A importância da lógica para a cognição humana

In this lesson, Dr. Rafael Higashi, physician (52.74345-3), Master of Medicine, Neurologist (RQE: 13728) and Nutritionist (RQE: 19627) at the Higashi Clinic, explains logic as the science that studies the rules of human thought, how to think coherently, and how our rational faculty operates; that is, the principles that distinguish valid reasoning from invalid reasoning, in order to avoid errors and false conclusions. Aristotle (4th century BC) was the founder of logic as a systematic philosophical discipline. He discovered the syllogism (e.g., All A is B; C is A, therefore, C is B), where he realized that a correct argument has a structure, an explicit model of human rational functioning, which is defined by its identity, does not contradict itself, and excludes intermediate states; it either is, or it is not. More than 2,000 years passed before Ayn Rand offered an even deeper integration of the understanding of Aristotelian syllogism, explaining the genesis of concepts as mental units formed by the omission of measures. Rand provides the cognitive framework that makes the syllogism possible and necessary for its validity. Thus, Aristotelian logic ceases to be understood in contemporary times as a purely formal system and gains its original character as an instrument of reason oriented towards reality, inseparable from ontology, because concepts are integrations of reality, just as propositions are not arbitrary constructions. In short, logic is the science for optimizing our minds to our advantage within reality. More information on cognitive behavioral therapy and objectivist philosophy can be found at: www.clinicahigashi.com.br