking at and thinking about the world in which we live. Former generations had this information
ready at hand, it was part of the school’s curriculum, it was part of the public knowledge and teaching and in the last
century it has been expunged from the curricula of most western nations and especially the United States.” - Conrad
Jarrell, Introduction to Christian Philosophy (audio) 9/23/1990
3. Logic is Central to Education
a. Education – “To Lead Out” / Maturity / Fully-Developed
b. Education consist of the Arts and Sciences as a means
c. Education aims at Virtue as an Ends
- Virtue (Arete) = Human Excellence / Flourishing / Thrive / Potential
d. 5 Levels in Education – Paideia / Arts / Three Levels of Science
- In contrast to progressive 12-16 grades
e. Logo-Centric means without logic there are no Arts or Sciences Proper
4. Logic is Central to the Trivium, a Liberal Art
a. Art – root from work of a man’s “arm” (arm is extension of intellect)
- Arts are ordered by Making
b. Liberal – Pertaining to the Free man / Same root as the word Library
c. “Clearly logic is central to the trivium since grammar is the externalized expression of internal
logical construction while rhetoric is the art of applying logic to persuasion in the public forum.”
- Page 294 Aristotelian Formal and Material Logic by Pierre Conway
5. Logic is Central to the Four Classical Language Arts
a. Reading and Writing / Listening and Speaking
b. The 3 Rs? How many of the 3 Rs are a liberal art?
c. The War on Grammar Book and Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzHqoa1F82o
d. What exactly is reading? What is another term for reading?
6. Logic is the Art of Argument
a. Argument vs. Quarrel
b. 3 Check Points of a Sound Argument
1. Terms must be clearly defined
2. Premises must be true
3. Reasoning must be valid
c. Only two forms of Dialogue: Socratic vs. Sophistic
d. Socratic Questioning & Socratic Method (The Dialogues of Plato)
e. Socrates teacher of Plato, Plato teacher of Aristotle, Aristotle teacher of Alexander the Great
f. Fallacies (errors in logical form) aka Informal Logic = the domain of On Sophistical Refutations
g. Socratic Method aim is truth, justice, virtue vs Sophist Method aim is results & power
h. Socratic Motto: “be reasonable” vs. Sophist Motto: “if you can’t beat them, kill them”
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7. Logic is One of the Supreme Sciences
a. Supreme means first, first sciences are used to create secondary sciences
b. There are 5 Supreme Sciences that are best divided into 8 Supreme Sciences
c. The 8 Supreme Science Textbooks are a reference set for life
- Like a Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Great Books Set

8. Logic is Instrumental Philosophy

a. Philosophy – The love of wisdom
b. Philosophy is divided into The Supreme Sciences and the Arts
- Instrumental (Tool)
- Speculative (Knowing Truth)
- Practical
1. Ethics/Prudence (Doing Good)
2. Art (Making Beautifully)
c. The Empirical Sciences are actually a part and extension of Philosophy
- Natural Philosophers are now called “Scientists”

9. Logic has its Basis in Metaphysics (aka Natural Wisdom)

a. Reason from Physics to Beyond Physics (Meta) – First Principles of Knowledge
- Ontology (First Principles and Four Causes)
1. Law of Non-Contradiction
2. Law of Identity
3. Law of Excluded Middle
4. Law of Sufficient Reason
5. Law of Cause and Effect
- Defensive Metaphysics / Major Logic (Supreme Truths)
1. Certain knowledge starts here

10. Logic is Involved in Mathematical Logics

a. “Before Aristotle the formal art of logic did not exist. Since Aristotle’s observational construction
of logic, this basic structure, because it is derived from the observation of the human mind,
unchanged in 2,000 years, has also remained unchanged. Hence those studying subsequent
logical developments – symbolic logic, mathematical logic – will find that they already have a
preexisting framework capable of successfully assimilating and accounting for such subsequent
developments.” – Page 294, Aristotelian Formal and Material Logic by Pierre Conway

11. Logic is Used to Demonstrate Prudence

a. Prudence (Practical Wisdom) – a sound connection of means and ends to get to some good.
b. You must make an argument for the good

12. Logic is Required and Assumed in the Scientific Method

a. Sound reasoning is required and expected in the Scientific Method

13. Logic is Used to Create the Empirical Sciences

a. Biology – Bio(life) logy (science and study of using logic)
b. Geology – Geo(earth) logy
c. Astrology – Astro(stars) logy
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14. Logic is Required to Successfully Navigate the Sciences
a. Example: Healthcare choices
b. Idiocracy – Right out of the movie! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzA3VvUp_Ks

15. Logic is Used to Avoid Scientism

a. Scientism – propaganda passing as science (counterfeit science)

16. Logic is the Science of Sciences

a. Science requires valid demonstration/reasoning of what is true, and it must be an organized
body of knowledge. Logic is the science used in and for demonstration and organization.
b. To be precise – both Major Logic and Minor Logic (Formal Logic) collectively are Logic
c. Demonstration happens with 2 key methods
- Scientific Method – Experiment
- Philosophic Method – Thought Experiment

17. Logic is the Art of Arts

a. “Logic itself is given the title the art of arts since, if the arts in general arise from the mind’s
observation of how things work, then the art arising from the observation of the work of the
mind itself, is rightly the art of arts.”
- - page 294, Aristotelian Formal and Material Logic by Pierre Conway

18. Logic is Key to Developing Intellectual Virtue

a. Intellect – the faculty that knows and reasons at a scientific level
b. Root of Intelligent or Intelligence
c. 3 Acts of the Intellect (Logic develops) (Intellection)
- 1st Understanding – Define Term
- 2nd Judgment – True Premise (subject, copula, predicate)
- 3rd Reasoning – Syllogism (valid logic)
d. Scientia / Science – Part of your character (only what you can demonstrate to yourself)

19. Logic is the Most Important Art and Science to Learn

a. All other sciences and arts are developed by Logic
b. 80/20 Education in terms of Intellectual development
- If you could only learn one science and one art?

20. Logic is Used to Determine “Holy Scripture” (Special Revelation)

a. A book that makes the claim that it is from God
b. Infinite Mind informing the Finite Mind
c. Is there one? If so which one? Counterfeits?

21. Logic is Used in Studying “Holy Scripture”

a. Trivium is used in studying anything in word form (Logic is central)

22. Logic is Used to Create Theology

a. Scripture and Theology are different – Scripture plus Logic = Theology

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 23. Logic is Used to Develop Reasonable Faith
a. Pistus (Reasonable Faith) vs. Fideism (Non-reasonable Faith)(Wikipedia)
-3982 peíthō(the root of 4102 /pístis, "faith") – to persuade;
(passive) be persuaded of what is trustworthy.
b. to persuade
A primary verb; to convince (by argument, true or false); by analogy, to pacify or conciliate (by
other fair means); reflexively or passively, to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward
certainty) -- agree, assure, believe, have confidence, be (wax) conflent, make friend, obey,
persuade, trust, yield.
24. Logic is Used to Demonstrate Theological Prudence
a. Prudence – good means and good ends (ought, due, duty), reasoned from proposition in
scripture
b. Move from a general to a particular
25. Logic is Used by the Apostle Paul
a. Those that self-identify as Christian, particularly gentile Christians, know that the Apostle Paul is
their example (model) (especially in dealing with personal sin).
b. Acts 17:2 KJV ..And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days
reasoned with them out of the scriptures, Opening and alleging….
c. Expected response from sophist
d. Acts 17:5 KJV But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd
fellows of the baser sort….
26. Logic is Key to Developing the Theological Virtues
a. 1 Cor 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; the greatest of these is charity.
- Not Faith in Faith but Faith in Testimony
- Not Arbitrary Hope, but Hope in Promises
- Not Subjective Love, But Objective Love from Scripture
a. 1 John 5:3-4 KJV For this is the love of God, that we keep his
commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
27. Logic is Used to Dispel Propaganda
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element
in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which
is the true ruling power of our country. ...We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested,
largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized.
Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.
...In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical
thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons...who understand the mental processes and social
patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.” ― Edward Bernays, Propaganda
“Universal literacy was supposed to educate the common man to control his environment. Once he could read and write
he would have a mind fit to rule. So ran the democratic doctrine. But instead of a mind, universal literacy has given him
rubber stamps, rubber stamps inked with advertising slogans, with editorials, with published scientific data, with the
trivialities of the tabloids and the platitudes of history, but quite innocent of original thought. Each man's rubber stamps
are the duplicates of millions of others, so that when those millions are exposed to the same stimuli, all receive identical
imprints. It may seem an exaggeration to say that the American public gets most of its ideas in this wholesale fashion. The
mechanism by which ideas are disseminated on a large scale is propaganda, in the broad sense of an organized effort to
spread a particular belief or doctrine.” ― Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda (3Rs without Logic = NLP/Conditioning!)

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“There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. It is not generally realized to what extent the
words and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind the
scenes.” ― Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda

“In place of thoughts it has impulses, habits, and emotions.” ― Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda

Example: Idiocracy Movie, Brawndo vs. Water https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUTZmSyDErg

28. Logic is Used in the Justice System

a. The making of Just Laws (Natural Law requires Logic)
b. Judge rendering just and/or merciful judgments
c. Jury rendering a verdict
d. Defendant: Build an argument for innocence
e. Plaintiff: Build an argument for guilt
f. Cross-examination of witness testimony

29. Logic is Central to Conflict Resolution

a. Each side owes the other the demonstration of a truth claims or a superior claim of prudence.
b. If you must walk together, you must have control over the other to “agree to disagree”. Clash
of wills tied together results in resolution or war
c. Just War Theory (Wikipedia) – need logic to demonstrate it’s a just war
- Example: Declaration of Independence
d. How do you talk civilly about politics and religion without logic?

30. Logic is Used in Attempts to Refute Logic

a. People who try to refute logic feel compelled to use logic and propositions
- Examples:
1. It’s true there is no truth
2. I am certain there is certitude
3. The scientific method proved there is no logic in nature
4. I expect you to interpret what I am saying is that you can’t really interpret words
b. Everyone is a Liberal Artist – the question is: Are they a good one?

31. Logic is Learned During Leisure

a. Leisure – Free time used for self-development
b. Pupil (forced to study) vs Student (self-motivated to learn)
c. Those that don’t practice leisure therefore will never learn logic

32. Logic is Required to Develop High Culture

a. Humans are only animal with intellect
b. Intellect can be refined to think true, do good, and make beautifully
c. High Culture is contrasted with Pop Culture (popular) or debased culture
d. Debased means anti-intellectual, brutish, brutality (animal-like)

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33. Logic Learning Requires a Healthy Brain (Affect)
a. 5 levels to the brain:
1. Attachment Center (Thalamus)
2. Evaluation Center (Amygdala)
3. Synchronization Center (Cingulate)
4. Joy/Identity and Prudence Center (Pre-frontal cortex)
5. The Logic Center (Left and Right Brain Together)
b. Underdevelopment in levels 1-4 will prevent an adult from learning logic
- Self-control will be lacking
- Self-shame will overwhelm them
- Fear will overwhelm them
- Low self-concept keeps them from learning logic
- Not able to generate enough dopamine for the brain to become plastic.
c. Remedial work must be completed in levels 1-4 before level 5 can be addressed
d. Simple evidence to look for that timing is not yet for training level 5 with logic
- Unable to accept responsibility over own education and development
- Constant blaming in life – unable to receive a healthy shame message
- Hypersensitivity – always offended, even when the topic is not about them
- Constant justification (unjust justification)
- Constant rationalization (irrational rationalization)
- The Logic Center is also sometimes called the VLE for Verbal Logical Explainer aka the
Narrative Engine. Without a well-developed brain (nervous system) the Narrative
Engine doesn’t serve the truth and work with the prefrontal cortex to regulate emotions
and lower parts of the brain.

34. Logic is Inherent in a Healthy Paideia

a. Paideia is the older term for “nurture” – a full enculturation with the aim of virtue formation
b. The healthier the paideia the less remedial work is needed as a biological adult
- Healthy belonging
- Adult behavior modeled all around
- High level of vocabulary in general and to express emotion in culture
- Fine arts that form a healthy moral imagination

35. Logic learning is Best Motivated by a Clear Vision of Personal Virtue

a. You must have a vision of maturity for yourself – both intellectual as well as order affections.
b. You must have a vision of ordering your world and being a just leader.
c. That vision fuels the self-discipline to learn logic – It’s the want power vs will power.
d. There is no long-term happiness without virtue. There is no good life without virtue.
e. There isn’t much virtue without possessing in your character the art and science of logic!

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