Topics Logic

Question What is the relation between logic and good reasoning? I once thought that logic was the science or study of good reasoning, but I've read a few things (mostly online, I confess) saying that logic is only a matter of "formalizing" reasoning (making it clear and unambiguous, and perhaps making possible that computers reproduce it). But whether reasoning is good should not be a concern for logic. Is that so? And if it is so, what is the current name for the study of good reasoning?

Accepted:
February 9, 2011

Comments

The business of logic is the evaluation of reasoning -- "do these premisses really support that conclusion"? But we want a systematic theory, not just piecemeal case studies. It is difficult to be systematic about reasoning presented in a ordinary language (think e.g. of the different ways we have of expressing generalizations in English using all/any/every/each, and the subtly different ways these behave). So ever since Aristotle, logicians have been attracted by a "divide and rule" approach. Separate the task of rendering arguments into a clear, unambiguous, tidy formalized framework, from the task of evaluating the resulting formally regimented arguments. The prime point of the formalization, though, is to aid the evaluation of arguments and develop proof-techniques for warranting complex inferences. Logicians still care whether reasoning is good!