Hi all, this will be a series where I focus on the topics of analytic philosophy. I have yet to explain what analytic philosophy encompasses, but these posts will primarily be about knowledge, reason, logic, etc. Let me know what you think!
What is logic?
Logic is one of the major branches of analytic philosophy. It is the study of reason, truth, and inferences. Logic concerns itself with the movement of premises to a conclusion. Although it sounds complicated, we do it all the time. It plays a large role in the decisions we make and the opinions we agree with. As human beings, we appeal to reason and rationality. If someone makes a claim with no evidence, we find it hard to believe them. Contrarily, we form strong, logical arguments to make decisions and persuade others.
Let us examine a famous logical argument:
1. All men are mortal [PREMISE 1]
2. Socrates is a man [PREMISE 2]
C. Therefore, Socrates is mortal [CONCLUSION]
Statements [1] and [2] are what we call premises, and statement [C] is the conclusion. The entirety of these statements is called an argument. As this argument is quite simple, we can see the movement between premises to conclusion.
Another example:
1. If it is raining, I will bring an umbrella
2. It is raining
C. I will bring an umbrella
Why is it interesting and important?
I see logic as a quest for the truth. It is a tool that allows us to peer into another person's line of reasoning. We must note that logic's purpose is not to establish foundational facts, but to see what we can do with them. For example, we are not trying to establish what it means to be raining (that is the work of a meteorologist), we are focusing on the implications of it raining, or supposing the case that is is raining, then what are the consequences?
Natural languages are ordinary languages like English or French. Logic is a formal/symbolic language (I will explain what this means in another post. For now, think of how mathematics uses symbols to represent their elements). Natural languages are often ambiguous and miscommunication can easily occur. However, in logic, arguments are deconstructed to their objective components. Logic is like an axe clearing the thicket of ordinary language.
For right now, much of this may sound like jibber-jabber as we have not yet discussed any mechanics of logic. On the same note, it would be difficult to discuss this subject any further without introducing some technicalities of logic. I hope you can bear with me for a few more posts as I introduce the basics of logic so what I said here makes more sense.
Thanks and stay rational everybody.
In logic, there are no morals
― Rudolf Carnap