“Concepts of Logic and its History”

One of the most important subjects you will ever study is logic. Logic teaches you to demand
and recognize sound reasoning, as well as how to avoid deception. You are only as free as your
reasoning abilities allow.
Logic is a skill that can be learned. Practice is the only way to improve the understanding and
application of logic. It's simple to watch someone explain a logic principle, and even simpler to watch
someone prove something. However, I must have a thorough understanding of a principle in order to
apply it to new situations and create new proofs on my own. This is only possible with practice.
So, in order for me to do this, I'll have to learn about logic's history and concepts. In logic, my
goal is to take small, simple, and obvious steps, and after doing so for a while, I end up in a surprising
and unexpected new place. Each step along the way will be simple. Logic is more of a marathon than a
sprint. I need to research each small step I take, make sure I understand how to apply the relevant
skills, practice them, and then move on. If I can follow this advice, I will be able to master logic after
studying.
During the course of the report, I discovered that:

What is Logic?
- Logic originates from the Greek word “Logos” which implies discourse or reason. It is normally
used to describe facts and figures that support the speaker’s topic. Logos is credited with
appealing to the audience’s sense of logic, with the definition of “logic” being concerned with
the thing as it is known.
- It was presented by Zeno, the Stoic
- The reporter gave a logic which “Aristotle is the Father of Logic” because Aristotle was the first
to develop a formal system for reasoning. He also observed that the deductive validity of any
argument can be determined by its structure rather than its content.
- Logic is characterized as a science and specialty of right reasoning.
- It is a science because it is a systematized study that deals with the laws and patterns of
correct inference in order to arrive at a valid conclusion.
- It is an art because it systematically explains the rules and patterns so that the mind becomes
accustomed to its system allowing man to arrive at conclusions and reach truth with ease,
order, clarity and without error.
- It is a correct thinking as it is geared towards the truth that is one’s thinking that correlates the
real order of things.
- In logic, the object is thinking specifically, correct thinking, which involves reasoning which
should be consistent with certain rules and principles for the progressive advancement of a
valid argument.
- Logic refers to mental activity which enables a person to arrive at validity or corrections in
argument, and not to the mere activation of one’s mind.
- Therefore, in studying logic we will be guided in arriving at a valid conclusion, develop a habit
of careful and correct reasoning.
- There are two criteria for a mental act (a. when the objective is truth b. when this truth
becomes the foundation of further knowledge)

Two Types of Logic

- Deductive Reasoning which provides complete evidence of the truth of its conclusion, and
uses a specific and accurate premise that leads to a specific and accurate conclusion. With
correct premises, the conclusion to this type of argument is verifiable and correct.
- Inductive Reasoning takes specific information and makes a broad generalization that is
considered probable, allowing for the fact that the conclusion may not be accurate.

Branches of Logic
- Informal Logic which typically used in daily reasoning that you make in your personal
exchanges with others.
- Formal Logic which uses deductive reasoning and the premises must be true. You follow the
premises to reach a formal conclusion.
- Symbolic Logic which deals with how symbols relate to each other and assigns symbol to
verbal reasoning in order to be able to check the veracity of the statements through a
mathematical process.
 - Mathematical Logic which is part of the basic for the logic used in computer science and it is
often used interchangeably with symbolic logic.

Importance of Logic
- It is important because it influences every decision we make in our lives.
- Logical thinking allows us to learn and make decisions that will affect our lifestyle.
- If no one though logically, we would all be running around like chickens with our heads cut off,
and nothing would make any sense.
- It helps to implant consistency in both speaking and writing.
- It helps the mind to explore those laws or axioms or principles which underline all thinking
process and at the same time it enables one in securing consistency in reasoning
- It increases one’s proficiency in reasoning.
- It helps to avoid blowing hot and cold about any matter or problem in life but rather enables
people to be self-confident, cool-headed and rational; and thus, making room for weighing the
pros and cons.

5 Good Reasons to Study Logic

- Symbolic Logic is fun because it is like learning a new language.
- Knowing if an argument is valid is a valuable skill.
- Good logic is an effective tool of persuasion.
- Logic is a foundational discipline.
- Logic helps you spot fallacies and makes you a better citizen.

Common Logical Fallacies

- Ad Hominem in which you attack the person making the argument, rather than the argument
itself.
- Straw Man in which you argue against an oversimplified or otherwise distorted version of your
opponent’s argument.
- Slippery Slope in which you claim that a single event will inevitably give rise to a chain of
future events.

Material and Formal Object of Logic

- Material Logic is the man’s mental acts that constitute the thinking process.
- Formal Logic which is the correctness of the thinking process.

Mental Operations of the Material Object

- Simple Apprehension which refers to the act of the mind as it apprehends or grasps a
particular entity or reality and enable the mind to know the essence of a particular thing,
entity or reality.
- Judgment which is an act of the mind through which two ideas are compared in terms of their
relation, whether they are in agreement or disagreement with each other and this mental
operation is expressed as proposition.
- Reasoning which is an act of the mind through which the mind abstracts or infers a specific
judgment tacitly contained in other judgment and this mental operation is expressed as
inference or argument.

Structure of Logic
- Mental Operation (Simple Apprehension, Judgment, Reasoning)
- Mental Product (Concept, Enunciation, Argument)
- External Sign (Term, Proposition, Syllogism)

Historical Development
- Aristotle set up an arrangement of principles and systematized criteria for reasoning and how
it evaluates such argument.
- Aristotle also have his logic called syllogistic logic which are determined if how good or bad it
is based on the terms that are being arranged or put into order.
- Aristotle introduced his systems in reasoning especially the theory of categorical syllogism
which comprises 3 propositions, which are two premises and a conclusion.
 - Aristotle wrote six logical writings which is known as the “Organon” which is the reason why
Aristotle is labeled as the father of logic.
- On one hand, the Stoics headed by Zeno develop fundamental elements of logic in which they
concentrated on inferences from hypothetical propositions as premises. They also established
rules of argumentation to clarify the nature of concepts, studies logical properties and defining
feature of words that would transform into complex ones, and investigated various logical
antinomies and paradoxes.
- In 23-204 A.D., Poryphyrius, a neo-platonist wrote as small introduction to the categories of
Aristotle’s known as “Isogage”.
- Severinus Boethius (470-524 A.D.) translated Aristotle’s Organon and wrote commentaries on
the categories and on the isogage of Porphyrius.
- In the early twelfth century, Peter Abelard wrote extensive commentaries tackling issues like
opposition, conversion, opposition, quantity and quality, and composed his treatise, ‘the
Dialecta’.
- On one hand, Avicenna, a notable Arabian philosopher wrote commentaries on Aristotle’s
work and improved the Aristotelian categorical and modal syllogistics, and constructed a
whole system of hypothetical logic, different from the Stoic system.
- Averroes also wrote commentaries and interpretation of Aristotle’s work; aside from that, he
critically examined the alleged tension between philosophy and religion in the Decisive
Treatise.
- Another notable philosopher who contributed to the development of Logic is George Boole
which is considered as the founder of new symbolic logic and gave us Boolean Logic which
treats propositions as either true or false.
- The origins of logic are with the Greeks who were interested in the nature of truth.

Quiz
1.Who is the Father of Logic?
Aristotle
2.What is the Greek word of Logic?
Logos
3.It is the interdisciplinary field which studies truth and reasoning?
Logic
4.”All lady are beautiful. You are beautiful. Therefore, you are lady.” What type of logic is this?
Deductive Reasoning
5.Who is the father of new symbolic logic?
George Boole
6.It is a branch of logic that is typically used in daily reasoning.
Informal Logic
7.Who develop fundamental elements of logic?
The Stoics headed by Zeno
8-10.How do you apply logic in your everyday life?
- Logic is used to argue and is somehow a thought an idea that influences us for an action we do
in our daily lives.
- WE use logic to explain miracles of everyday life, thinking logically helps a man to question the
functioning of everything around us.
- In order to think coherently and to differentiate between truth and validity, we use logic.

What do you discover about yourself in the process?

After, listening to the report and trying to understand what is logic about and how it works,
finally, I understood that Logic is always present in our life. The logic used to explain miracles of
everyday life, thinking logically helps man to question the functioning of everything around us, the
logic used to argue and is somehow a thought an idea that influences us for an action we do in our
daily lives. The logic helps me to think coherently and to differentiate between truth and validity. As
the mathematical are always valid, there is no possibility that might contradict, as 2 + 2 equals 4
cannot be five. Moreover, he logic helps me to have a good relationship with my coworkers, and I
respect that if I get the same respect for them and that leads to a good fellowship. The logic helps me
to speak properly to communicate with others.
 Logic makes clear the criteria we use for deciding whether a particular conclusion follows from
a given set of premises. It is important to recognize that one does not take a course in logic in order to
learn how to be logical. People are usually logical. Whether a person is educated or not is irrelevant.
Logic is basic to how human beings communicate and interact with one another.
The role of logic in society is to set the rules that we must follow to achieve rational
communication.
The ability of an individual to think in a disciplined manner or base his thoughts on facts and
evidence is known as his logical thinking skills. Very simply, logical thinking skills mean incorporating
logic into one’s thinking process whenever analyzing a problem on order to come up with a solution.

What are you going to do in order to improve?

Logical thinking is a very important skill that every child must have and improve. Why?Because
logical thinking is how the human mind can make a distinction between right and wrong. Well-
developed logical thinking skills also promote analytical thinking, reasoning, mathematics, problem-
solving, and many other skills.
The only way you can be logical in a situation is if you learn to be objective about it. That will
happen if you remove yourself from the situation. This is easier said than done. You can learn to
develop it by developing perspectives. You can do that by being open to be proved wrong. By not
sticking to beliefs too strongly. By constantly introspecting. By embracing skepticism and accepting our
limitations as humans.
Also doing fun activities like solving puzzles and playing chess to sharpen the mind and I must
also take good care of myself in order to improve.
To improve problem solving skills one has to constantly keep the brain engaged in solving
logical problems that require rigorous thinking. But the most important thing is to convince yourself to
solve problems that are much more difficult than what you can normally do. Take as much time as you
want but ensure you keep thinking and use your brain to the fullest! Keep approaching a certain
problem in many different ways. You might learn something that will be useful later on. End of the day
every little trick that will strike your mind is nothing but a trick that you might have used somewhere
or learnt at some point. It may not necessarily be the same TRICK or CATCH but the way in which your
chain of thoughts proceed is very similar to muscle memory. The great masters through time, became
great masters because they never stopped learning, discovering and evolving. The only way they
remain great masters is by never losing track of their leaders, mentors, masters….