Reasoning, Logic, and Human Philosophy: An In-Depth Analysis
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Reasoning is a mental process, such as imagining or remembering, which draws conclusions from existing data. Both the findings and data are expressed in statements, so reasoning extracts or infers certain statements (conclusions) from other statements.
Reasoning, therefore, is a conclusion; it is the process that occurs over several subsequent statements where one necessarily follows from the others.
Reasoning is a characteristic and spontaneous thought, but we do not always reason correctly; we do not always reach conclusions that must be derived from the premises. That is, we do not always make the correct inference. Psychology studies reasoning as an act and as an activity of the subject.
Logic, however, is interested in reasoning as a result or product and therefore studies formally valid reasoning.
An argument is valid when its conclusion necessarily follows if its premises are true. The validity of an argument is independent of the truth or falsity of its premises and conclusion. An argument is valid when it is impossible for its conclusion to be false if its premises are true.
LOGIC: Logic is a science, and like all sciences, its practice stems from previous crafts: oratory skills of politicians, courts, etc. The art of argument, discussion, and persuasion in Greece gave way to a policy to understand the rules of discourse and allowed distinguishing right from wrong arguments. Logic is linked with language. Aristotle is often attributed to the authorship of logic as a scientific discipline and its definition as a technique of formal reasoning.
Today, we find logic in the theories of computing and cybernetics, which have enabled the construction of electronic computers. Computers have built massively productive and educational systems to execute routine tasks of artificial intelligence. These developments are linked to military needs (like the global 2G) and technological needs associated with the production processes of our societies. The Human Theme of Philosophy: The human being, in the widest sense of the term, is for philosophy a problem to be solved before considering any other question. To understand this, Kant’s view (18th century) is very useful: the field of philosophy is summarized in the following questions: What can I know? What should I do? What can I hope for? What is man?
The first question deals with metaphysics, the second with morality, the third with religion, and the fourth with anthropology. But in reality, all could be included in anthropology because the first three relate to the last. Kant’s meaning is that without knowing what man is, I cannot know what I can know, do, and hope for. So the first three questions refer to the last because, as a specific type of being, we can know what to do and expect something.
The human being is the common thread of philosophy for any questions that arise because: 1) the human being is the one who asks from itself in a determined historical moment.
2) The human being is the one who can know, live, and act in society and question its limits and possibilities. Perhaps one of the most important issues for humanity is approached by Scheler in his “Man’s Place in the Cosmos,” relating to: – What are the fundamentals of human nature? – What mechanisms put in place the human machinery? – To what extent do we fit in the universe? These issues have often served as ideological bait. Philosophy, however, seeks to define these issues starting from the current state of scientific disciplines. It recognizes that we are in a terminal process, from which we can reflect on previous processes that led to the historical development of humankind up to our Western culture.
Fundamentals:
Philogenesis: the generation of species as some come from others. This process is known as evolution, and although its interpretation raises complex issues, it is an indisputable fact. Life appears as a succession of stepped forms in which derived from the previous post. All known species are the result of the evolution of other precedents. Accordingly, all groups of living things derive from the basic life forms that appeared 2 or 3 million years ago (these are simple chemical compounds such as methane, water, carbon dioxide, etc.).
Anthropogenesis: the genesis of the human species, related to the family of great apes or Ponginae. If at the end of the Tertiary period this relationship seemed near and narrow, subsequent evolution has removed the human species from other species in both psychic and somatic aspects, showing numerous anatomical differences. These fundamental aspects are the following: – Bipedalism: the upright position was very advantageous for searching for food, and other anatomical changes also resulted in the specialization of the feet, changes in the pelvis and spine, and increased brain size.
– Release of the hand: their role in the march; the monkeys’ hands pass to specialize in handling and in the most delicate tasks. This release also modifies the human jaw and face. – Telenfalization: the process of development of the nervous system and centralization, which made possible our higher faculties. The development of brain size parallels the development of the upright position and increasing manual dexterity.
Sociogenesis: human beings are characterized by their training and development, and by the extensive period of infantile dependency. In almost all species of vertebrates and their descendants go through a period, longer or shorter depending on the parent. In the case of humans, the period of dependence is greater due to the slow pace of somatic and physiological development, which has an impact on the psychological and social aspects: the child is forming his personality and acquiring the skills and culture of their society in a long learning process. While on somatic and physiological levels the difference is in the size and complexity of the brain, psychologically and socially, the difference is that while animals live within their species, human beings live in the culture of society and are free to direct their behavior.
Anthropogenesis is inseparable from sociogenesis: we are social by nature. When the first human characters appeared, the first forms of social relationships had already emerged. The origin of society coincides with the origin of man. The single person does not exist and never existed. We tend to understand society in a positive sense as cooperation and harmony, but it never has been solely that. Human beings are social, but that does not stop conflict.