Etymologically, the term “logic” goes back to the ancient Greek word “λογοσ” (logos), meaning “thought”, “word”, “teaching”. It is multi-valued: not only thoughts, but also actions and actions of a person, the development of society and culture, the connection of language signs, etc. can differ in logic.

Logic – This philosophical science about laws and forms theoretical thinking, about the relationship between these forms, about errors in the thinking process and ways to overcome them.

The status and role of any science in knowledge are characterized, first of all, by its object-subject area.

Object of science V in a broad sense is the area of ​​reality to which the research efforts of scientists are directed.

Science subject, in turn, is a certain side of the object, contributing to its qualitative and quantitative clarification.

The subject of a science clarifies its object, distinguishes it from other sciences that study a given object.

Logic Object – human thinking. Thinking is the object of other branches of philosophy and science: ontology, physiology, psychology, genetics, cybernetics, etc.

The essence of thinking, its origin, its relationship to the material world and its cognitive capabilities are studied by ontology. Physiology is interested in how thinking depends on the state of the brain, the material substrate of thought. Psychology studies the conditions for the normal development and functioning of thinking, and the influence of the socio-psychological environment on it. Genetics is trying to reveal the secrets of children inheriting abilities for any activity from their parents. Cybernetics scientists are studying the technical possibilities of simulating thinking on machines.

From all sides of thinking direct relation to logic has its mediation, i.e. the ability to move from old knowledge to new ones without directly turning to experience each time. Logic is interested in the form of constructing thoughts and is distracted from specific information. That's why it's called formal logic. The thorough and systematic development of formal logic was first carried out by Aristotle. His works are united under the title “Organon” (instrument of knowledge). At the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century, the English scientist Francis Bacon created the "New Organon" - the doctrine of induction, detection causal connections between the phenomena of the surrounding world through observations and experiments.

Thus, the subject of logic is complex system, uniting universal conditions that ensure the truth of thinking, which must be observed regardless of the content of thoughts.

The subject of logic is:

1) forms of theoretical thinking – concept, judgment, inference;

2) general laws of thinking, or principles of logic, called its fundamental laws (these include the laws of identity, excluded middle, opposition and sufficient reason);

3) general methods of science, theoretical thinking in general, such as analysis, synthesis, abstraction, generalization, etc.;

4) structural laws and rules of individual forms of thought, for example, the law of the inverse relationship between the volume and content of a concept, the rules of premises and terms, special rules figures of a simple categorical syllogism, etc.;

5) the language of logic as a system of specialized symbols to designate forms of thought and their connections;

6) theorems and definitions justified in logic;

7) logical errors possible in the process of mental activity.

Any science of thinking distinguishes two levels of knowledge: empirical And theoretical.

The subject of empirical knowledge is a reality directly given in perception, which can be observed and experimented with. The forms of empirical knowledge are: sensation, perception and representation. Empirical knowledge gives an idea of ​​external individual properties and qualities of thinking. Man strives to understand the deep properties and essences of things, the laws of the world. Therefore, he resorts to studying the problems that interest him at an abstract theoretical level. At this level the following forms take shape: theoretical knowledge How concept, judgment and reasoning (inference).

Regarding each of the forms of theoretical knowledge in logic, a specific range of specific logical problems is defined.

For the analysis of a concept as a logical form of theoretical knowledge, such problems are the rules and methods of their definition and classification, as well as clarification of the logical relationships between concepts.

Analysis of a judgment as a logical form of theoretical knowledge presupposes clarification of its logical structure, clarification of the logical conditions of its truth in different logically possible situations, as well as the determination of logical relationships between judgments.

The analysis of reasoning as a logical form of theoretical knowledge comes down to the development of methods and means of monitoring the logical correctness of evidentiary procedures in the process of intellectual communication and cognition.

Special role language plays a role in logic, since it is the only tool that allows one to display in a laconic, extremely brief symbolic form logical structure thoughts and thereby make it possible to formalize subsequent logical operations– actions with rational forms of thought. Therefore, language provides the main scientific purpose logic - the derivation of some logical forms from others according to the rules and laws established in it.

What does logic study as a science and why is it called formal?

The word "logic" comes from the Greek logos, which means “thought”, “word”, “mind”, “law”. IN modern language This word is used, as a rule, in three meanings:

to indicate patterns and relationships between events or people’s actions in the objective world; in this sense, they often talk about “the logic of facts”, “the logic of things”, “the logic of events”, “the logic of international relations”, “the logic of political struggle”, etc.;

to denote the rigor, consistency, and regularity of the thinking process; in this case, the following expressions are used: “logic of thinking”, “logic of reasoning”, “iron logic of reasoning”, “there is no logic in the conclusion”, etc.

to denote a special science that studies logical forms, operations with them and the laws of thinking.

Object Logic as a science is human thinking. But thinking is a complex, multilateral process of a person’s general reflection of things, their properties and relationships of the world around him. This process is studied by many sciences, for example, philosophy, psychology, genetics, linguistics, cybernetics, etc. Philosophy studies the origin and essence of thinking, its relationship to the material world and knowledge. Psychology studies the conditions of normal (in relation to pathology) functioning and development of thinking, the influence of the socio-psychological environment on it. Genetics seeks to reveal the mechanism of inheritance by people of the ability to think. Linguistics interested in the relationship between thinking and language. Scientists- cybernetics are trying to construct technical models of the brain and human thinking. L ogica It studies the process of thinking from the point of view of its structure of thoughts, the correctness and incorrectness of reasoning, abstracting from the specific content of thoughts and their development.

Subject Logics are logical forms, operations with them and laws of thinking.

To better understand the subject of the study of logic, let us briefly consider the process of a person’s cognition of the world around him. Cognition- the process of gaining knowledge about the world. There are two ways (sources) of acquiring knowledge:

sensory cognition - with the help of sense organs and instruments;

rational (ratio - mind) - cognition through abstract 1 thinking.

The basis of the materialistic theory of cognition is the theory of reflection: things, phenomena of the objective world influence the human senses, force the entire system of transmitting information to the brain (as well as the brain itself), as a result of which a person creates images of these things and phenomena. Sensual images are knowledge about external properties, aspects of things and phenomena (visible, audible, tangible, etc.). Such, for example, is our knowledge that “it is rainy today”; “It’s half past four on my watch”; “this rose is red”; “Peter sits to the left of Paul,” etc.

Sensory cognition occurs in three main forms: sensation (reflection of individual properties of objects), perception (reflection of the object as a whole, this is a holistic image of the object) and representation (preserved image of objects).

But at the stage of sensory cognition, a person cannot know essence things and phenomena, their internal properties. As the Little Prince said from the story of the same name by A. de Saint-Exupéry, “you cannot see the most important things with your eyes.” Therefore, reason, or abstract thinking, which reflects reality in its main and essential properties and relationships, comes to the aid of the senses.

In abstract thinking, knowledge of the world does not occur explicitly, but indirectly - without recourse to observation, practice, but with the help of additional reasoning about the properties and relationships of objects and phenomena. For example, a thermometer can tell you about the weather; Using the traces left by the criminal at the crime scene, you can recreate the picture of the crime and find the criminal, etc.

One of the most important features of abstract thinking is its relationship with language: every thought is formalized through words and phrases - “pronounced” using internal or external speech.

In the process of thinking, a person not only reflects existing world, but can create new ideas, abstractions, predict and anticipate.

Rational or abstract thinking occurs in three main forms - concepts, judgments, and inferences.

Concept - a form of thinking with the help of which mental images are created about objects, their properties and relationships. In the process of creating concepts, a person analyzes subjects that interest him, compares their, highlights essential features, synthesizes their, abstracted from unimportant generalizes mentally objects according to these characteristics. As a result, mental images are created about objects, their properties and relationships. For example, abstracting from the diverse individual properties of students related to their nationality, gender, age, etc., and highlighting the main properties, we can say that a student is a student of higher educational institutions; student - one who receives education; and the person himself is the one who is able to work, think, speak.

Concepts play a big role in human cognitive activity. With their help, he can generalize, connect mentally what exists separately in life. In the objective world there is no student, disciple, or person in general; these generalized images can only exist in the ideal world, in a person’s head.

The formation of concepts makes it possible to have knowledge about phenomena based on the main, essential properties of a class of similar phenomena. Jonathan Swift eloquently talks about what would happen if people did not use concepts in communication with each other. One wise man, says the author of Gulliver's Travels, suggested using in conversation not concepts about objects, but the objects themselves to express thoughts. Many followed this “wise” advice. True, the interlocutors had to carry large bundles of things on their shoulders. When meeting on the street, they took the bags off their shoulders, opened them and, taking out the necessary things from there, carried on a conversation in this way. Of course, such a “conversation” could be extremely elementary, if it could take place at all.

Having concepts about objects, a person can judge about them (make judgments) and do inferences. For example, having a concept about a person and knowing that all living things die sooner or later, we can make the judgment: “Every person is mortal.”

Judgment - a form of thinking in which something is affirmed or denied about the subject of thought. The following statements are also judgments: “Every student passes the exam,” “If a student does not pass the exams for the first year, he will not be promoted to the second year,” etc.

From judgments we can obtain new judgments. For example: based on the proposition “Every man is mortal,” one can assert that “Some mortals are men” or deny: “No man is immortal.” If we connect the judgment “Every man is mortal” with the judgment “Socrates is a man,” then we can purely mentally obtain a new judgment: “Socrates is mortal.” This relationship of judgments is called conclusion:

Every man is mortal

Socrates is a man

Socrates is mortal 2.

In the process of constructing concepts, judgments and conclusions, a person can make conscious and unconscious errors. To avoid mistakes, you need to know the rules of thinking. Thinking built according to rules (and laws) is called correct.

Correct thinking - one in which from the original true knowledge (concepts, judgments and inferences) new true knowledge (new concepts, judgments, inferences) are always necessarily obtained. In incorrect thinking, both true and false new knowledge can be obtained from true knowledge.

For example, based on the judgments “If it rained, then the road will be wet” and “It was raining,” we can confidently say that “The road will be wet.” But it is incorrect to conclude: “If it rained, then the road will be wet” and “The road is wet,” therefore, “It was raining,” since the road could simply be watered. The reasoning will be incorrect when, of the two judgments, “If a person committed theft, then he committed a crime” and “The person did not commit theft,” the conclusion is made “The person did not commit a crime,” since the person could have committed some other crime.

Question about correctness inferences are a question about the rules for their construction, about the rules for the interconnection of individual thoughts (concepts, judgments, conclusions). This is precisely what logic is interested in as the science of thinking. That's why it's called " formal logic" Formal logic is abstracted from the specific content of thoughts and their development. But it takes into account the truth or falsity of the thoughts being studied (in two-valued formal logic, two meanings of every thought are taken into account - “true” and “false”; in multi-valued formal logic, other meanings are introduced, for example, “indefinite”). Sometimes correct thinking is called logical - after the name of the science that studies this aspect of the thinking process.

Question about truth(falsity) of judgments is a question of the correspondence (inconsistency) of what is affirmed or denied in it with the objective world. True judgment - one that accurately reflects the state of affairs in objective reality(which is true). For example: “Moscow is the capital of Russia”, “A criminal is a person who violates legal and moral laws society”, etc. False judgment one that is not true. For example: “St. Petersburg is the capital of Russia”, “A criminal is a righteous person”, etc. Questions about what truth is in general, how sensory knowledge and abstract thinking relate in the process of achieving the truth about objects are studied by another science - philosophy .

To better understand the subject of the study of logic and its role in human cognition and thinking, it is necessary to dwell in more detail on the consideration of the logical form and laws of thinking.

Bibliographic description:

Nesterova I.A. Science logic [ Electronic resource] // Educational encyclopedia website

Logic is a complex discipline necessary for specialists in various fields. Understanding the features of logic and the stages of its formation will allow you to perceive more widely conceptual apparatus within the framework of legal sciences.

Logic concept

The term "logic" has several definitions. First of all, it should be noted that logic is a concept that can be considered both broadly and in a narrow sense.

However, let's start with the polysemy of logic. It is used not only to depict the laws of nature, but also to reflect the laws of society, law, philosophy, etc. This logic is objective. It is aimed at expressing the “logic of facts”, “logic of struggle” or “logic of political confrontation”.

Logics is also often understood as a pattern of thinking. This logic is called “logic of thinking.” The logic of thinking reflects the key aspects of the perception of the world and its laws. It is relevant for legal and psychological sciences. It is the logic of thinking that is the basis of the science of logic.

Currently, there are several interpretations of the term “logic”. We should turn to the definition proposed by V.I. Kirilov and V.A. Starchenko.

Logics- the science of the laws and forms, techniques and operations of thinking, with the help of which a person cognizes the world around us.

S.N. Vinogradov and A.F. Kuzmin gives another definition according to which:

Logics there is a science about the laws and forms of correct construction of thoughts.

Having considered different approaches To logic as a science, one can identify a single grain that unites all approaches, namely:

Logic is the science of thinking.

Logic is primarily interested not in thinking itself, but in how a person should think in order to solve certain problems that consciousness, society, the state, etc. set before him. However, the solution to problems must be such that it could ensure the achievement of true results in the process of cognition.

History of logic as a science

Logic is one of the ancient sciences. Logic is mentioned in antiquity. Greek philosophers spoke of logic as the greatest phenomenon on which many sciences are based.

The birthplace of logic is considered to be Ancient Greece. The first mentions are found precisely in the works of Greek philosophers in the V-IV centuries. BC Logic is mentioned in the works of Democritus, Socrates and Plato. Aristotle (384 – 322 BC) is rightfully considered the founder of logic.

Medieval Europe for a long time considered logic to be a manifestation of heresy and obscurantism. However, philosophers late Middle Ages considered logic as one of the tools of church dogma and paid a lot of attention to it.

With important work, upon completion medieval era, is the work of Francis Bacon "New Organon", which, in his opinion, was supposed to replace Aristotle's "Organon" as an instrument of knowledge. Bacon's ideas were continued and improved in the works of J. Fr. Herschel and J. St. Mill. The results of these developments went down in the history of logic under the name " Inductive methods establishing causal relationships."

Later, R. Descartes, G. Leibniz, I. Kant and others. Leibni put forward a series the most important provisions, which are reflected in modern logic.

The newest stage in the development of logic is marked by the works of the great thinkers J. Boole, O. de Morgan and the Russian logician P.S. Poretsky. Currently, logic is one of the most important areas of knowledge. Both the natural sciences and the humanities turn to logic.

Science logic and thinking

Based on the definition of logic as a science, it follows that its basis is thinking. Thinking the term is broad and multifaceted. It is the object of logic. It is known for certain that man has long been interested in the relationship between thought and being. This interest served as the basis for the creation of thinking as a term. Thinking itself owes its origin to labor activity. There are several fundamental characteristics of thinking within logic:

• Thinking– this is a property of highly organized matter, namely, a property of the brain.
• Thinking does not and cannot exist on its own.
• Thinking is a reflection of the material world in the human head.

The science of logic studies the forms of thinking. These include:

• Concept
• Inference
• Judgment

Separately, it should be noted that judgments can be general, particular and individual.

Inference is divided into deduction and induction. Under inductions is understood as a way of reasoning that implies a transition from particular judgments to a general judgment, the establishment general laws and rules based on study individual facts and phenomena.

Regarding deduction, then this is a way of reasoning in which there is a transition from general judgment to private judgment, knowledge of individual facts and phenomena based on the building of general laws and rules.

Thinking within the framework of science is the basis of the laws of logic. There are four laws of logic. Three laws were formulated by Aristotle:

• law of identity
• law of contradiction
• law of the excluded middle

G. Leibniz introduced the fourth law into logic, namely the law of sufficient reason. This law there is also a certain requirement, necessary condition the correctness of our thinking.

In conclusion, it should be noted that all logical laws are universal. In the process of evolution, thinking changes, but logic and its laws are for all times. This is due to the fact that logical laws are stable and constancy.

Literature

1. Kirillov V. I., Starchenko A. A. Logic: a textbook for law schools/ ed. prof. V. I. Kirillova. – M.: Prospekt Publishing House, 2008
2. Vinogradov S.N. Kuzmin A.F. Logic - M.: Uchpedgiz Publishing House, 1954
3. Voishvillo E.K., Degtyarev M.G. Logic: Textbook. for students higher textbook establishments. – M.: Publishing house VLADOS-PRESS, 2001

Logic: philosophy of inference Object and subject of logic

E. J. Lemmon. Beginning Logic. Cambridge. CUP Publisher. 2004. Chapter 2.

Object and subject of logic

Formal logic studies deductive inference. It does not explore inductive reasoning. The subject of logic is strict, or deductive, proof from the point of view of its reliability, or correctness.

Thinking as an object of logic

There is knowledge whose truth is visible directly. These, for example, are facts of consciousness that directly reflect the consequences of a physical action, for example, footprints in the sand. Facts of this kind are learned in the process of direct interaction with the object of knowledge using the senses. These facts are usually called obvious because they do not need proof: their truth is self-evident. Thus, directly obvious knowledge includes, first of all, those that are the result of sensory knowledge.

In addition to direct knowledge, there is knowledge, the truth of which is achieved indirectly, that is, with the help of other knowledge, not always referring to the testimony of the senses. This knowledge is the result of logical knowledge - thinking.

Thinking is capable of reflecting the surrounding reality. Consequently, the order and connection of real things determine the content, order and connection of our thoughts.

However, thinking, on the one hand, being a derivative of being, on the other hand, has relative independence. Manifestation of this property thinking is very diverse and can have both a positive and negative orientation. So, for example, the positivity of independent thinking is manifested in its ability to get ahead of existence and foresee the future, in creative nature thinking, the ability to exchange information, develop an interaction strategy, understand another person, etc. But sometimes independence of thinking reaches such a degree that a person loses control over the correspondence of thoughts to the actual content of the reflected object. Thought, as it were, breaks away from its objective basis (reality) and begins to formulate knowledge that distortedly reflects the object of knowledge or is no longer connected with it at all. As a result, the thought becomes vague, contradictory, unconvincing, inconsistent and unfounded. Moreover, this can happen not only involuntarily, accidentally, but also intentionally (for example, false testimony). This is one of the negative manifestations of independent thinking.

Ultimately, the independence of thinking lies in the fact that it itself is an object of knowledge. Thinking is cognized by man in the same way as any object physical reality reflected by thinking. Thinking reflects the world and its processes deeper and more fully than sensory knowledge. But to achieve this, you need to think correctly. That's why Logic is often called the science of correct thinking. Thus, object of logicis thinking.

The main feature of thinking is ideality. Material exists in space and time, has attributive properties, and is accessible to man as something that affects his senses. The ideal has none of this. This circumstance must be kept in mind when considering thinking as an object of study of logic.

But thinking is a complex, multifaceted process. And not everyone is interested in logic in it. The origin and essence of thinking, its relation to material world and philosophy studies knowledge. Physiology is interested in how thinking depends on the states of the brain - the material substrate of thought. Psychology studies the conditions of normal (in relation to pathology) functioning and development of thinking, and the influence of the socio-psychological environment on it. Genetics is trying to reveal the secrets of people's inheritance of abilities for any kind of mental activity. Linguistics is interested in the essence of words and signs, language and speech in general as tools of human mental activity.

In addition, a person has different types of thinking, which are presented in the diagram.

THINKING

Theoretical Practical

conceptual figurative visual- visual-

figurative effective

sphere of logic

The main difference between theoretical and practical types thinking is that they are related to practice in different ways. Thus, practical thinking is mainly aimed at resolving private specific tasks life activities of people, while theoretical thinking is aimed mainly at finding general patterns of knowable reality.

Which side of thinking does logic study? What is its subject? Let's look at this in more detail.

Subject of logic

The main type of thinking is conceptual (or abstract-logical). This is what logic explores. Abstract thinking- this is the process of rational reflection of the world in concepts, judgments, conclusions, hypotheses, theories, allowing one to penetrate into the essence, into the natural connections of reality.

As you know, all objects, phenomena and processes have both content and form. Our thoughts are no exception to this rule. The content of a person’s thoughts is infinitely diverse: we can think and talk about politics and art, about love and hate, about the meaning of life, etc. At the same time, it is quite obvious that in terms of content, the thoughts of a mathematician, for example, differ from the thoughts of a lawyer.

IN different in content thoughts can reveal something essentially common. It is characterized not by the specific content of these thoughts, but by their typicality, pattern, and method of construction. At the same time, the entire content diversity fits into a relatively small number of mental forms. The fact is that the logical system of human thinking has a very important property– no matter what verbal shell our thoughts take, no matter what language they are expressed in, they must necessarily take universal forms. Without this, it is impossible to exchange people's thoughts different generations and professions, as well as mutual understanding between representatives of countries and peoples.

Our knowledge of form is quite diverse. We distinguish between a form of government, a form of territorial-state structure, and a form of political regime, which together constitute the form of a state. The form of a state is a way of organizing state power, the order of formation of state bodies, their structure and relationships in a single mechanism. In the examples given, the form thus reflects the way the content parts are connected.

Logical form is also understood in a variety of ways. Our thoughts are composed of certain meaningful parts. The way they are connected represents the form of thought.

So, various items are reflected in abstract thinking in the same way - as a certain connection of their essential features, that is, in the form of a concept.

The form of judgments reflects the relationships between objects and their properties.

Changes in the properties of objects and relationships between them are reflected in the form of inferences.

Consequently, each of the main forms of abstract thinking has something in common that does not depend on the specific content of thoughts, namely: the way of connecting the elements of thought - features in a concept, concepts and judgments in a conclusion. Due to these connections the content of thoughts does not exist on its own, but in certain logical forms:concepts, judgments and inferences, each of which has a specific structure.

Take, for example, two statements: “Some lawyers are teachers” and “Some socially dangerous acts are crimes against the personal property of citizens.” Let's replace all their meaningful components with symbols. Let's say that what we think about is the Latin letter S, and what we think about S is the Latin letter P. As a result, in both cases we get the same elements of thought: “SomeS areP.” This is the logical form of the above judgments. It is obtained as a result of abstraction of specific content.

Thus, logical form(or a form of abstract thinking) is a way of connecting the elements of thought, its structure, thanks to which the content of thought exists and reflects empirical reality.

In the real process of thinking, the content and form of thought exist inseparably. There is no pure, formless content, no pure, contentless logical forms. For example, the above logical form of the judgment “Some S are P” still has some content. From it we learn that every object of thought, denoted by the letter S, has a characteristic, denoted by the letter P. Moreover, the word “some” shows that the attribute P belongs only to part of the elements that make up the subject of thought. This is “formal content”.

However, for the purposes special analysis we can distract ourselves from the specific content of a thought by making its form the subject of study. The study of logical forms, regardless of their specific content, is the most important task of logic. Hence its name - formal.

It should be borne in mind that formal logic, while studying the forms of thinking, does not ignore its content. Forms, as already noted, are filled with specific content and are related to the subject area. Outside of this specific content, form cannot exist, and in itself does not determine anything from a practical point of view. The form is always meaningful, and the content is always formalized. The distinction between its truth and correctness is connected with these aspects of thinking. Truth refers to the content of thoughts, and correctness refers to their form.

Considering the truth of thinking, formal logic proceeds from the fact that truth is understood as the content of thought that corresponds to reality itself. If the thought in its content does not correspond to reality, then it is false. From here truth of thinking- this is its fundamental property, manifested in the ability to reproduce reality as it is, to correspond to it in its content. A falsity– the property of thinking to distort this content, to pervert it.

Correct thinking- this is a property that also manifests itself in relation to reality. It means the ability of thinking to reproduce empirical reality in thought - objects, phenomena and relationships between them. Conversely, incorrect thinking means its ability to distort the connections and relationships of reality.

Formal logic is distracted from the specific content of thoughts, and not from content in general. Therefore, it takes into account the truth or falsity of the judgments being studied. However center of gravity she transfers to correct thinking. Moreover, the logical structures themselves are considered regardless of their logical content. Since the task of logic includes analysis precisely correct thinking, then it is also called logical by the name of this science. Correct (logical) thinking has the following essential features: certainty, consistency, consistency and validity.

Certainty- this is the property of correct thinking to be reproduced in the structure of thought real signs and the relationships between the objects and phenomena themselves, their relative stability. It finds its expression in the accuracy and clarity of thought, the absence of confusion and confusion in the elements of thought and the thoughts themselves.

Consistency– the property of correct thinking to avoid contradictions in the structure of thought that do not exist in the reflected reality. It manifests itself in the inadmissibility of logical contradictions in strict reasoning.

Subsequence– the property of correct thinking to reproduce through the structure of thought those structural connections and relationships that are inherent in reality itself, the ability to follow the “logic of things and events.” It is revealed in the consistency of thought with itself.

Validity – there is a property of correct thinking to reflect cause-and-effect relationships and relationships between objects and phenomena of the surrounding world. It manifests itself in establishing the truth or falsity of a thought on the basis of other thoughts, the truth of which was previously established.

Violation of correct thinking leads to logical errors. Compliance with correctness - yes law of thinking.

Thus, formal logic, in order to be a means of discovering truth, must, based on the study of the formal structures of abstract thinking, preserve and take into account the logical correctness of reasoning, determined by logical laws (will be discussed further).

What aspects of abstract thinking does formal logic study?

Firstly, it considers abstract thinking as a tool for understanding the world, as a means of obtaining formally true knowledge.

Secondly, she is interested in the practical effectiveness and correctness of indirect (inferential) knowledge obtained from previously established and verified truths without recourse to experience, but only as a result of taking into account formal logical laws and applying the corresponding rules of abstract thinking.

Thirdly, abstract thinking is considered as a formal process that has its own special structure, which differs from the structure of the objectively true content of thinking.

That is why formal logic allows one to abstract from the content of an object and focus attention only on the forms in which a particular thought process occurs. These aspects of the interdependence of logic and thinking determine the features of formal logic as a science.

So, formal logic– is the study of generally valid forms and means of thought necessary for rational knowledge of existence and its specific types. Generally valid forms of thought include concepts, judgments, and inferences. The generally valid means of thought are rules (principles), logical operations, techniques and procedures, formal logical laws underlying them, that is, everything that serves the purpose of implementing correct abstract thinking.

Consequently, the subject of formal logic is:

forms thought process– concepts, judgment, inference, hypothesis, proof, etc.;

laws to which abstract thinking is subject in the process of cognition of empirical reality and thinking itself;

methods for obtaining new inferential knowledge - similarities, differences, accompanying changes, residues, etc.;

methods of proving the truth or falsity of acquired knowledge - direct or indirect confirmation, refutation, etc.;

Thus, logic in the broadest understanding of its subject explores the structure of abstract thinking and reveals the underlying patterns. However, abstract thinking, generalized, indirectly and actively reflecting reality, is inextricably linked with language. Linguistic expressions are that reality, the structure and method of use of which gives us knowledge not only about the content of thoughts, but also about their form, about the laws of thinking. Therefore, in the study linguistic expressions and the relationship between them logic sees as one of its main tasks.

Logic: Textbook for students of law universities and faculties Ivanov Evgeniy Akimovich

Chapter I. The Subject of Logic

Chapter I. The Subject of Logic

LECTURE No. 4 Subject of logic 1. Sensation, perception and representation as forms of cognition of the surrounding world The subject of logic is understood differently by different scientists. Some indicate (2) as the subject of discussion, others adhere to a broader interpretation and