- Definitions of Logic
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).See also
*
Logic 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".
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