A question of logic…
We often say, that is a logical course of action… but what does that
actually, mean or entail? In thinking about logic, we are, to be blunt,
human beings… and what seems logically to us, is logical because
we are human beings… we have the same senses, the same thinking
process, we have the same needs, wants and desires… we can have
human based logic because at its heart, we are roughly the same…
We, by being human, can view such things as logic or reason,
roughly the same way…
But let us take an Alien from outer space… would they understand
our form of logic? Our logic is a human construct, how would aliens
from the planet, Vulcan, for example, understand a human construct like
logic? and the same goes true for us understanding alien logic…
they start from a totally different place, with totally different values
and beliefs, with, most likely, totally different senses…
Human beings have, for the most part, fairly limited senses,
animals like dogs and cats and lions have far better senses
than we do… and that fact alone, can impact our understanding
of the universe, and of course, our patterns of thought, especially
logic and reason… reason and logic cannot be divorced from our
senses or material world… we are bound by the laws of nature,
of physics of gravity and by being bound, our logic, our reasoning
is impacted…
All men are mortal
Socrates is a man,
therefore, Socrates is mortal…
this might be a logical sentence, but it is not necessarily, a true sentence…
and how might an alien species, that might be immortal, we can’t actually
know that, how might an alien species view this syllogism?
If all men are not mortal, what does that do, to the logic of the
sentence?
If logic is human based because of the human mind need to construct
logical propositions, then logic, as we understand it, is a local,
human idea… and that aliens might not, indeed, cannot hold to
this logic because being alien, they have a completely different
logic system, a completely different way to reason…
and it is possible, I would suspect more likely, that we two,
aliens and humans are unable to understand the logic,
reasoning of the other side… we are unable to bridge that
gap between alien logic/reasoning and human logic/reasoning…
simply because we are human and thus, we can only deduce
logic, reason in a certain way, and aliens, being aliens,
can only deduce logic and reasoning, a certain way…
will be able to understand their logic, their reasoning for doing things?
I don’t think so, but that is the question…
can we overcome our own human logic and reasoning to
understand another’s logic, reasoning?
Kropotkin