Sunday, June 16, 2013

Logic, how to separate the truth from fiction (#1598)

There are so many people trying to tell us what is the truth that we must be able to distinguish what is truth and what is not truth. The best way, along with common sense is through logic. How does logic work? Simple, it is like a math problem where the factors involved need to equal the facts in reality. There is no assumption, no guessing, no hoped for conclusion, just simple reality. Valid reasoning is the simplest way to describe the function of logic. In order to get to a "proof" we must first ask take a statement that can be broken down through a process. The most famous of these is that Socrates was mortal. How we get to this conclusion goes like this; All men are mortal, Socrates was a man, therefore Socrates was mortal. Simple enough to agree with. This is the same type of process we can apply to questionable conclusions offered as proof of truth. All men are bad, some men are not bad, therefore not all men are bad. The statement that all men are bad is shown to be false and therefore not a truth. These are simple examples of how logic can work to help us delineate the truth from fiction. The importance of sentence structure and the usage of the words within the sentence is keen to being able to apply logic as a rule on most every statement. In this day and age the problem most of us have with conversations is that most of us do not take the time to speak in complete sentences, which allows for false statements to easily become fact to many. Our unjust need to take shortcuts with our language must be curbed so that when we do speak and hear we are actually able to understand and test the premises behind the conclusions being offered.  

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