If logic is a human construct, why is it so universal?

Question

Many more people "believe" in logic than in any given religion. Does this make it "true"? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Ah... but logic isnt universal.

If you would actually like to hear what I have to say then please ask. Otherwise, I will accept that down thumb that is prejudicially inevitable.

Answer 2

Logic is not universal. It has got a drawback.

In the 1930s, Austrian mathematician Godel
proved a theorem which became the "Godel
theorem" in cognition theory. It states that
any formalized 'logical' system in principle
cannot be complete in itself. It means that a
statement can always be found that can be
neither disproved nor proved using the means
of that particular system. To discuss about
such a statement, one must go beyond that
very logic system; otherwise nothing but a
vicious circle will result. Psychologists say
that any experience is contingent - it's
opposite is logically possible and hence
should not be treated as contradictory.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/complexity/CompLexicon/godel.html

During 1800s, Anthropologists had a problem as to
how to classify human beings. One researcher
proposed the expression "intelligent animal".
After advanced studies on monkeys, it was dropped.
Another researcher proposed "tool using animal".
After observing some animals making wooden tools
and sharpening them with knife like stones, it was
dropped. Another researcher proposed "weapon using
animal". A decade ago, a rare film was shot by an
amateur in an African forest. One short monkey was
hit very badly by a big monkey. The short monkey
prepared a wooden knife using stones and hid it on
the top of a tree. After some days, when the big
monkey came to attack the short monkey, it ran up
to the tree for the weapon it has hid and killed
the big monkey. The one thing that the
anthropologists found with any group of human
beings, even if they did not have contacts with
the out side world for thousands of years, has
spirituality with some form of religion. So, man
is a "spiritual animal" if you want to call him
that way.

The Upanishads say that "Manush" (human) was so
named because he has "Manas" a mind higher than
that of the animals which realizes the divinity in
creation. It was present since the creation of
human beings. Religion is the characteristic
feature of most of the human beings. It was not
attained through reasoning using mind. Illiterate
tribes located in inaccessible forests also have
religion. It is as eternal and and as unchanging
as the Almighty. Disbelief by a few will not
affect it.

"The percentage of atheists in the world is less
than 5%"

http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/s1990c48a.htm

"Atheists are all scientists" ?

http://www.non-religious.com/statistics.html

Religion is not a blind following. It is a sub-consciously driven
group ritual. It calms the 'collective unconscious' mind. The
religious culture brings unity and belongedness among the followers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious

" Are Atheists More Depressed than Religious People?

In recent years, the view that religious belief and
participation in religious acts of worship has a positive
effect upon the well-being of man..."

http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php

"Is a Belief in God Beneficial? Or, What's an Atheist to Do?

1) Religious attendance is correlated with longevity.
2) Religious belief has been associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms.
3) Religious beliefs may help with addiction.
4) Religious attendance is correlated with lower blood pressure.

http://jewishatheist.blogspot.com/2006/01/is-belief-in-god-beneficial-or-whats.html

Answer 3

Logic is not necessarily a "human construct." Humankind being endowed with rationality, the more "general laws of correct thinking" was already operative in us even before Aristotle (322 B.C.) and other logicians like St. Thomas Aquinas put or codified them into writing, in the same way as the Law of Gravitation already existed before an apple fell on Isaac Newton's head. It is in the sense that we are "logicians by nature" that Logic is "universal."

In the strict sense, Logic "as a formal study (Aristotelian)" that has long influenced Western thought as a necessary tool to the study of Philosophy is not universal if we take into account Eastern Philosophies which diverge from that of the West.

Likewise, it is not fair to say that more people "believe" in Logic more than in any given religion.

Answer 4

Logic is "hard wired" into our brains. Without it, there could be no "1+1=2." That is the logic of mathematics. But we discovered it to be true through the thought process. Actually, logic is the philosophical science of epistemology, the proving or disproving of empirical data in the subjective; or of subjective data itself.
There are 72 forms of syllogistic logic. 60 of those NECESSARILY lead to false conclusions. Of the other 12, NONE leads to necessarily true conclusions, but only those 12 can lead to the eventual truth using proper syllogisic logic.
Our minds think in "syllogisms," so we must think logically sometimes, or we would never arrive at any truth.

Answer 5

Could it be that this is truly how the human brain functions and is how society and culture have been set up to work from the git go...If A, then B A=I'm hungry B=KFC We don't so much believe in logic. We just "do it". As things get more complicated, so do the " do it", and we have courses in college to teach us how to "do it" better and a nice concise word to describe the "doing of it"...Hence forth..."doing it" shall be known as Logic and Aristotle discovered it and Wittgenstein brought it into the 20th century...Then Bush forgot how (he probly never knew)

Answer 6

If logic is a human construct, why is it so universal?

I think the answer is in the question.

If humas have constrcuted logic, then it is universal, because there are humans all around the world, thus they believe in logic.

Answer 7

It is logic which proves the things right or wrong. It is a thought process and has come with creation. It has nothing to do with any religion.

Answer 8

Logic is more a tool to weed out untrue statements rather than something that is "true" or "untrue" in itself. The effectiveness of the tool is dependent on the user.