In this OP, I’m going to write and then edit how I tend to perceive and maybe define logic.
My perception of logic is different from that of “formal and deductive logic” some people may worship, believe, and follow, by indoctrination or by choice.
First, I see the term “logic” roughly corresponding to the concept that includes the identification of what we are interested in and what we think of, which I tend to call as “focus”, and the relations between different things we identify.
So, I can probably say that logic is about focuses and their relations, in this sense, to me.
When we want to think about something, our thought won’t be clear unless we are well identifying what we think of. And it means separating the subject matter from the rest, and focusing on it. It is to limit the scope or field of our awareness, in a way.
Although there is a question of if we can really separate something out from the rest, and I think it’s an important question, I’ll put it aside for the moment and proceed.
I think we identify (focus) by using criterion. The criterion can be of any property of any nature as long as we can use it to separate something out of the rest. For example, when we focus on a circle printed on a sheet of paper, we are focusing on the visual information out of all other information. Then we would be focusing on the paper out of the rest, probably by the form, color, texture, etc. And then we may focus on the circle by geometrical recognition.
Once we have focused (identified the thing), we can compare it and evaluate possible relations it may have against other things, which we also identify in similar manner.
For example, we can compare the geometrical relation of the circle we identified withing the sheet of paper, and we may say the circle is at the center of the paper.
We may also say that the circle is filled with red color, comparing the color inside the circle against the focus of general perception of color scale.
So, in my mind, there are relations that can be described as logical AND, OR, etc, even within the identification focuses of each object/concept, as well as in the evaluation of the object/concept against another one. And the studies/ideas similar to “traditional” and not so traditional formal deductive logic can be useful/related.
In short, my idea of logic includes the notions used in formal logic.
The main difference between my view of logic vs that of “(formal deductive) logic” is in the attitude, I guess. I mean, I think we often try to think logically (and/or rationally/reasonably, if someone makes distinction) to have better clearer more accurate and precise idea of things we deal with. In this spirit, I think it’s important to to identify what we are talking/thinking of and verify the relations between different things (including concepts and any other piece of information we can focus upon).
And the word, term, and concept (the concept seemingly held by many people) that matches this attitude has been “logic” (if not rationality or reason, which I consider and treat more or less as the synonym of logic). But the attitude of people who stick to the idea of “logic” in the sense of formal deductive logic seems to be somewhat limited to the interests on relationship part of the logic (in broader sense) and also it is the relationship of premises, which I see as something made of already highly combined and compound focuses. And they are somehow not really concerned about the “micro logic” within the premises nor examining the nature of premises, as I wrote in another thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=171919
I do think that my view of “logic” is somewhat closer to that of many lay person compared to that of people who believe in the limited formal deductive sense of definition, and more importantly, it’s more aligned with our general desire to think better with less errors/mistake/contradiction/vagueness/etc, as logic in this broader sense addresses the issues somehow avoided/left by formal deductive version/view.
Recap:
Logical thinking, to me, is the act of focusing on something out of available information separating it by criterion, and comparing/evaluating different focuses.
I guess I’ll write about the issue of absolute separation, and also the issue regarding the criterion being focuses themselves creating the similar to circular logic.