The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has designated Jan. 14 as World Logic Day. To commemorate this occasion, the UGM Faculty of Philosophy (Philosophy UGM) held a series of public lectures featuring Dr. Sara L. Uckerman from Durham University, United Kingdom, as the main speaker.
The lecture series began on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, with two sessions that explored fundamental and methodological aspects of logic studies.
The first session, themed History of Logic, discussed the development of logic from a historical perspective, covering definitions, significant periods, and the views of key figures in the discipline.
The second session, themed Fiction Writing as Philosophical Methodology, explored how fiction writing can serve as an effective methodological tool for exploring and conveying philosophical arguments.
Speaking on the History of Logic theme, Dr. Uckerman shared her approach to defining logic as the study of sound arguments.
She explained that every argument has premises and conclusions, and an argument itself is presented as a list of statements.
“Some of these are premises, and others are conclusions. This means we can include anything in this list of statements,” Dr. Uckerman remarked.
In this session, Dr. Uckerman highlighted Aristotle’s contribution to establishing logic as a specific discipline.
According to her, Aristotle’s syllogistic system was developed in the context of scientific reasoning to ensure that if one starts from the truth, the conclusions drawn would also be true.
She added that Aristotle’s development of logic was specifically intended for scientific discovery, not for general use.
Therefore, during this session, participants were invited to delve into important periods in the history of logic, from Ancient Greece with Aristotle through medieval logic traditions to the major shifts in modern logic.
“Each of these periods laid the foundation for today’s understanding of logic and highlighted differences in how arguments and truth are approached,” she explained.
The participants were highly enthusiastic, as evidenced by the numerous questions asked at the end of the session.
Some even requested literature recommendations for further study of the history of logic and how the different periods can be compared.
The first day of the lecture series was attended by dozens of students, not only from Philosophy UGM and other faculties at UGM but also from various other universities, such as Yogyakarta State University, Nahdlatul Ulama University (UNU) Yogyakarta, Ahmad Dahlan University, and others.
All sessions were also live-streamed on the official YouTube channel of Philosophy UGM, aiming to reach a wider audience, including academics and the general public interested in logic studies.
The event series concluded with a public lecture titled “Why Logic Matters” on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025.
This session aimed to provide insight into the relevance of logic in various aspects of modern life, from scientific thinking and decision-making to ethics.
Reporter: Philosophy UGM/Gloria
Author: Agung Nugroho
Post-editor: Lintang Andwyna Nurseisa Azrien