What Is Logical Thinking?

Logical thinking is a rational activity of the human brain, in which the thinking subject abstracts the information and materials about things acquired during the perceptual cognition stage into concepts, employs these concepts to make judgments, and carries out reasoning according to certain logical relationships. This process forms a relatively complete thought, which is then understood and mastered to achieve the purpose of cognition. The characteristics of logical thinking involve basic processes such as analysis, synthesis, comparison, abstraction, generalization, and concretization, thereby revealing the essential features and regular connections of things. It is characterized by being normative, rigorous, definitive, and repeatable.

Logical thinking is a rational cognitive process in which individuals, during the process of understanding things, actively reflect objective reality with the aid of thinking forms such as concepts, judgments, and reasoning. It is also known as abstract thinking or "closed-eye thinking." In logical thinking, thinking forms like concepts, judgments, and reasoning, as well as thinking methods such as comparison, analysis, synthesis, abstraction, and generalization, are utilized. The degree to which these thinking forms and methods are mastered and applied constitutes the capacity for logical thinking.

The main methods of logical thinking include induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis, and the ascent from the concrete to the abstract, among others. Logical thinking is analytical and proceeds step by step. When engaging in logical thinking, each step must be precise and error-free; otherwise, correct conclusions cannot be reached. Characteristics: 1. Features of concepts: intension and extension. 2. Features of judgments: First, a judgment must assert something about a thing; second, a judgment always has truth value (being either true or false). 3. Features of reasoning: The logical feature of deductive inference is that if the premises are true, then the conclusion must be true—it is necessary inference. The logical feature of non-deductive inference is that although the premises are true, they do not guarantee the truth of the conclusion—it is probabilistic inference.

Logical thinking generally falls into two types: experiential and theoretical. The former forms concepts, makes judgments, and conducts reasoning based on practical experience acquired through practical activities. For example, workers and farmers applying production experience to solve problems in production mostly belong to this type. The latter relies on theory, utilizing scientific concepts, principles, laws, formulas, etc., to make judgments and conduct reasoning. The thinking of scientists and theoretical workers mostly belongs to this type.

Reprinted from online materials.