Meaning of learning formal logic

The significance of studying formal logicFormal logic is the science of forms of thought, the laws of forms of thought and simple logical methods. The author of the following chapter on "concepts", to talk about their own experience. What is a concept? Concept is a way of thinking that reflects the essential properties of an object. Concepts and words are closely linked. Phrase is the concept of the material shell. Concepts can be formed, exist and expressed only with the help of words. Concept is the content of the word thought. Express a certain concept of the words have a specific meaning. Connotation and extension are two logical features of the concept. Connotation, is reflected in the concept of the essential attributes. Extension, is the sum of the objects reflected in the concept. The more the connotation of a concept, the smaller its extension; the less the connotation of a concept, the larger its extension. Examples of connotation and extension: enterprise management is (enterprise in order to achieve its certain purpose, and the rational organization of human and material factors, planned to command, regulate and supervise its economic activities of the various functions of the general term), mainly including (planning, production, technology, equipment, materials, labor, cost, financial management). The first bracketed text is the connotation of "enterprise management", the second bracketed text is the extension of "enterprise management". According to the different extensions, concepts can be divided into individual concepts and universal concepts; according to the different connotations, concepts can be divided into set concepts and non-set concepts, affirmative concepts and negative concepts, entity concepts and attribute concepts. There is a story in the Qing Dynasty: once Emperor Qianlong wanted to burn a batch of forbidden books, Ji Xiaolan wanted to save them because of his love for books, so he said to Qianlong, "I implore Your Majesty to shed four books and give them to me." Qianlong did not think much, agreed, asked him which four books. Ji Xiaolan said nonchalantly, "The four books of the Scriptures, the History, the Sons, and the Collected Works." Qianlong had no choice but to give him all these books. Ji Xiaolan intentionally "four books" this non-collective concept into "scripture", "history", "son", "collection" such a collection of concepts. This had an unexpected effect. Let's analyze the following example: China's institutions of higher learning are distributed throughout the country. Peking University is an institution of higher learning in China, therefore, Peking University is also distributed all over the country. This sentence is obviously wrong. The "institutions of higher learning" in "China's institutions of higher learning are distributed throughout the country" is a set concept, and the "institutions of higher learning" in "Peking University is China's institution of higher learning" is a set concept. "Peking University is a higher education institution in China" is a non-collective concept. Here, two different concepts expressed in the same phrase are used as the same concept, making the mistake of confusing set concepts with non-set concepts. The relations between concept extensions can be divided into two categories: compatible relations and incompatible relations. Compatible relations can be divided into same relations, genus relations, cross relations. Incompatible relations can be further categorized as all-different relations, contradictory relations, and oppositional relations. For example, novels and plays are both literary works. "The novel and the play are in opposition to each other. There is a genus relationship between "novel" and "play" and "literary work". The fundamental role of formal logic is to help people improve their logical thinking skills. Thus, formal logic plays a role in the following three aspects: (a) formal logic can help us to acquire new knowledge and better learn the existing scientific knowledge; (b) formal logic can help us to express our thoughts correctly; (c) formal logic can help us to refute sophistry powerfully. If a person loses the ability to think logically, he loses the soul of independent thinking and innovation. The significance of learning logic is too great to be ignored.