Located in the area between philosophy and mathematics is the realm of logic.

Logic permeates everything we do, from the work of Aristotle to modern computer programming languages

to the musings of Mr. Spock.

However, there's more to logic than just making sense and avoiding fallacies.

It can also be a highly formal system using systems and variables to represent statements.

Learn more about formal logic. variables to represent statements.

Learn more about formal logic, its ancient roots,

and its modern applications on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. And the Before I get into a discussion of formal logic I should explain the difference between formal and informal logic.

Informal logic deals with the analysis of natural language arguments,

where the focus is more on the content of the arguments,

the context which they occur, and the pragmatic aspects of argumentation.

Informal logic includes things such as the study of fallacies,

argumentation theory, and rhetoric.

I did a previous episode on logical fallacies and that would be an example of informal logic. I took a

course on argumentation in college from one of the best argumentation instructors in the

country and it's one that I will never forget. However it should be noted that it doesn't mean that there are

different types of logic or that something is logical in one system and not the

other. Formal logic is simply a more formalized system where you break down statements into premises and often represent statements with variables, and this is also known as symbolic logic.

Formal logic can analyze the structure of an argument independent of the content of the argument.

Formal logic sits at the intersection between mathematics and philosophy.

Historically, it's been a branch of philosophy,

but you might find a formal or symbolic logic course

...