Logic. Essays

This book is about thinking as a tool.
It's about how to learn to think clearly, consistently, and critically, to understand arguments, errors, and complex ideas, using the language of logic – in the native Belarusian language.

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These popular essays titled "Logic," written by Associate Professor, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences Pavel Barkouski, are intended for people of various ages who are interested in one of the oldest sciences in the history of humankind. The book can be useful for teachers and students of philosophical and natural science specialties at universities and secondary specialized educational institutions.

INTRODUCTION

These popular essays are designed for independent and non-independent assimilation of the science of formal logic (with elements of non-classical logic) by all who are interested in understanding and mastering it. The book contains all the main sections of a logic course according to existing curricula, allowing for an understanding of the range of questions and tasks that logic poses to thought. It can be useful both for improving knowledge in one of the oldest branches of philosophical knowledge and for acquiring competencies necessary for the development of a clear, consistent, critical mind, which allows for good analysis of practical and theoretical problems, finding the most effective schemes for their solution, and working comprehensively with complex objects and processes of reality.

Although the main task of the essays is to present the main issues of formal logic in a concise but understandable form using visual diagrams and practical examples, they also help in preparing for independent problem-solving in the learning process and professional activities. In addition to information on methods of working with the three main forms of rational thinking and studying the laws of logic, the textbook contains a brief overview of the main directions of non-classical logic, which provides some understanding of the modern sphere of logic's application in cognition and engineering and technical activities, as well as elements of the general theory of dialogue and argumentation, which introduces the reader to the basic issues of rhetoric.

It should also be noted that the publication of this book in Belarusian aims to address the lack of relevant materials for mastering the conceptual apparatus of logic in the national language. With rare exceptions of a few author's programs, the logic course is practically not yet prepared for its study in Belarusian, which this popular edition attempts to rectify to some extent. Also, for the needs of developing scientific terminology of logic in Belarusian, an appendix at the end of the publication offers the main concepts of logic discussed in the textbook, with equivalents in Russian. I would like to thank the participants of the terminological seminar – Ya. Kuntsevich, V. Stanisheusky, I. Dubianetskaia, P. Rudkouski, K. Zhuk, L. Barscheuski, and others – for their active cooperation in its compilation and discussion.