Definitions of Logic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Most treatises on logic begin with a discursion on the difficulty of defining the subject. Nevertheless, a definition is felt to be necessary. Here is a short summary of Definitions of logic that logicians throughout history have attempted, arranged in approximate chronological order.

  • The tool for distinguishing between the true and the false (Averroes).
  • The science of reasoning, teaching the way of investigating unknown truth in connection with a thesis (Robert Kilwardby).
  • The art whose function is to direct the reason lest it err in the manner of inferring or knowing (John Poinsot).
  • The art of conducting reason well in knowing things (Antoine Arnauld).
  • The right use of reason in the inquiry after truth (Isaac Watts).
  • The Science, as well as the Art, of reasoning (Richard Whately).
  • The science of the operations of the understanding which are subservient to the estimation of evidence (John Stuart Mill).
  • The science of the laws of discursive thought (James McCosh).
  • The science of the most general laws of truth (Gottlob Frege).
  • The science which directs the operations of the mind in the attainment of truth (George Hayward Joyce).
  • The branch of philosophy concerned with analysing the patterns of reasoning by which a conclusion is drawn from a set of premisses (Collins English Dictionary)
  • The formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning (Penguin Encyclopedia).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Frege, G. (1897) Logic, transl. Long, P. & White, R., Posthumous Writings
  • Joyce, G.H. Principles of Logic, London 1908
  • Kilwardby, R. The Nature of Logic, from De Ortu Scientarum, transl. Kretzman, in Kretzmann N. & Stump E., The Cambridge Translation of Medieval Philosophical Texts, Vol I. Cambridge 1988, pp. 262 ff.)
  • McCosh, J., The Laws of Discursive Thought, London 1870.
  • Mill, J.S. A System of Logic, (8th edition) London 1904.
  • Poinsot, J., 'Outlines of Formal Logic', from his Ars Logica Lyons 1637, ed. and transl. F.C. Wade, 1955.
  • Watts, I., Logick, 1725.
  • Whateley, R., Elements of Logic.