On Logic and the Art Behind
Logic is a word we often encounter in its abstract context. Although we all understand its overall meaning, there are not so many people who can quite point their finger on it due to the fact, that it is so elementary, and on the same hand so complex a principle, that as a paradox, it is quite difficult to comprehend its essence.
Nevertheless, we can think of logic as the universal tool to understand the world around us.
WHAT WE CALL LOGIC
As logic is simply a capability to predict a reaction based on an action, we can substitute the word for "understanding a causality". There are two elementary principles responsible for our perception of causality: memory and the perception of time.
Let us now take a moment on the latter. What we perceive as time is principally a perception of an enormous number of causalities around us, from the movement of celestial objects to a heartbeat. The very thing that makes these what we call time is memory. Every timeline must have some reference point and these are created by our minds, in the form of memories, thus allowing us to remember the action of a particular reaction.
Then we can safely assume that logic depends greatly on the developement of brain and its evolution.
However, we can differentiate between two kinds of logic, the congenital and the acquired.
FROM EARLY DAYS
The congenital logic it the kind we have at our command from the day we are born. Based on its sensory perceptions, a baby can remember its mother and establish that the mother is not a threat. When crawling or walking, it can avoid obstacles, which however banal it seems, is a sign of a problem solving ability. On the first encounter with fire, the child will learn that it burns. Even despite the fact that the child does not understand why, it will establish that if it tries to touch the flame, it will burn, undoubtedly. The same applies to the law of gravity, for example.
With that in mind, we can say that the child will perceive action and the immediate reaction, and will assume that there is a direct connection, thus will understand a specific causality. If so, then we can also say that animals do have this ability to understand causalities based on sensory perceptions as well.
Consequently, the congenital logic is a zoic capacity.
WHAT MAKES US HUMAN
Human race has differentiated from the rest of the animal world a long time ago, and although it still falls under the animal world principles, it differs greatly in the cerebral capacity. A human is the perfect copycat of our world. It can observe, remember, understand and then recreate or imitate nearly anything, depending only on its intellect and skill. As skill is also a zoic trait, we tend to assume that the intellect is indeed what makes us what we are as a human race. Yet intellect is merely an empty bowl which has to be filled.
We can think of intellect as "how complex a problem can an individual solve?". For example, when two individuals, one far less intelligent than the other, are presented with the functions f(x): y=x and g(x): y=1/2x(5x^(1/3)+sin(3x^2)+cos(4x)), the former individual would for the specific "x" be able to solve f(x) but not g(x), while the latter would solve both. Apart from the factor of knowledge, the principle of solving g(x) is the individual's ability to simplify the problem and solving it by parts. The factor responsible for that, the intellect, we can imagine then as a potential to recognize a pattern, or a logical relation.
However, for someone to recognize means to had encountered before.
WITH PRACTICE COMES THE MASTERY
When presented with a particular phenomenon, an individual will by observation and analysis establish certain understanding of it. If the complexicity and correctness of this understanding would depend solely on intelligence, the individual would learn a bare minimum. The critical factor here is acquired logic, which we can think of as a collection of remembered and understood patterns. If the intellect allows us to recognize more complex patterns, acquired logic then allows us to instinctively predict, interpolate and use those patterns for our advantage and to fill out other incomplete understandings.
These principles then apply to all aspects of our lives, from science to basic social interactions. And as with practice comes the mastery, the acquired logic must be cultivated to fulfill the potential of one's intellect.
That is indeed when it becomes an art.
An art of understanding.
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