Shantila's Inside logic

#2

Logic is not only about kissing in airports or winning the lottery, of course. Actually we can reason, or think, about anything we can experience or imagine -- you name it, you can think about it. It is easy to find examples because we are thinking much of the time about all sorts of things such as where the car keys might be, or what to have for lunch, or how we can be happier or more compassionate.

Since the world is complex, our thoughts also can be complex. For that reason, one might expect logic to be complex. But, amazingly, it just so happens that logical reasoning is based on four simple concepts we have known and used since we were children. These four concepts are:

That is all (at least for the beginning). These four basic ideas are familiar to everybody (except, perhaps, Joe). To study logic we begin with this small conceptual core and study the rich structure that emerges out of relationships between these four simple, powerful concepts.

It is important to realize that we already understand each of these concepts. You don't have to take a logic class to understand them. A fairly young child would be able to figure out that she had won the lottery, if she were in Joe's situation with the winning ticket in her hands. What the study of logic does is to make explicit and clear what we already know. Even other animals like squirrels probably have some understanding of the basic concepts and may be said to reason as they move about in the world to find food, have sex, nurse babies, and evade predators.

Squirrels, however, cannot study logic because they are not capable of thinking about the relationships between these concepts, since they don't have a language to use to do that. But we can use English, as I am doing right now, to explain it. We also will develop our own simple symbolic language in order to make things clear and precise.

The study and practice of logic is a process of becoming more aware of what we already know. If you did not understand the basic concepts, you probably would not even be able to talk or think at all. So there is nothing magical or mysterious about logic. In the beginning it is important to see how simple it is. Logic is not complex. If you are looking for something magical or mysterious, then you will miss it. The challenge in the beginning is simply to focus patiently on the basic concepts and to become crystal clear about how they work.

And if, in this course, I present an explanation of something about logic, and you do not understand the explanation right away, please remember that this is NOT because you do not understand the basic concepts. Perhaps the explanation is not done well enough. Perhaps you have not focussed clearly enough on what is said. Perhaps a bit of both. It takes concentration and effort to master the skills of basic logic (and it takes similar skills to teach it well). It also takes practice. But, all the same, since we are not squirrels we can develop the skills. The skills arise from repeatedly turning our attention to our own basic understanding of the core concepts.