Miss Mills Logic Class

Why Study Logic?

The most important reason we should study logic is because God has commanded us to not only love Him with all of our hearts, souls, and strength, but also our minds (Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30). In Acts 17: 2-4, Paul the apostle went to the synagogue and reasoned with the people out of the Scriptures, the fruit being that many were persuaded and believed in Jesus Christ.

Students are taught the letters of the alphabet before they are able to read. Logic students must be taught the basics such as categorical statements, the three laws of thought, the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning, etc. before they can learn how to recognize fallacious arguments. For example, the argument “Christianity may be true for you, but not for me” breaks The Law of Identity.

In order for the students to be able to form logically sound arguments as well as recognize fallacies in debates, they need a foundation. The foundation starts with statements and the relationships between different categorical statements. The square of opposition provides a way to visualize the relationships between statements. It looks like this:

A = All (subject) are (predicate).

E = No (subject) are (predicate).

I = Some (subject) are (predicate).

O = Some (subject) are not (predicate).

The notation (A, E, I, and O) of the four types of categorical statements listed above originates from two Latin words: affirmo and nego. Affirmo means “I affirm,” while nego means “I deny.” The definition of a categorical statement is simply “a statement which affirms or denies something about a given subject.” A and I are in AFFIRMO, which are statements that affirm something about a given subject, while E and O are in NEGO, which are statements that deny something about a given subject.

While this may seem specific and irrelevant to life, Logic applies to a myriad of areas: geometry, ethics, formal debates, critical thinking in general—the list could continue. The students have currently completed a large section about statements and their relationships. It will be exciting to embark on the next section, which includes the learning of syllogisms and various types of fallacies in arguments.