Forms of thinking. Thinking and its forms Forms of thinking include

Forms of thinking

The first teachings about the forms and methods of reasoning arose in the countries of the Ancient East (China, India), but modern logic is based on the teachings created by ancient Greek thinkers. The foundations of formal logic were laid by Aristotle, who was the first to separate the logical forms of thinking (speech) from its content.

Logics is the science of forms and ways of thinking.

The laws of logic reflect in human consciousness the properties, connections and relationships of objects in the surrounding world. Logic allows you to build formal models of the world around you, abstracting from the content side.

Thinking always takes place in some form. The main forms of thinking are concept, statement and inference.

A concept is a form of thinking that captures the basic, essential features of an object.
The concept has two sides: content And volume.

Contents of the concept constitutes a set of essential features of an object. To reveal the content of a concept, one should find the signs necessary and sufficient to distinguish a given object from many other objects.
For example, the content of the concept “personal computer” can be expanded as follows: “A personal computer is a universal electronic device for automatic information processing, intended for one user.”

Scope of concept determined by the set of objects to which it applies. The scope of the concept “personal computer” expresses the entire set (hundreds of millions) of personal computers currently existing in the world.

A statement is a form of thinking in which something is affirmed or denied about the properties of real objects and the relationships between them.
A statement can be either true or false.

The form of the statement is a declarative sentence. A statement cannot be expressed by an imperative or interrogative sentence, since assessing their truth or falsity is impossible.
Statements can be expressed using not only natural languages, but also formal ones. For example, a statement in natural language has the form “Two times two equals four,” and in formal, mathematical language it is written in the form: “2. 2 = 4".

The truth of statements may depend on people's views, on specific circumstances, and so on. Today the statement “My computer has the latest Pentium 4 processor” is false, but some time ago it was true.

There are statements general, private or individual.
A general statement most often begins with the words: all, every, every, none.
A private statement can begin with the words: some, most, etc.
In all other cases the utterance is singular.

Based on simple statements can be constructed compound statements. For example, the statement “A processor is an information processing device and a printer is a printing device” is a compound statement consisting of two primes connected by the conjunction “and”.
While the truth or falsity of simple statements is determined by common sense agreement, the truth or falsity of compound statements is determined by the use of propositional algebra.

Inference is a form of thinking with the help of which a new judgment (conclusion) can be obtained from one or more judgments (premises).

For example, if we have the proposition “All angles of a triangle are equal,” then we can prove by inference that in this case the proposition “This triangle is equilateral” is true.

Lecture on psychology: Intellectual processes

Thinking - Cognition is not achieved only by sensations and perceptions or by reproducing what has been perceived. A person cannot get answers to many questions by directly perceiving certain objects or reproducing what is already known about them. In these cases, you have to look for answers indirectly, drawing conclusions from existing knowledge, i.e. thanks to mental activity or thinking process. The main function of thinking is knowledge of the essence of things and phenomena, natural connections between them, which is a necessary condition for their use in practical activities. Thinking is inextricably linked with sensation, perception, and ideas as the main sources of knowledge about the world. These forms of mental reflection represent the sensory foundations of human cognition of objective reality. But such knowledge of individual objects and phenomena of the real world is enough to answer three cardinal questions that arise when solving any practical problem:

What to do in this situation?

How (to) act...?

What should happen as a result of the action?

Thinking as a special psychological process has a number of specific features:

- generality of cognition. Knowledge of an individual does not provide grounds for prediction. To foresee, you need to generalize individual facts, based on these generalizations, and draw conclusions.

- mediation of reality reflection. The essence of indirect cognition is that we are able to make judgments about the properties or characteristics of objects and phenomena without direct contact with them, but through indirect information that we receive using, for example, a thermometer, other instruments, etc.

Forms of thinking include:

Concept is a form of thinking that reflects the essential properties, connections and relationships of objects and phenomena.

Judgments- this is a form of thinking that allows you to establish the simplest connections between cognizable phenomena as connections and relationships between objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, their properties and characteristics.

Inference

Inference is a form of thinking in which a new judgment is derived from one or more judgments. A person uses mainly two methods of inference: inductive - this is a method of reasoning from more frequent judgments to a more general judgment, the establishment of general rules and laws based on the study of individual facts and phenomena; and deductive is a method of reasoning from general judgment to frequent judgment, knowledge of individual facts and phenomena based on knowledge of general laws and rules. Types of thinking - most often thinking is divided into theoretical(conceptual and figurative) and practical(visual-figurative and visual-effective).

Conceptual thinking

Conceptual thinking is thinking in which certain concepts are used. At the same time, when solving certain mental problems, we do not turn to searching for any new information, but use ready-made knowledge obtained by other people using special methods and expressed in the form of concepts, judgments, and inferences.

Creative thinking

Imaginative thinking is a type of thought process that uses images. These images are extracted directly from memory or recreated by imagination. In the course of solving mental problems, the corresponding images are mentally transformed so that, as a result of manipulating them, we can find a solution to the problem that interests us. Most often, this type of thinking prevails among people whose activities are related to some type of creativity. It should be noted that conceptual and figurative thinking, being a type of theoretical thinking, in practice are in constant interaction. They complement each other, revealing to us different aspects of existence. Conceptual thinking provides the most accurate and generalized reflection of reality, but this reflection is abstract. In turn, imaginative thinking allows us to obtain a specific subjective reflection of the reality around us. Thus, conceptual and figurative thinking complement each other and provide a deep and diverse reflection of reality.

Visual-figurative thinking- this is a type of thought process that is carried out directly during the perception of the surrounding reality and cannot be carried out without this. By thinking visually and figuratively, we are tied to reality, and the necessary images are represented in short-term and operative memory. This form of thinking is dominant in children of preschool and primary school age.

Visual-effective thinking– a special type of thinking, the essence of which lies in practical transformative activities carried out with real objects. This type of thinking is widely represented among people engaged in production work, the result of which is the creation of any material product. It should be noted that all these types of thinking can also be considered as levels of its development. Theoretical thinking is considered more perfect than practical thinking, and conceptual thinking represents a higher level of development than figurative thinking.

Thinking as an activity consists of individual actions (operations):

- analysis- this is the mental decomposition of the whole into parts, the identification of individual signs and properties in it;

- synthesis- this is a mental connection of parts of objects or phenomena, or a mental combination of their signs, properties or aspects;

- comparison– this is a comparison of objects and phenomena in order to find similarities and differences between them;

- generalization– is the mental identification of what is common in objects and phenomena of reality and the mental unification of them with each other based on this;

- systematization or classification objects or phenomena is their mental distribution into groups and subgroups depending on their similarities and differences with each other.

- abstraction- this is the mental selection of essential properties and features of objects and phenomena while simultaneously abstracting from non-essential features and properties.

- specification is a mental transition from generalized knowledge to a single, separate case.

Individual differences in the mental activity of people can manifest themselves in the following qualities:

- latitude thinking - the ability to embrace the entire issue as a whole, without at the same time missing out on the particulars necessary for the matter. It manifests itself in a person’s outlook and in the ability to consider any issue in the diversity of its connections with other phenomena;

- depth thinking is expressed in the ability to penetrate into the essence of complex issues, the ability to see a question, a problem. The opposite quality is the superficiality of judgments and conclusions, when a person pays attention to the little things and does not see the main thing;

- independence thinking - characterized by a person’s ability to put forward new problems and find ways to solve them without resorting to the help of others;

- flexibility thoughts - is expressed in its freedom from the constraining influence of techniques and methods of solving problems fixed in the past, in the ability to quickly change actions when the situation changes;

- quickness of mind- this is a person’s ability to objectively evaluate his own and other people’s thoughts, carefully and comprehensively check all put forward provisions and conclusions.

Individual characteristics of people’s thinking are also manifested in style thinking.

Synthetic thinking style

Synthetic style of thinking - manifests itself in the creation of something new and original, in combining opposing ideas and views, in carrying out thought experiments. The motto of synthesizers is “What if...”. They strive to create the broadest possible, generalized concept that allows them to combine different approaches, remove contradictions, apply contradictions, and reconcile opposing positions. This is a theoretical style of thinking. Such people love to build theories and build their conclusions on the basis of theories; they like to notice contradictions in other people’s reasoning and draw the attention of people around them to this; love to find fundamentally new solutions that integrate opposing views; they tend to see the world as constantly changing and love change, often for the sake of change itself.

Idealistic thinking style – manifests itself in a tendency to make intuitive, global assessments without performing a detailed analysis of problems. The peculiarity of idealists is an increased interest in goals, needs, human values, moral problems, they take into account subjective and social factors in their decisions, strive to smooth out contradictions and emphasize similarities in various positions, easily perceive the diversity of ideas and proposals without internal resistance, and successfully solve such problems , where emotions, feelings, assessments and other subjective moments are an important factor, sometimes utopianly striving to try on everyone and everything, to unite. “Where are we going and why?” - a classic idealist question.

Pragmatic thinking style

Pragmatic style of thinking - relies on direct personal experience, on the use of those materials and information that are easily available, trying to obtain a specific result (albeit limited), a practical gain, as quickly as possible. The motto of pragmatists is: “Something will work”, “Whatever works” will do. The behavior of pragmatists may seem superficial and disorderly, but they adhere to the principle: events in this world occur uncoordinatedly, and everything depends on random circumstances, so in an unpredictable world you just need to try: “Today we’ll do this, and then we’ll see...”. Pragmatists have a good sense of the market situation, supply and demand, and successfully determine tactics of behavior using the prevailing circumstances, showing flexibility and adaptability.

Analytical thinking style– focused on a systematic and comprehensive consideration of an issue or problem in those aspects that are set by objective criteria, prone to a logical, methodical, thorough (with an emphasis on detail) manner of solving problems. Before making a decision, analysts develop a detailed plan and try to collect as much information and objective factors as possible, using deep theories. They tend to perceive the world as logical, rational, orderly and predictable, therefore they tend to look for a formula, method and system that can provide a solution to a particular problem and can be rationally justified.

Realistic thinking style

Realistic style of thinking - focused only on the recognition of facts, and “real” is only what can be directly felt, personally seen or heard, touched, etc. Realistic thinking is characterized by specificity and an attitude towards correction, correction of situations in order to achieve a certain result. The problem for realists arises whenever they see something is wrong and want to correct it. Thus, an individual's thinking style influences the way a problem is solved; on the line of conduct; on a person's personal characteristics.

Imagination (fantasy)

It is a mental process that involves creating new images (ideas) by processing the material of perceptions and ideas obtained in previous experience. Imagination is unique to humans and has several types.

Figure 3 - Types of imagination

- Free – associated with volitional effort and can have varying degrees of arbitrariness. At a high level of creative activity, imagination is an arbitrary process aimed at solving a specific creative problem.

- Involuntary – without any volitional effort. An extreme manifestation of this type of imagination-dream.

- Recreating Imagination is the process of creating an image of an object from its description, drawing or drawing.

- Creative Imagination is the independent creation of new images. It requires the selection of materials necessary to construct an image in accordance with one’s own design.

A special form of imagination - dream. Like creative imagination, this is the independent creation of new images, but a dream does not directly and immediately provide an objective product; it is aimed at the desired future.

30. Forms of thinking

There are three logical forms of thinking: concept, judgment, inference.

A concept is a reflection in the human mind of the distinctive features of objects and phenomena, their general and specific characteristics, expressed in a word or group of words. The concept represents the highest level of generalization, inherent only in the verbal-logical type of thinking. Concepts can be concrete or abstract. Concrete concepts reflect objects, phenomena, events of the surrounding world, abstract concepts reflect abstract ideas. For example, “person”, “autumn”, “holiday” are specific concepts; “truth”, “beauty”, “good” are abstract concepts.

Judgments can be general, particular and individual. In general, something is stated about all objects of a certain group, for example: “All rivers flow.” A particular judgment applies only to some of the objects of the group: “Some rivers are mountainous.” A single judgment concerns only one object: “The Volga is the largest river in Europe.”

Judgments can be formed in two ways. The first is a direct expression of the perceived relationship of concepts. The second is the formation of judgment indirectly using inferences. Thus, inference is the derivation of a new judgment from two (or more) already existing judgments (premises). The simplest form of inference is a syllogism - a conclusion made on the basis of a particular and general judgment. Any process of proof, for example, a mathematical theorem, is a chain of syllogisms that consistently follow from one another.

More complex forms of inference are deductive and inductive inferences. Deductive - follow from general premises to a particular judgment and from particular to an individual. Inductive, on the contrary, derive general judgments from individual or particular premises.

Based on such methods of reasoning, it is possible to compare with each other certain concepts and judgments that a person uses in the course of his mental activity.

Thus, for the productive course of mental activity, logical forms of thinking are necessary. They determine persuasiveness, consistency, and, consequently, the adequacy of thinking. The idea of logical forms of thinking passed into psychology from formal logic. This science also studies the thinking process. But if the subject of formal logic is, first of all, the structure and result of thinking, then psychology studies thinking as a mental process, it is interested in how and why this or that thought arises and develops, how this process depends on the individual characteristics of a person, how it is connected with others mental processes.

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Thinking is a rather unique and diverse mental process that has different forms.

Conceptual thinking

Concepts reflect the general and essential properties of objects or phenomena. Each concept is based on our knowledge about these objects or phenomena. A concept is a kind of intellectual model of an object or phenomenon, taken in its most characteristic features.

The concepts are:

Single.

General concepts are those that cover a whole class of homogeneous objects or phenomena that bear the same name. There are such general concepts as “chair”, “person”, “process”, “meteor shower”. General concepts reflect the characteristics characteristic of all objects that are united by the corresponding concept.

Single concepts are those that denote any one object or phenomenon that is no longer repeated in nature. There are such isolated concepts as “a chair in which diamonds were sewn up,” “a stranger who called this morning,” “the inauguration of the thirty-seventh Emperor of Alpha Centauri,” “yesterday’s meteor shower.” Individual concepts also reflect the characteristic features of an object or phenomenon. At the same time, this should be taken into account; individual concepts can also reflect features that can be classified as general concepts. So the characteristic “stranger” can apply not only to a specific stranger, but to all strangers in general.

Moreover, our thinking allows that a single concept can easily become a general concept, and a general concept - an individual concept. It may turn out that the same stranger did not call twice this morning, but two different strangers called. The concept of “a stranger calling in the morning” thus quickly transforms into “strangers calling in the morning.” The reverse process can also be similar.

A characteristic feature of our conceptual thinking is its ability to operate with hierarchies of concepts. For example, four concepts: “cat”, “cockroach”, “director” and “beauty” - can first be combined into two: “pets” and “people”, and then into one - “living beings”.

A feature related to the previous one is that we can build this kind of conceptual hierarchies in an arbitrary way; the same concept can be a member of different hierarchies. In our example, four concepts can be combined by another hierarchy: masculine words (“cockroach” and “director”), feminine words (“cat” and “beauty”), then masculine or feminine words. Another option: “pleasant creatures” - “unpleasant creatures” - “creatures”.

Stages of concept acquisition

Mastering concepts is a rather complex and long process that has several stages.

1. First, the characteristic features of an object or phenomenon are selected. At this stage, all more or less essential features are selected, without dividing them into essential and non-essential. A child mastering the concept of “ice cream” puts forward a large number of hypotheses:

The ice cream is cold.

The ice cream is delicious.

Ice cream is always beautifully packaged.

Ice cream is either white or brown.

Ice cream should be either on a stick or in a cup.

If you don't eat the ice cream right away, it will melt later.

Ice cream is sold in special kiosks.

Not all of these signs are equally significant. However, if a child asks a parent to buy ice cream, and he goes and buys it, but not white or brown, but pink, then the child may even be upset, because in his opinion, this is not ice cream.

2. Division of features into essential and secondary, clarification of features.

A child who masters the concept of “ice cream” eventually understands that its color does not matter much, but the temperature does. Also, the ice cream should be sweet and have a milky taste.

Practice is of great importance in dividing signs into essential and minor ones. In the process of practice, it becomes obvious that some signs are always repeated, others - in most cases, but not always. Of course, the more diverse life experience, the more accurate concepts begin to have. So, if a child always buys the same type of ice cream, the concept of ice cream will form a very narrow one.

3. Scientific interpretation of the concept. Of course, most of the concepts that we master do not reach this stage, when the full power of science and culture is used to define the concept. The scientific interpretation of the concept is characterized by the fact that we mainly use ready-made definitions given by the best experts in the world in this field. It is the experts who can accurately explain to us what ice cream is, how it is made, what types there are, etc. An ice cream maker can spend hours talking about ice cream.

Ways to master concepts

Any concepts are formed by generalizing individual cases. Isolated cases are grouped into small groups, which in turn are grouped into larger groups. Examples of small groups of single cases: “cold yummy in a waffle cone with a cherry on top” and “cold yummy on a stick, brown on the outside and white on the inside.” Examples of more general groups of concepts: “cold yummy in a waffle cone” and “cold yummy on a stick.” And a more general group is “cold yummy, that is, ice cream.” Any general concept is thus formed immediately with the help of a hierarchy of concepts. There are, however, a few different ways in which this happens.

The simplest way to master a concept is the so-called instance strategy. A child, for example, sees that his parents bought a new wardrobe and hears that they bought new furniture. For a child, this closet is furniture. This cabinet will be the specimen with which other contenders for the word “furniture” will be compared. The concept of “furniture” as a model of furniture so far only includes something tall and with shelves. A sofa, for example, will no longer fit the concept of “furniture”.

When a child learns that a sofa is also furniture, a splitting of the concept occurs in his head: furniture is both something that looks like a closet and something that looks like a sofa. Then the child learns that a chair is also furniture. It turns out that the hierarchy of the concept of “furniture” grows from top to bottom: from the general concept of “furniture” to private, single instances.

The instance strategy is also used by adults, but it is not always convenient. And you can often get into trouble if you use some concept, but at the same time you are familiar with only a single case of this concept. If an adult expresses confidence that a chip is a thing that can be used to open a door, then such a belief cannot but bring a smile to the people around him who are somewhat better versed in chips.

Another way to learn a concept is a more careful, although more time-consuming, strategy of hypothesis testing. In this case, at least several individual cases are necessarily considered; the hierarchy of the concept is built from the bottom up. A person studies known examples of a concept, looks for signs that are relatively common to them (for example, many pieces of furniture are found in living spaces. Next, a hypothesis is put forward that it is these common signs that characterize this concept.

After setting a hypothesis, the entire available set of objects that can be attributed to this concept is analyzed. Objects are assessed based on critical characteristics. The hypothesis is confirmed, refuted or adjusted over time.

If you show a child a closet and say that it is furniture, then a new concept will automatically form in the child’s mind. Further it will only be adjusted. However, if you show an adult a cell phone and say that it is a “transgalactic synchrophasotron,” he is unlikely to believe it and will continue to look for more examples of the “transgalactic synchrophasotron.” If these examples exist, and there are common characteristic features between them, the new concept will be accepted.

Experiments examining the physiological basis of thinking have established that these two strategies for acquiring concepts—the exemplar strategy and the hypothesis testing strategy—are implemented by different parts of the brain. The use of the instance strategy is more associated with the involvement of the departments responsible for long-term memory - the medial parts of the temporal lobe, in particular the hippocampus. The strategy for testing the hypothesis is to a greater extent connected with the work of the structures of the frontal lobes of the cerebral hemispheres, which are responsible for goal setting.

Experiments also showed that the following circumstances contribute to better understanding of concepts:

Variation in the characteristics of an object, the concept of which we are trying to learn; the greater the number of attributes of an object we encounter in practical experience, the more complete our concept will be formed about this object;

Visibility when mastering concepts allows you to form images that provide a clear knowledge of the characteristics of an object, its qualities and properties.

Understanding

Another form of thinking is understanding. Mastering this or that concept is not enough. It is important to be able to apply concepts in practice, to connect some concepts with others.

Difficulties in applying concepts in practice are associated with new, unusual conditions in which it is necessary to operate with the concept we have. Moreover, the application of a concept in practice in various conditions is not only an indicator of the degree of its assimilation, but also a means of achieving the best assimilation of this concept.

Understanding is an important point in mastering a concept. To understand a concept means to place this concept in a holistic picture (model) of the world, to learn to solve practical problems with the help of this concept. Understanding is the highest stage in the formation of concepts. In Soviet psychology, understanding was defined as a reflection of connections, relationships between objects or phenomena in the real world. In modern science, understanding is interpreted as the ability to comprehend the meaning and significance of something, and the above definition fully reflects the essence of the judgment.

Understanding is a comprehensive study of the relationship between surrounding objects and phenomena. To understand how a car engine works, it is not enough to simply disassemble the engine into parts. You also need to know the laws of physics and some chemistry.

Understanding can have many levels. You can understand a car engine at the level: “Here, some nonsense is rotating...” However, if such a “specialist” is asked the question: “What will happen if the linear dimensions of this engine are increased exactly ten times? Will such an engine work?” , then he will not be able to give a motivated answer, he will only try to guess.

Understanding of objects and phenomena can be divided into two types:

Scientific understanding,

Engineering understanding.

In the first case, the understander is focused primarily on solving the issues of learning what is. In the second case, the understander is focused on solving questions of how something can be created and changed.

There are several types of understanding:

Direct understanding, that is, understanding with the help of our visual (innate) thinking apparatus; such understanding occurs quickly, almost immediately, if possible; otherwise, it most likely will not come;

Indirect (discursive) understanding; This type of understanding requires significant effort, a number of mental operations are required: comparison, discrimination, analysis, synthesis and others.

Inference

In the process of our operating with various concepts and judgments, another form of thinking arises - inference. Inference is the highest form of thinking and represents the formation of new judgments based on the transformation of existing ones. Example of an inference:

Some poor students play basketball. All people who play basketball are tall.

Thinking is the highest stage of human cognition. It is based on constant changes in ideas and concepts. It makes it possible to obtain knowledge that is not direct information obtained using the first signaling system. In clinical psychology, thinking is one of the highest mental functions - the most complexly organized mental processes.

Features of thinking are the subject of various scientific sections. So, for example, psychophysiological mechanisms form the basis of general and developmental psychology, the physiology of higher nervous activity, and the forms of thinking and the laws according to which the process occurs are the subject of study in logic (although they are also touched upon in sections of psychology).

Concept

The concept as a form of thinking allows us to understand the essence of objects and phenomena, establish connections between them, determine the relationships of objects in relation to each other, and generalize features.

It exists in the form of words that can mean something individual (one object - “Mars”, “Pacific Ocean”), general (“Building”, “Man”), specific (“Table”, “Spoon”), abstract (“Mercy”, “Eternity”). It is important to understand that the concept reflects the essential properties of objects, objects, and phenomena.

Examples of this: a triangle can be distinguished from other geometric figures by the presence of three angles (although it also has other characteristics - length, area, etc.), and an animal has characteristics by which it can be distinguished from a person or plants .

The concept as a form of general thinking is the result of the process of understanding general properties on the basis of individual objects. This happens due to the acquisition of new knowledge. The formation of concepts is always a movement towards the general from the particular. This process is called “generalization”, and it is the subject of study in some departments of psychology (general, developmental, clinical).

The process of mastering concepts is based on practical experience - if there is a lack of it, concepts can take on a distorted form, narrow or expand. This often occurs in children of preschool and, to some extent, primary school age. For example, insects are not animals for them, but a spider is just an insect. Impaired understanding of concepts in adults is a characteristic sign of reduced intelligence (mental retardation).

The concept as a form of thinking is not identical to perception and memory representations: it has an abstract and generalized character.

Judgment

Judgment as a form of thinking involves confirmation or denial of some fact, event, property, feature, connection. It manifests itself in phrases, but we must remember that not every phrase is a judgment. Thus, an interjection or a one-syllable sentence does not belong to this form of thinking (examples: “Oh!”, “How is that possible?”).

Sentences tend to be narrative in nature: “The Earth revolves around the Sun.”

A proposition can be true or false, which is determined by logic. The first involves the presence of one subject with characteristics or the comparison of two subjects.

When a simple judgment is separated, the words cease to carry a semantic load. Example: “A mouse is smaller than a cat.” If this sentence is divided into two, the meaning is lost.

Complex judgments are various combinations that consist of a complex and a simple, two complex or two simple judgments. Examples: “If it hails, the plants may be damaged.” Here, “plants may be harmed” appears as a simple proposition.

Judgment as a form of thinking of a complex nature is impossible without grammatical connectives (“but”, “or”, “and”, “if so, then ...”, “when ..., then ...”, etc.).

It is necessary to distinguish between judgment and other logical forms of thinking: a concept is expressed in a word, and a conclusion is expressed in a conclusion.

This form of thinking can also be:

affirmative (“Botany is the science of plants”, “The tiger is a predator”);
negative (“This sentence is constructed incorrectly”, “In Russian cities there are no bears walking on the streets”).

There is another classification. A general judgment presupposes a statement (negation) that refers to phenomena, subjects, united by a common concept (“All healthy cats have four paws”). Particular implies a part of objects, subjects, phenomena that are united by a concept (“Some poets are graphomaniacs”). An individual property is expressed in a single judgment (“F.M. Dostoevsky is the author of “Crime and Punishment””).

In essence, a judgment reveals the content of a concept (or several) - therefore, in order to make a statement, it is necessary to know the content of all the concepts used.

Inference

Inferences as a form of thinking are formed using several judgments. Thus, existing information makes it possible to obtain new knowledge.

This form of thinking belongs to the highest, as it combines concepts and judgments.

An inference may be correct or incorrect. When they talk about this property, they mean the theoretical possibility of verification, since the correctness of the conclusion is a subjective phenomenon that can be verified over a long period of time through experiments and logical reasoning.

There is a close connection between judgment and inference, since without the first the second is impossible. Conclusions are:

deductive, which are the result of the process of mental reasoning from the general to the specific;
inductive - generalization occurs from the particular to the general;
built on an analogy that uses the properties of phenomena and objects that have similar characteristics.

Concept, judgment and inference interacting with each other form a picture of human consciousness, perception and are the basis for the development of intelligence.

A striking example of inference is the proof of geometric theorems.

So, the main forms of thinking are three components, without which the thought process is impossible. It is thanks to them that the human brain is able to analyze and synthesize, build logical connections, which ultimately leads to intellectual development. The study of these features of thinking belongs to the main sections of logic, as well as to some departments of psychology.