Foundation

I propose examination of 4 different languages of logic:
Aristotlean
Ramean
Cartesian
Baconian

This is certainly not an exhaustive examination of logic, but merely fleshing out a few tools to be used by writers.

The foundation of traditional logic was laid out by Aristotle.

The easiest way to think about this as a writer is that one starts out a thought, develops it and then brings it to a conclusion. If writers could keep this in mind, the beginning, middle and end of a thing, most writing would be comprehensible. Aristotle talks about this in his work Poetics.

More on this in a later post. What I promised is insight into the way we think. According to Aristotle's proponents, these suppositions were first collected in a work that his early followers put together from his writings: The Organon.

To boil it down, according to this there are four basic types of logic:
1. Affirmation
2. Non-contradiction
3. Excluded middle
4. Sufficient reason

Affirmation: a thing is what it is. Most sentences and statements carry this quality: they are an attempt to state the way things are. Algebraically we can express this as A=A.

Non-contradiction: a thing is not what it is not. We often define or give further clarity to things by showing what they are not. Algebra: A≠B (a is not equal to b).

Excluded middle: given two contradictory statements, at least one is false. Algebra: If A≠B, then C=A or C=B or C=neither. (Lesson for writers: avoid contradiction). Good writers point out this missing middle.

Sufficient Reason: there must be (enough) proof that sufficiently follows the presuppositions, Algebra: X=Y, Y=Z, therefore, X=Z. This is the syllogism. Many people think it is the basis of thought. It is certainly useful in writing.

The key is to begin to see how to carefully and clearly use these tools in the things we write.