Relationship between logic and science. Science is a current that includes all those disciplines capable of producing proven knowledge in an empirical way, in order to produce explanations about the phenomena that make up reality. Logic, on the other hand, is a branch of philosophy that is responsible for studying human thought, emphasizing its way of being produced.
Is it possible to establish a relationship between logic and science? To illustrate the node between these two strands, we must understand much more the concept of each. So, let’s start with the definition of logic.
Logic: the study of valid and invalid thinking
Logic is a branch of philosophy that is responsible for understanding the way in which human thought is produced, in order to approach the truth. It is conceived, in logic, that thought is composed of reasoning, inferences, propositions, concepts and demonstrations, which thus defines its formal object.
This branch is one of the so-called formal sciences, since it starts from the a priori reasoning to produce its approaches. In turn, it is known that logic is one of the oldest aspects, having history in different civilizations such as Greece, India and China, in their oldest populations.
There is a classification of logic, which allows us to find some specialties such as Aristotelian logic, philosophical logic, mathematical logic, etc. However, we can define logic, in essence, as the study of human thought as a process generated by reasoning and its respective components.
Science: the production of empirical knowledge
Science is a term used to refer to all those disciplines of a scientific nature, that is, whose research methods are based on the scientific method. The sciences are thus capable of establishing laws and postulates for the explanation of phenomena present in reality.
Throughout history, science has achieved multiple contributions by producing knowledge of great useful value , being able to develop multiple areas such as physics, biology, human behavior, economics, etc.
This is because the knowledge produced by science is completely empirical, and, therefore, verifiable. The rigor of its method is what allows to obtain a controlled and standardized research process, providing reliable results on the explanation of a phenomenon.
At present, we will find a wide range of sciences according to their object of study and their form of application. We can mention, at this point, the formal sciences, the factual sciences, the applied sciences, the social sciences and the human sciences.
Each of these branches derives in a slope of applications and professions that are responsible for generating increasingly optimized solutions to multiple objects of study. In this sense, science forms the body of practices capable of explaining and understanding a variety of elements present in life itself.
Faced with all the above, how can we relate logic and science respectively? Consider the following.
How is logic and science related?
It is true that logic and science can have a strong relationship with each other, since they could be conceived as parts of the same process oriented to the production of valid and useful knowledge itself.
Logic as a stage of science
Remember that the focus of science is to produce empirical knowledge, while logic is to understand thought from reasoning. Both seem to share a strong interest in valid knowledge, that is, it allows us to arrive at the most coherent explanation about a phenomenon or topic.
Logic seems to represent the primary interest of what we understand is the scientific method: the obtaining of empirical knowledge. In other words, logic prioritizes as much as science the attainment of high levels of knowledge, logic being an initial stage for research, while science serves as the very exercise of this search.
Talking about science is not only talking about methods and/or procedures, it also means reasoning the results obtained during an investigation. Therefore, logic would be implicit in the exercise of science, since it represents the process of reasoning that the scientist must contemplate to interpret his results.
Additionally, we can talk about the hypothesis approach, a process in which the scientist must develop multiple alternatives for the results obtained or to be obtained. Let’s remember that science is systematic, suggesting that findings should be able to connect with those to come.
It is vital, in this process, to contemplate the need to obtain valid knowledge, since this will guarantee the truly scientific scope of the research in question. This is how we can establish a relationship between logic and science.
Logic as a Science: Relationship Between Logic and Science
We have already mentioned that logic serves as a science of the formal type, so we will only limit ourselves to highlighting this point as a definitive node between logic and science respectively. Logic is legitimately considered a science, precisely, in the area of formal sciences, along with mathematics and statistics.
Reasoning and scientific character
We have seen logic and science as two elements that make possible, in their conjunction, the scope of knowledge whether it is called valid or scientific.. Logic is the drive that figures today with science, given the need to always obtain knowledge that adds value to society and that can be contrasted.
Perhaps logic, as one of the oldest disciplines now considered science today, was part of one of the antecedents of the scientific exercise, given the urgent need to generate empirical knowledge in the understanding of the phenomena of the world. A fact that today appears as an achievement thanks to the scope and great contributions of science itself.
This is the way in which we can illustrate the relationship that exists between logic and science respectively, two aspects that, we could say, have been responsible for the advances that societies enjoy today through their findings.
Read also: Relationship between logic and education; Relationship between logic and critical thinking; Relationship between logic and philosophy; Relationship between logic and psychology; Relationship between logic and reasoning; Relationship between logic and language; Relationship between logic and law; Relationship between logic and mathematics
External resource: Wikipedia
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