Logic (from the Greek λογικός logikos) is the study of reasoning. Logic
is used in most intellectual activity, but is studied primarily in the
disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, and computer science. Logic
examines general forms which arguments may take, which forms are valid,
and which are fallacies. It is one kind of critical thinking. In
philosophy, the study of logic falls in the area of epistemology, which
asks: "How do we know what we know?" In mathematics, it is the study of
valid inferences within some formal language.
Logic has origins in several ancient civilizations, including ancient
India, China and Greece. Logic was established as a discipline by
Aristotle, who established its fundamental place in philosophy. The
study of logic was part of the classical trivium.
Logic is often divided into two parts, inductive reasoning and deductive
reasoning. The first is drawing general conclusions from specific
examples, the second drawing logical conclusions from definitions and
axioms. A similar dichotomy, used by Aristotle, is analysis and
synthesis. Here the first takes an object of study and examines its
component parts. The second considers how parts can be combined to form a
whole.
