首页 >> 9 EPISTEMOLOGY >> THE ESSENCE OF FORMAL LOGIC: SIMPLE AND USEFUL RULES THAT ARE NOT OBJECTIVELY TRUE
THE ESSENCE OF FORMAL LOGIC: SIMPLE AND USEFUL RULES THAT ARE NOT OBJECTIVELY TRUE
来源:WOP in Education, Social Sciences and Psycholopy, Volume:107 (March 30-31, 2024), pp.116-123. | 作者:Yong Duan | 发布时间: 2024-06-24 | 2260 次浏览 | 分享到:
Abstract: Logic is the rule of rational thinking. When thinking is expressed in language, logic becomes the rule of language. Logic is not the law of objective things, each discipline studies different laws, while logic is applicable to all disciplines because all disciplines use rational thought and language. Logical judgment is not necessarily the truth. In the subjective world, the simple atomic concepts can never change. In the objective world, concrete things are complicated, so A can be different from A. The rules of formal logic, such as the law of identity, the law of exclusion of middle and the law of non-contradiction, are the rules of the subjective world, and are the methods to deal with the logical structures in the subjective world, rather than the methods to deal with the real things in the objective world. The understanding of any objective thing requires a process from simple to complex. In the beginning stage of cognition, we must simplify and abstract complex objects, and use formal logic when simplifying and abstracting. For example, suppose that the Chaobai River this year is the same river as the Chaobai River in the past ten years, and then use the hydrological data of the past ten years to predict the situation of the river this year. This hypothesis is simple and useful but not objectively true. Making objective things obey the rules of formal logic is entirely artificial. Because only by following these rules can we derive useful conclusions. The purpose of simplification is to make the sentences do not contain contradictions, easy to thinking and calculation. The actual objective things contain contradictions and do not conform to formal logic. So dialectical logic negates the rules of formal logic.
Key words: Logic philosophy; Formal logic; Dialectical logic; Useful; Objectivity

In addition, there is no transcendental logic in the world, even if there were, it could not be described. The logic we usually use is based on experience through induction, Western philosophers always talk about a priori logic is completely wrong. We must adopt a pragmatic attitude towards the right and wrong of logic, and whether the logic we use is correct depends on whether it solves problems, rather than whether it conforms to a priori logic.

3. Formal Logic

3.1 Subjective Things Follow Formal Logic

Logic includes formal logic and dialectical logic, both of which are the rules of rational thinking, but they are very different. Formal logic follows the law of identity, the law of exclusion of middle and the law of non-contradiction. A is A, A is not non-A, and if A belongs to B and B belongs to C, then A belongs to C. Logical relations like this belong to formal logic. What is the nature of formal logic? Why should our thinking obey the rules of formal logic?

Every objective thing is infinitely complex, and the experience or concept in the human mind is always very simple at the beginning, and then the concept can gradually develop from simple to complex. Simple concepts abide by the law of identity, that is, are always the same as themselves, expressed as A=A. It's not going to happen that A is not equal to A. In the objective world, concrete things are complicated, so it is possible that A is not equal to A. For example, I am a very different person today than I was ten years ago. You can't step into the same river twice. No two leaves in the world are the same. But in the subjective world, I, as a simple atomic concept, can never change. In order to express my change, many comments must be added to the concept of "I", for example, I of today, I of ten years ago, and so on. "I of today" is a combinatorial or molecular concept that combines the three atomic concepts of "I" , "of" and "today". This molecular concept is different from another molecular concept, "I of ten years ago," but the atomic concept of "I" has not changed. Every molecular concept is always the same as itself.