Where does logic came from?

[Pag_Hingowa]

How did we acquire logic? Was it evolutionary? How is it that Filipino or European logicians do very much the same work as American ones do. I am asking because logic seems so fundamental to everything we do.

 

[Pfaffenhoffen]

How did we acquire logic? Was it evolutionary? How is it that Filipino or European logicians do very much the same work as American ones do. I am asking because logic seems so fundamental to everything we do.

Does it come from intelligence?

 

[Perplexity]

I know of two senses the word logic can take in the literature.

The first is the study of _____. Some authors say deduction, others say arguments etc. The key here is it’s a study. So, on this understanding, logic couldn’t pre-date a studier.

The second sense is of a formal language supplemented by rules of inference and or axioms. A formal language is a stipulated language consisting of a vocabulary and grammatical rules which explain when a string of said vocabulary constitutes a meaningful statement (a.k.a. a well formed formula, wff, pronounced woof). A part of this involves assigning every wff a truth-condition, this is known as interpreting the language.The formal language is then augmented by rules which state when certain wff’s can be deduced from other wff’s validly.

On this, logic is kind of an arbitrary thing. Logicians build their own logics by including certain axioms, or rejecting them. They’ll play with their logics and see what paradoxes arise. Some logics reject the ‘law’ of non-contradiction or excluded middle etc.

So, on either sense, I don’t think they can exist apart from minds.

Edit**

Most logicians include the latter in the former.

 

[tonyrey]

We acquire logic by using our power of reason. Its principles reflect the nature of reality, e.g.:

The law of non-contradiction states that one cannot say of something that it is and that it is not in the same respect and at the same time. - Aristotle

 

[Alterum]

Actually, St Thomas Aquinas taught that the first principles of theoretical and practical reason are God-given, in the sense that the ‘created light’ of the intellect participates in the ‘Uncreated Light’ of Divine Reason.

So, for instance, the law of non-contradiction (in theoretical reason) and the axiom that we are to do good and do no evil (in practical reason) are deliverances of the ‘intellectus’.

 

[ASimon]

How did we acquire logic? Was it evolutionary? How is it that Filipino or European logicians do very much the same work as American ones do. I am asking because logic seems so fundamental to everything we do.

I believe it is evolutionary. Being able to recognize patterns in events in our world lies at the heart of the logical exercise. You can see lower mammals demonstrate this ability. So I tend to think the basic neural infrastructure to recognize those patterns is ingrained into us, and it just takes living in our world for any length of time to begin layering real-world experience onto that.

 

[tonyrey]

I believe it is evolutionary. Being able to recognize patterns in events in our world lies at the heart of the logical exercise. You can see lower mammals demonstrate this ability. So I tend to think the basic neural infrastructure to recognize those patterns is ingrained into us, and it just takes living in our world for any length of time to begin layering real-world experience onto that.

Your assertion implies that the basic neural infrastructure has succeeded in recognising that it is no more than a basic neural infrastructure! Quite a remarkable achievement…

 

[tonyrey]

Actually, St Thomas Aquinas taught that the first principles of theoretical and practical reason are God-given, in the sense that the ‘created light’ of the intellect participates in the ‘Uncreated Light’ of Divine Reason.

So, for instance, the law of non-contradiction (in theoretical reason) and the axiom that we are to do good and do no evil (in practical reason) are deliverances of the ‘intellectus’.

I take it for granted that our power of reason is far more than “a basic neural infrastructure”!