1.2 Tasks of logic

The word "logic" is used by us quite often, but in different meanings. They often speak of the logic of events, the logic of character, etc. In these cases, a certain sequence and interdependence of events or actions is meant. “He may be mad,” says one of the characters in the story of the English writer GK Chesterton, “but there is logic in his madness. Almost always there is logic in madness. That is what drives a person crazy. " Here “logic” just means that a certain common line exists in our thoughts, from which a person is not able to move.

The word "logic" is also used in connection with the processes of thinking. So, we are talking about logical and illogical thinking, bearing in mind its certainty, consistency, evidence, etc.

In addition, logic is a special science of thinking. It originated in the IV. BC, its founder is considered the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Later, it became known as formal logic.

From the history of logic

The history of logic can be divided into two main stages: the first lasted for more than two thousand years, during which logic developed very slowly; the second began in the second half of the nineteenth century, when a scientific revolution took place in logic, which radically changed its face. This was due primarily to the penetration of mathematical methods into it. The Aristotelian, or traditional, logic has been replaced by modern logic, also called mathematical, or symbolic. This new logic is not, of course, a logical study of purely mathematical proofs. It is a modern theory of correct reasoning, “subject logic and mathematics using the method,” as the well-known Russian logician P. S. Poretsky characterized it.

The sphere of specific interests of logic has changed significantly throughout its history, but the main goal has always remained unchanged: the study of how others can be deduced from some statements. It is assumed that the conclusion depends only on the method of communication of the statements included in it and their structure, and not on their specific content. Studying "what comes out of it," logic reveals the most common or, as they say, formal conditions for correct thinking.

Here are some examples of logical, or formal, thinking requirements:

- regardless of what we are talking about, it is impossible to argue and deny something at the same time;

- one cannot accept certain statements without at the same time accepting all that which follows from them;

- the impossible is not possible, proved - doubtful, obligatory - prohibited, etc.

These and similar requirements do not depend, of course, on the specific content of our thoughts, on what is specifically approved or denied, what is considered possible and what is impossible.

Correct reasoning

From the point of view of the logical grammar discussed below, the mechanism of human thinking is simple. There are diverse names, in particular, the concepts denoting individual objects and their sets. With the help of logical connectives like “is”, “some ... is ...”, etc., statements are made up of concepts . All our reasoning consists of statements. Those arguments, in which some statements are taken as the original, and from them a new statement is derived, are called inference.

The task of logical research is the detection and systematization of certain patterns of correct reasoning. These schemes are the logical laws underlying logical thinking. To reason logically is to reason in accordance with the laws of logic.

Hence the importance of these laws. About their nature, the source of their commitment expressed different points of view. It is obvious that the logical laws are independent of the will and consciousness of man. Their compulsory force for human thinking is explained by the fact that they are ultimately a reflection in the head of a person of the most common relations of the real world itself, the practice of its knowledge and transformation by man.

A French diplomat Talleyrand once remarked that a realist cannot remain a realist for long if he is not an idealist, and an idealist cannot remain an idealist for long if he is not a realist. With regard to our topic, this idea can be interpreted as an indication of two main dangers, always lying in wait for logical research. On the one hand, logic is repelled by real thinking, but it provides an abstract model of it. On the other hand, by resorting to high-level abstraction, logic should not break away from the concrete, given in experience, reasoning processes.

Like mathematics, logic is not an empirical, experienced science. But the incentives to develop it derives from the practice of real thinking. And the change of the latter somehow leads to a change in the logic itself.

In general, the development of logic has always been associated with the theoretical thinking of its time, and above all with the development of science. Specific reasoning gives logic to the material from which it extracts what is called a logical law, a form of thought, etc. Theories of logical correctness are ultimately the purification, systematization and generalization of the practice of thinking.

Modern logic with particular clarity confirms this. It actively responds to changes in the style and method of scientific thinking, to understanding its features in the theory of science. Now the logical study of scientific knowledge is actively conducted in a number of both long-established and new areas. There are four main areas of this study: analysis of logical and mathematical knowledge, the application of logical analysis to experimental knowledge, the application of logical analysis to estimated and normative knowledge, the application of logical analysis in the study of techniques and operations that are constantly used in all areas of scientific activity.

Logic is not only used in the study of scientific knowledge, but also receives powerful impulses for development as a result of the impact of its scientific applications. What takes place is the interaction of logic and science, and not the simple application of the finished apparatus of logic to some material that is external to it.

Logic and creativity

Sometimes you can hear the opinion that logic impedes creativity. The latter relies on intuition, requires inner freedom, a relaxed, uninhibited flight of thought. Logic binds thinking with its rigid schemes, anatomizes it, prescribing to control its every step.

There is no faith in fiction; Reason has devastated everything, having conquered the laws of close And the air, and the sea, and the land, As the captives bared them ...

F. I. Tyutchev

Does not the logic of a person make boring, monotonous, devoid of any light and shade? Not.

Creativity without any restrictions is nothing more than fiction. The laws of logic constrain human thinking no more than any other scientific laws. Genuine freedom is not in neglect of necessity and the laws expressing it, but in following them.

Logic in itself does not exclude either intuition or fantasy. The dilemma "either logic or intuition" is untenable. Even children's play is subject to certain restrictions.

One can not ignore the restrictive principles of logic and naively believe that it is possible to do without them. It is necessary to master these principles as much as possible, to make their use natural and free, without impeding the movement of thought. Only in this case will true creative work become possible, implying not only the ability to put forward an interesting idea, but the ability to convincingly substantiate it.