logicn.
/ˈlɒdʒɪk/, U.S. /ˈlɑdʒɪk/ 1.
a. The branch of philosophy that treats of the forms of thinking in general, and more especially of inference and of scientific method. (Prof. J. Cook Wilson.) Also, since the work of Gottlob Frege (1848–1925), a formal system using symbolic techniques and mathematical methods to establish truth-values in the physical sciences, in language, and in philosophical argument.The proper scope of this department of study has been and is much controverted, and books on ‘logic’ differ widely in the range of subjects which they include. The definition formerly most commonly accepted is ‘the art of reasoning’; for various modern definitions see the later quots. At all times the popular conception of ‘logic’ has been largely that it is a system of rules for convincing or confounding an opponent by argument.In the Middle Ages logic (or dialectic n.1 1a) was one of the three sciences composing the ‘trivium’, the former of the two divisions of the seven ‘liberal arts’.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [noun]
logic1362
analysis1611
logic1637
philosophical logic1824
society > education > learning > study > subject or object of study > [noun] > a department of study > arts > trivium > subjects of
artc1300
logic1362
logical1551
language arts1896
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > predicate or propositional logic > [noun] > mathematical or symbolic logic
mathematical logic1853
symbolic logic1856
logic1903
logistic1918
1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. xi. 127 Lo, logyk I lered hire and al þe lawe after.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 251 Permenides satte ten ȝere on a roche, and byþouȝt hym of þe art of logik.
1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis III. 366 Sche made him such a Silogime, That he foryat al his logique.
c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 288 A Clerc ther was of Oxenford also That vn too logyk. hadde longe ygo.
1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde i. viii. 34 The seconde science is logyke... This science proueth the pro and the contra.
1551 T. Wilson Rule of Reason sig. Bj Logique is an art to reason probably.
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares 49 b Law, Logique, and the Swizers, may be hir'd to fight for any body.
1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Rr3v Logicke differeth from Rhetoricke..in this, that Logicke handleth Reason exacte, and in truth; and Rhetoricke handleth it, as it is planted in popular opinions and Manners. View more context for this quotation
1707 J. Floyer Physician's Pulse-watch 12 Galen brings too much Logick into his Treatise of Pulses, and mentions the Predicaments [etc.].
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. i. 353 Logic, or the science of the general principles of good and bad reasoning. View more context for this quotation
1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. Introd. 9 Logic is not the science of Belief, but the science of Proof, or Evidence.
a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1860) III. i. 4 Logic is the Science of the Laws of Thought as Thought.
1870 W. S. Jevons Elem. Lessons Logic i. 1 Logic may be most briefly defined as the Science of Reasoning.
1903 B. Russell Princ. Math. i. i. 4 But now Mathematics is able to answer, so far at least as to reduce the whole of its propositions to certain fundamental notions of logic.
1932 C. I. Lewis & C. H. Langford Symbolic Logic v. 118 This logistic method requires that the first branch of logic to be developed should be the calculus of propositions.
1967 A. E. Blumberg in Encycl. Philos. V. 13/1 What distinguishes modern from ancient and traditional logic is not only its reliance on symbolic techniques and mathematical methods but also its vastly greater formal power and range of application.
1969 F. Mondadori in R. Klibansky Contemp. Philos. III. 352 The phenomenological foundation of logic will make a basic use of Gödel's theorem.
b. plural in the same sense. (Cf. ethics n., etc.) Not now in general use.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [noun]
logic1362
analysis1611
logic1637
philosophical logic1824
1637 G. Gillespie Dispute against Eng.-Popish Ceremonies iii. vii. 120 I remember, that I heard in the logicks, of pars essentialis or Physica.
1651 J. Jane Εικων Ακλαστος 247 The Libellers Logickes serves him to as litle purpose, as his historie.
1698 J. Keill Exam. Theory Earth (1734) 89 The Theorist in this part has endeavoured to give us a proof of his great skill in Logicks.
1862 Dublin Univ. Cal. 48 The following books have been appointed for the Examination for Logical and Ethical Moderatorships:—Logics. All the Logics of the Undergraduate Course.
c. Used by translators and expounders of Hegel for: The fundamental science of thought and its categories (including metaphysics or ontology).
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > idealism > [noun] > Hegelianism > elements of
dialectic1797
idea1838
logic1838
Dasein1846
dialectics1851
Aufhebung1853
sublation1859
synthesis1896
1838 Penny Cycl. XII. 99/2 Hegel divides philosophy into three parts:—1. Logic, or the science of the idea in and by itself.
1854 A. Tulk tr. H. M. Chalybäus Speculat. Philos. 313 Philosophy..has three cardinal divisions,—the Logic, which with Hegel, as is readily seen, implies also Metaphysics; the Philosophy of Nature; and Philosophy of Mind.
1874 W. Wallace tr. G. W. F. Hegel Logic i. §9 Speculative Logic contains all previous Logic and Metaphysics.
1890 W. S. Hough tr. Erdmann Hist. Philos. II. 686 The fundamental science, which Hegel calls Logic, but remarks at the same time that it may equally well be called Metaphysics or Ontology.
2.
a. A system or a particular exposition of logic; a treatise on logic. Also, the science or art of reasoning as applied to some particular department of knowledge or investigation.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [noun] > particular branch or system of
logic1377
method1551
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [noun] > as applied to some particular area of knowledge
logic1759
the logic of1845
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xii. 267 To lowe lybbyng men þe larke is resembled; Arestotle þe grete clerke suche tales he telleth; Thus he lykneth in his logyk þe leste foule oute.
1594 R. Ashley tr. L. le Roy Interchangeable Course xi. f. 125v They which write for the most part, do nothing but..heape one on another Grammars, Rhetoricks, Logicks, Institutions [etc.].
1699 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris (new ed.) 296 If Mr. B. had studied his new Logic more, and his Phalaris less; he had made better work in the way of Reasoning.
1759 E. Burke Philos. Enq. Sublime & Beautiful (ed. 2) Introd. 3 The logic of Taste, if I may be allowed the expression.
1838 W. Hamilton Lect. Logic App. (1866) II. 244 The Italian and Latin Logics of Genovesi are worthy of your attention.
1852 W. Hamilton Discuss. Philos. & Lit. 163 The arbitrary laws of our present logics.
1880 W. Wallace in Encycl. Brit. XI. 619/2 The logic of Hegel is the only rival to the logic of Aristotle... His logic is an enumeration of the forms or categories by which our experience exists.
1882 R. Adamson in Encycl. Brit. XIV. 782/1 The metaphysical logic of Hegel, the empirical logic of Mill, the formal logic of Kant.
1884 Mind Jan. 123 In that speculative domain [Germany], Logics swarm as bees in spring-time.
b. the logic of ——, indicating the application of logical methods to other subjects of investigation or study; the inferential procedures or structure of some field of inquiry.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [noun] > as applied to some particular area of knowledge
logic1759
the logic of1845
1845 J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. 43 319 By the logic of a science we understand its method; its particular modes of investigation, and the nature of its evidence.
1882 A. Bain James Mill iii. 87 I was at the meeting, and listened to Herschel's address. One notable feature in it was the allusion to the recent works on the Logic of Science, by Whewell and Mill especially.
1934 Mind 43 101 Little puzzles about the logic of classes.
1937 A. Smeaton tr. R. Carnap Logical Syntax Lang. iv. §70. 256 All the foregoing systems of the logic of modalities..have, it seems, applied the quasi-syntactical method.
1942 R. G. Collingwood New Leviathan xxxi. 252 As mathematics is the logic of physics, so law is the logic of politics.
1945 Mind 54 175 I now regard semantics as the fulfilment of the old search for a logic of meaning, which had not been fulfilled before in any precise and satisfactory way.
1971 Kopnin & Narsky in R. Klibansky Contemp. Philos. IV. 321 The elaboration of these problems has led to the necessity of investigating the logic of contemporary scientific knowledge.
3.
a. Logical argumentation; a mode of argumentation viewed as good or bad according to its conformity or want of conformity to logical principles. to chop logic: see chop v.2 8. Also, logical pertinence or propriety.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical disputation or dialectics > [noun]
dialectica1382
dialectical1528
dialect?1545
wit-craft1573
logic1601
dialectics1641
logism1656
dialecticism1840
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > process of reasoning, ratiocination > argument, source of conviction > [noun] > strength of argument
strength?c1400
of…validity1581
logic1601
pregnancy1622
solidity1646
cogency1690
pregnantness1727
validness1727
cogence1782
1601 Bp. W. Barlow Serm. Paules Crosse Martij 1600 Pref. 7 Malice marres logike and charitie both.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica i. iv. 15 This was the Logick of the Jews, when they accused our Saviour unto Pilate. View more context for this quotation
1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 54 But when they..instead of giving were required to Pay, and by a Logick, that left no man any thing, which he might call his Own.
1738 S. Johnson London 71 [I] A statesman's logick unconvinced can hear.
1795 Gentleman's Mag. 65 541/1 You will be astonished at the logick which could draw such an inference from that address.
1830 T. B. Macaulay R. Montgomery's Poems in Ess. (1887) 140 We should be sorry to stake our faith in a higher Power on Mr. Robert Montgomery's logic.
1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present iii. v. 220 Driven alike by its Logic and its Unlogic.
1850 E. B. Browning Poems (new ed.) I. 4 Gab. Depart. Luc. And where's the logic of ‘depart’?
1863 E. V. Neale Analogy Thought & Nature 33 As..Sir William Hamilton argues with overpowering learning and logic.
1891 Daily News 23 Mar. 4/7 England, as Mr. Disraeli once said, is not governed by logic.
b. transferred. A means of convincing or proving. the logic of the situation, the facts which dictate what action is rationally to be taken.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [noun] > as a means of convincing or proving
logic1682
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > [noun] > basis in reason > facts indicating
the logic of the situation1876
1682 G. Topham Rome's Trad. Ep. Ded. Bonner's Logick, Fire and Faggot.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 239. ¶8 A certain grand Monarch..writ upon his Great Guns—Ratio ultima Regum. The Logick of Kings.
1816 Sporting Mag. 48 180 On setting to Lancaster cleanly hit Ford down; when it was loudly vociferated ‘What do you think of that for logic’?
1859 E. FitzGerald tr. Rubáiyát Omar Khayyám xliii. 9 The Grape that can with Logic absolute The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute.
1869 J. Eadie Comm. Epist. Gal. (ii. 10) 132 The logic of their facts was irresistible.
1876 W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 34 The very essential logic of the situation demands that we wait not for any outward sign.
1880 Daily Tel. 28 Oct. The ‘logic of events’ may prove too strong for them, and what reason could not effect necessity may enforce.
1901 Scotsman 14 Mar. 7/5 Their territory..was annexed to the British domain in consequence of the terrible logic of war.
1945 K. R. Popper Open Society II. xiv. 90 The detailed determination of his action by what we may call the logic of the situation.
1946 E. Wilson Mem. Hecate County (1951) iv. 117 The logic of the situation impelled me to force her backwards, dropping one hand to her waist.
1960 Rep. Proc. Conf. Univ. U.K. 58 For the ambitious young man, the logic of the situation (which fortunately doesn't wholly govern his conduct) is this: time given to teaching is time taken from research; and his future depends not on teaching, but on research.
1961 Observer 19 Nov. 11/8 He said that Mr. Gaitskell had taken up the position of outside-right, and that the logic of the situation was for him to reorganise his team so that it would at least be facing in the same direction.
1969 H. Perkin Key Profession v. 214 The logic of the situation was that the C.A.T.s should seek to complete their upgrading by seeking recognition as universities.
4. Computing and Electronics. The system or principles underlying the representation of logical operations and two-valued variables by electrical or other physical signals and their interactions; the forms and interconnections of logic elements in any particular piece of equipment, in so far as they relate to the interaction of signals and not to the physical nature of the components used; also, the actual components and circuitry; logical operations collectively, as performed by electronic or other devices.
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society > computing and information technology > [noun] > logic
logic1950
1950 W. W. Stifler High-speed Computing Devices (Engin. Res. Associates) v. 62 For the convenient operation of a general-purpose machine, they [sc. Burks, Goldstine, and von Neumann] point out, it is essential that some steps be taken to translate the nonconforming command quoted above to the same stereotype form. This translation of description of all possible operations to prescribed forms has been called the logic of the machine by these authors, and the term is now in general use.
1952 Math. Tables & Other Aids Computation 6 42 It is possible, with this new approach, to obtain many of the advantages of a digital computer and also the essential advantages of an analog differential analyzer. The result is a different type of digital ‘logic’ from that used in the general purpose digital computer.
1954 IRE Trans. Electronic Computers 3 33/2 The authors have presented the more general aspects of the machine in block diagram form and in addition have given pertinent illustrations of the instrumentation of the logic.
1956 IRE Trans. Electronic Computers 4 134 (caption) Logic for self-timing full length carry.
1962 J. H. Simpson & R. S. Richards Physical Princ. Junction Transistors xvi. 401 If we now define the most positive value of the output to represent a ‘one’ and the most negative value a ‘zero’ in a binary system of arithmetic (the positive logic system) the emitter followers form an ‘ and’ gate, i.e. all n inputs must be ‘one’ if the output is to be ‘one’.
1967 Electronics 6 Mar. 26 Santa Clara was making milliwatt resistor–transistor logic for the project.
1968 Proc. Inst. Electr. Engineers 115 1385/2 He separated the ternary circuits into two sets of binary circuits, one based on a positive logic and the other on a negative one. Then he used translating circuits between the two logics and achieved a true ternary output with the aid of a combining circuit.
1970 New Yorker 11 Apr. 34 The computer logic is so fast that it has to loaf at several intervals while the input and output devices..are printing information.
1971 New Scientist 25 Mar. 692 The technology [of fluidics] was developed basically to provide a system of control logic and power amplification in the adverse environment of space.
1973 Nature 20 Apr. 494/2 The transistor has endowed tremendous scope for performing electronic functions (for example switching, which permits binary logic, and amplifying, which makes possible many other forms of signal processing).
Compounds
C1. attributive. = of or pertaining to logic.In some of the earlier quots. possibly a real adjective (like Latin logicus, French logique) = logical adj. 1.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [adjective]
logical?a1513
logic1570
logic1581
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > process of reasoning, ratiocination > argument, source of conviction > [adjective]
logic1581
logical1588
consequential1659
consecutive1755
connected1816
consequent1849
sequential1853
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical syllogism > logical argument > [adjective]
logical?a1513
legitime1532
logic1570
legitimate1774
logic1869
1581 J. Hamilton Catholik Traictise i. f. 19 Zung men neu cum out of the grammer or logic scholes.
1608 Bp. T. Morton Preamble Incounter 107 I haue now my Mitigator vpon a Logicke racke.
1613 T. Jackson Eternall Truth Script. ii. ii. §6 Most of them vsually penned in a base and barbarous Logicke phrase.
1628 T. Spencer Art of Logick 36 This distinction, is received in all the Logick schooles.
1635 E. Pagitt Christianographie (1636) ii. vii. 79 Endeavoring to enthrall us with sophisticall arguments and Logick quirks.
1653 J. Collinges Responsoria ad Erratica Piscatoris sig. A3v They would not endure to stand in a Logick forme.
1678 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. IV 8 Sin is not a mere nothing, but has some kind of logic positivitie or notional entitie.
1724 R. Wodrow Life J. Wodrow (1828) 18 I had a copy of Logick and Ethick Dictates in my father's hand among his school books.
1745 E. Young Consolation 45 Wouldst thou on Metaphysic Pinions soar? Or wound thy Patience amid Logic Thorns?
1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present iii. v. 223 Questions insoluble, or hitherto unsolved; deeper than any of our Logic-plummets hitherto will sound.
1869 R. Browning Ring & Bk. III. viii. 101 He'll keep clear of my cast, my logic-throw.
C2.
a. General attributive.
logic-book n.
ΚΠ
1685 tr. P. Nicole & A. Arnauld Logic 17 We should give a reason for omitting so many questions as are found in the common Logic-Books.
1895 W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 394 An hypothesis, we are told in the logic-books, ought to propose a being that has some other constitution and definition than that of barely performing the phenomenon it is evoked to explain.
b. (In sense 3.)
logic-chopper n.
ΚΠ
1906 Daily Chron. 13 Mar. 6/2 Mr. Balfour..made his reappearance in his old part of the Logic-chopper.
1924 R. Graves Mock Beggar Hall 32 Put it another way, thou logic-chopper.
1956 J. Blish Earthman, Come Home i. 33 You have no ties, no faith. You will have to excuse ours. We cannot afford to be logic-choppers.
logic-chopping n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > misleading argument, sophistry > [noun]
sophistry1340
chop-logic1533
Jesuitism1613
chopping of logic1668
casuistry1712
sophism1768
special pleading1813
subtilism1825
Jesuitry1832
verbalism1847
logic-chopping1904
1904 W. James in Mind 13 458 This is a kind of intellectual product that never attains a classic form of expression when first promulgated. The critic ought therefore not to be too sharp and logic-chopping in his dealings with it.
1960 A. Koestler Lotus & Robot i. iii. 132 The Schoolmen confined themselves to verbal logic-chopping.
C3. † logic-fisted adj. Obsolete having the hand clenched, like Logic in personification (see Cicero Orat. xxxii. 113; Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xviii. §5).
ΚΠ
1683 W. Kennett tr. Erasmus Witt against Wisdom 80 One, with an open-handed freedome, spends all he lays his fingers on; another with a Logick-fisted gripingness, catches at, and grasps all he can come within the reach of.
logic-tight adj. [after watertight adj.] impervious to logic or reason.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > lack of reason, irrationality > [adjective] > impervious to reason
logic-tight1912
1912 B. Hart Psychol. Insanity vi. 82 The delusion is preserved in a logic-tight compartment.
1968 P. McKellar Exper. & Behaviour x. 269 The widespread tendency..to surround their favourite beliefs with logic-tight compartments.
Draft additions 1993
logic bomb n. a series of instructions surreptitiously incorporated in a program in such a way that if a particular logical condition is ever satisfied, the instructions will be carried out, usually with deleterious results; cf. time bomb n. 2.
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society > computing and information technology > programming language > program or code > [noun] > logic bomb
logic bomb1978
time bomb1978
1978 Times 17 Nov. 23/7 Computer crime... The planting of instructions to come into action at a given time is known as a time bomb or logic bomb.
1986 Computer Weekly 8 May 50/3 ‘Logic bombs’ have forced at least six companies out of business in the last two years.
1987 Sunday Tel. 23 Aug. (Colour Suppl.) 40/4 His logic bomb simply ordered the program to stop if it handled his personal number in connection with his dismissal.
Draft additions April 2011
logic gate n. Computing and Electronics a device which performs a logical operation on one or more Boolean input signals to produce a Boolean output signal, typically used in digital circuits; also in extended use; cf. gate n.1 8g.Specific examples include AND, OR, NAND, and NOR gates.
ΚΠ
1955 IRE Trans. Electronic Computers 4 125/3 As many as four stages of the ‘dc pulse’ logic gates are feasible in an ‘and-or-and-or’ configuration.
1977 G. T. Rubaroe Essent. Theory Electronics Hobbyist ix. 110 The logic functions, OR, NOR, AND, NAND are performed using combinational logic gates.
2004 Discover Oct. 42/3 Like transistors, neurons serve as switches, or logic gates.
2010 New Scientist 2 Oct. 41/1 Although nanomechanical logic gates are slow compared with conventional switches, they consume two orders of magnitude less power.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1903; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
† logicadj.
Obsolete. rare. (But see logic n. Compounds 1.)
= logical adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [adjective]
logical?a1513
logic1570
logic1581
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical syllogism > logical argument > [adjective]
logical?a1513
legitime1532
logic1570
legitimate1774
logic1869
1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Kiii/1 Logicke, logicus.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1903; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
> see also
also refers to : -logiccomb. form
<
n.1362
adj.1570see also