Logic

Logic is the study of reasoning --- the nature of good (correct) reasoning and of bad (incorrect)
reasoning. Its focus is the method or process by which an argument unfolds, not whether any arbitrary
statement or series of statements is "true" or accurate. Logicians study and analyze arguments,
premises, inferences, propositions, conditional statements, and symbolic forms.

LOGIC as science and art which helps our mind to distinguish between the correct from incorrect.

- Purpose is to attain clarity in our thoughts and validity in our processes of inference.
- Specific task is to separate the good from the bad reasoning
- Three distinct activities are: ANALYSIS, CLASSIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT
- ANALYSIS: determine between argument and non-argument
- CLASSIFICATION: determine between deductive and inductive reasoning
- ASSESSMENT: determine correctness and incorrectness of certain arguments

IMPORTANCE OF LOGIC

- A means to obtain the truth

- We are convinced that knowledge is better than ignorance
- Makes one a better person
- We are able to determine the value of our existence
- Enhances our ability to clarify our belief
- FIDES QUAERENS INTELLECTUM, faith follows reason so that our beliefs will become greater
value
- Aid us in our quest for knowledge
- We can make wise decision

Kinds of Logic

Aristotelian logic
Logic that is based on language and the analysis of the way we think with words
and phrases is often called term logic or Aristotelian logic. This is what we are going to
look at here, since it is the oldest and and most fundamental logic. There are other
logical systems that try to reduce terms to symbols or other mathematical principles in
order to remove some of the ambiguity or lack of precision of language.

Categorical Syllogism
The argument is the next act of the mind. The mind seeks knowledge by
putting together statements of truth or falsity that relate to each other in order to
come to a conclusion. That is called an argument, or in philosophy a syllogism. It is
also called the process of deduction, or the reasoning process.