logic
Logic studies exact reasoning: it examines laws of inference, conditions of valid argument, and the difference between form and content of thought.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Definitions
- philos. Branch of philosophy and scientific method centred on the laws of correct thought: it asks what makes an inference valid, how judgment and classification are structured, and how the form of an argument differs from its empirical content.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - hist. lex. / didactic In historical-lexical and classroom talk: inquiry into modes, laws, and shapes of thought, and into correct thinking; classically near a theory of inference and a school course in exact reasoning.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - philos. / didactic In school and handbook maps: a frame that separates pure or formal logic (laws of thought as form) from applied or material logic (those laws used on content and domains), and also a treatise or textbook devoted to the field (a logic).
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - colloq. In casual and press talk: a tag for consistency, for "sound sense in argument", or for a charge that premises fail to support a conclusion. Range is informal, pending review confirmation.
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Examples
- The seminar treated logic as a question about validity of inference, and set cognitive psychology aside as a report of how people actually think: one side seeks formal correctness, the other catalogues mechanisms.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - Her textbook placed logic beside dialectics and rhetoric as peer divisions, linking a theory of judgment to a theory of inference without merging the three.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - In the lecture they noted that Webster 1913 records English Logic as the science or art of exact reasoning, while the 1921 Arct entry for Polish Logika points to thought-laws and to correct thinking as lexical evidence only.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - A columnist warned that brushing a quarrel aside as "no logic" often dodges any account of the premises and any naming of a concrete formal error.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - She contrasted a logical claim about validity with a bare catalogue of preferences, asking where persuasion ends and a sound inference begins.
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Usage
Casual English often treats the lemma as consistency, as scolding, or as vague "sound sense" without method. Exact prose marks three layers: philosophical (laws of thought, validity of inference, form versus content), didactic-lexical (correct thinking as a taught science; theory of inference), and historical notes on English Logic / Logical / Logician in Webster and Skeat, plus Polish Logika / Logiczny in Arct. Name the layer you mean. Otherwise the label slides into cognitive psychology, dispute dialectics, and empty charges of "illogic".
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)On the English side, Webster 1913 clusters Logic with Logical, Logically, Logicality, Logicalness, and Logician. The headword covers exact reasoning, pure and formal thought, and laws of pure thinking; it also notes a treatise sense (as Mill's Logic) and pure versus applied logic. Skeat 1910 lists LOGIC under correct reasoning and ties logical, logically, and logician to Greek logos through Latin logica and Old French logique. Exact quotation sits in the etymology field.
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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913; W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1910, open sourceArct (9th ed., 1921) prints Logika with a Greek marker and glosses it as study of how thought proceeds, of its rules and shapes, of correct thinking, and as a theory of inference, plus logiczność and konsekwentność. Nearby stand Logiczny and Logiczność. Loika redirects to Logika. That Polish evidence supports the sister lemma only; it is not copied into this English article as a definition.
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Editorial team; facts: M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921, open sourceFrequent pairings: formal logic, material logic, logical conclusion, logical fallacy, laws of logic. Logician names a person skilled in the field; logical is the adjective; logically the adverb. Precise usage keeps the term apart from psychology of thinking, from rhetoric as persuasion alone, and from dialectics as art of dispute. Borders still shift by author. Brückner 1927 lists no separate lemma logika / logik*.
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Editorial team; facts: A. Brückner, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego, 1927 (no separate lemma logika), open sourceWord forms
Regular English noun. Usually uncountable when naming the discipline (logic is...). Countable in the treatise sense (a logic; Mill's Logic) and when contrasting rival systems or textbooks.
word forms
| przypadek | forma |
|---|---|
| uncountable (usual) | logic |
| countable singular (treatise / system) | a logic |
| countable plural | logics |
Word forms: Editorial team
Collocations
- formal logic
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - material logic
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - logical conclusion
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - logical fallacy
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - laws of logic
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Synonyms · Antonyms
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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (Logic = science or art of exact reasoning); M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 1921 (Logika = nauka o prawidłowym myśleniu), open sourcesource
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Etymology
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open sourcealso
W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910 (LOGIC; L. logica; Gk. logikē / logikos / logos / legein; Der. logical, logically, logician), open sourcealso
M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921 (Logika / Logiczny / Logiczność / Loika), open sourcealso
A. Brückner, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego, Kraków 1927 (no separate lemma logika / logik* in the index), open sourceRelated words
- logical , adjective: pertaining to logic; according to rules of logic; skilled in logic (Webster 1913 Logical; Skeat 1910 logical; Arct 1921 Logiczny as Polish parallel)
- logically , adverb (Webster 1913 Logically; Skeat 1910 logically)
- logician , noun: a person skilled in logic (Webster 1913 Logician; Cf. F. logicien; Skeat 1910 logician)
- logicality , noun: quality of being logical (Webster 1913 Logicality / Logicalness)
- dialectics , lexical neighbour (philos.): talk of discourse method and dispute against talk of formal validity of inference
- rhetoric , lexical neighbour (philos.): talk of persuasion against talk of validity of argument
- epistemology , lexical neighbour (philos.): talk of knowledge against talk of inference form
- logika , etymologically related Polish noun
Related entries
The same entry in Polish: logika
Questions and answers
What does logic mean?
It names study of exact reasoning: which laws govern inference, what makes an argument valid, and how form differs from content of thought. Philosophy treats it as a theory of correct thinking; classroom talk may say science of the laws of thought; informal talk often means consistency. Context decides.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Where does the word logic come from?
Greek supplies the base: logos for speech and thought, and logikos / logikē technē for the related art, passed through Latin logica and French logique. Skeat 1910 records LOGIC and ME. logike. Webster 1913 prints Logic with OE. logike. Arct 1921 enters Polish Logika under thought-laws. Brückner 1927 carries no separate lemma logika.
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Editorial team; facts: Webster 1913; W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1910; M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 1921; A. Brückner, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego, 1927, open sourceHow is logic pronounced, and what is the IPA?
IPA on this page is /ˈlɑdʒɪk/, from the CMUdict lemma logic via pipeline/ipa-en.mjs. Stress falls on the first syllable. The transcription follows American English CMU phones for this lemma.
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Editorial team; facts: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary via pipeline/ipa-en.mjs, open sourceHow does logic differ from dialectics?
Logic centres on laws of correct inference and on validity of argument form. Dialectics historically joins rules of reasoning to practice of dialogue and dispute. The fields meet without coinciding. Everyday speech often flattens both into vague talk about "clever argument".