Not many people study the nature of logic — it’s a complicated subject and often difficult to understand. Ignorance of logic, however, is just as detrimental to good reasoning as ignorance of grammar is detrimental to good use of language. Unfortuantely, few people understand these connections.
- Grammar is the logic of speech, even as logic is the grammar of reason.
- Richard Chenevix Trench, On the Study of Words, (1858).
This quotation from Richard Chenevix Trench helps explain, I think, the underlying importance of logic to good reasoning and why the study of logic is important to anyone who wants to reason well. Consider, as does Trench, the situation with speech and language and how important grammar is to them.
No one, I think it is safe to say, would defend the idea that any person could successfully use language or successfully speak to anyone without some sort of understanding of grammar — whether implicit or explicit. Without an underlying grammar providing structure and coherence, there is simply no possibility for language to ever manage to communicate anything at all.
It is also undeniable that improved grammar can result in improved speaking and communicating. Granted, a person can use language on a very functional level without ever learning grammar explicitly — but that isn’t the same as using language well. It would certainly be difficult to argue that such a person would be as successful at communicating complex ideas and concepts as clearly and coherently as someone who has studied grammar. We may be able to acquire all of the very basics of grammar through interaction with others, but there is so much more we can learn and do with language beyond those basics.
Very much the same is true when it comes to logic and reasoning. Without some sort of implicit understanding of logic, a person would never be able to reason coherently in a way that anyone — including themselves — would be able to understand. Furthermore, without some explicit study of logic, it would be very difficult for a person to do a good job at reasoning — and they certainly wouldn’t reason as well on a consistent basis as someone who has studied logic.
The study of logic is, in a sense, the study of careful reasoning. Logic teaches us how reasoning can go wrong and what is needed for reasoning to be structured correctly. Grammar, in a similar vein, is the study of careful language because it teaches us how words can be used incorrectly and how to structure words in a manner that allows us to improve how we communicate or learn.
This is not to say, of course, that studying either grammar or logic automatically leads to success — just because you study a subject doesn’t mean that you will actually be able to apply it. At the same time, though, a person who doesn’t study a subject definitely cannot apply all of the lessons and insights that it has to offer. Interestingly, improved communication in general can be achieved through improved grammar as well as improved logic — both can be essential to conveying our thoughts, concepts, and ideas.
