Logic in philosophy

 What is Logic?

Logic can be defined as the study of the laws of reasoning. It can be said to be the science of correct reasonings 

Reasoning is a type of thought, characterized by making of inferences, which involvesreaching conclusions based on some premises.

Accordingly, logic focuses on the process of reasoning; its primary concern is to distinguish correct from incorrect reasoning.

Laws of Thought 

 There are three basic laws of thought in Logic

The Law of Identity,

 The Law of Excluded Middle

The Law of Contradiction/Non-contradiction

Any sample of good reasoning is expected to conform to these laws

The Law of Identity

The law of identity states that something is itself and not something else, A true statement is not a false statement. If a statement is true, then, it is true.

It can be symbolically represented in the following ways:

 P=p or P-P

The Law of Excluded Middle

The law of excluded middle states that a statement can either be true or false. There is no middle ground. It cannot be both true and false and it cannot be partially true and partially false

It is symbolically represented thus

PV-P

The Law of Contradiction/Non-contradiction

• The law of contradiction states that a statement cannot negate itself Any statement that is both true and false at the same time is self-contradictory

It is symbolically represented thus:

-(P.~P)

Types of Logic: Formal and Informal

There are two types of logic formal and informal INFORMAL logic is concerned with our everyday activities of making and establishing claims, evaluating and detecting errors in reasoning

Its primary objective i to enhance the habit of straight, clear and correct

 

reasoning

The essential feartures of the habit include the avoidance of fallacies, ambiguity and promotion of effective communication It is the aspect of logic that assesses and analyses arguments there in natural or ordinary language.

FORMAL logic

Formal logic concems itself with the logical or formal structure of statements and arguments. It focuses on the deductive or formal connections between statements without considering their actual contents or the substance of the claints made in such statements The primary alm of formal logic is to determine the status of statements with respect to their validity or invalidity  Formal. logic is described as the science of pure forms.

Logical Connectives

There are some fundamental logical connectivos which are used to make or combino statements or propositions in formal logic.

1. (.) is a conjunctional symbol which stands for and, but. 2. () is a conditional symbol which stand for if...thon

3. (-) is a nogation. It stands for not, or it is not the case that.

4. (=) is a Bi-conditional symbol. It means if and only if.

5, (V) is a Disjunctional symbol, it stands for or other 

Argument

An argument consists of a set of statements or propositions, one of which is the conclusion or claim while the others are premises or grounds. The conclusion is the claim, point, or position which one wants to establish, while the premises are the reasons for maintaining such position

 Click on the link below to read more about Argument 

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