A Comparative Study On The Differences Of Classical Logical Reasoning Between China And The West

Tracing back the history of human development, people’s way of thinking always varies alot, due to differences between Chinese and Western historical and cultural background, andvariance religious beliefs. Logic, as a reflection of science and tools, is a re-thinking of thehuman thinking mode. Therefore, under the influence of culture differences and historybackground differences, logic reasoning and logic science also have huge differences. Anddifferent thinking mode will lead to different ways of re-thinking and different logic language.Thus, logical thinking features huge differences between China and the West, the differencesare reflected at logical format, logical structure, logical reasoning, ways of expression, andmany other aspects. Mohist Bian is the main representative of Chinese ancient logic, andAristotelian logic is the core of Western classical logic. Based on the cultural background anddifferent history, origin, development and historical process, two logic also has the hugedifference.The Western classical logic, which is represented by Aristotle, transforms the logic ideasinto a strict logic system with its original creation syllogism. Aristotelian logic emphasizesformalization and abstraction of logic languages. Symbolic languages are often used in logicalreasoning. The focus of the method for logical reasoning is also on formula derivations. Onthe basis of syllogism, Aristotle integrated fragmented logic reasoning and ideas into a systemof rigorous scientific knowledge, which made the general theory of abstract logical thinking.By the guidance of Aristotle’s creativity, the of Western logic ideas gradually becamemathematical, systematic and highly theoretical.In the traditional Chinese culture, the classical logical thinking has not become a fullyindependent scientific discipline. However, it is more integrated into life, dialogue and debate.In the ancient Chinese background that the monarchical ideology dominated culture andpeople’s through-outs, Chinese classical logic, originated in the Book of Changes, andflourished in the pre-Qin Dynasty age, is mainly reflected in political thought and religiousphilosophy of the philosophers. Monism is the representative of Chinese classical logicalthinking. It is presented as classical informal logic, which are mostly used in natural languagewithout establishing strict structures and procedures. There is also no too much integration ofmathematical ideas. Chinese classical logic mainly appears in everyday life and focuses onthe application of the argument. Therefore, the Chinese traditional logic presented as a trendof decentralized, poetic and figurativeUnder the influence of different historical and cultural backgrounds, the external formand the development trend of the two are quite different. However, they share many commoncharacteristics such as basic types, basic principles and basic components. Although the formsof their logic reasoning are different, they both have significant influence on theenlightenment and the guide of the modern logic science by its syllogism and logic reasoningmethodology. They not have similarities, but also have differences. In essence, the differenceis mainly caused by the different history and culture between China and the West. Therefore, in order to come out with rational analysis and description of differences between the twologic ideologies, the comparative study of logic species can only be built on the analysis andinterpretation of the different history of culture.With the entrance of the western culture during the modern times, a comparative study ofChinese and Western logic emerged. This study has two major orientations, which are“seeking common ground” and “seeking differences”. In my opinion, we should not focustoo heavily upon "seeking common ground ". Which might lead to mechanically apply thewestern mode into the very unique logic of Ancient China. When we are looking at thecommon ground of both logic, we also need to pay attention to the particularity and thedifferences. This study shows us, that when we are doing research of logical reasoning, weshould also pay attention to the relationship between culture and logic; we must see how thecultural background restrict the study of logic, but also see the cultural development hadimpacted the growth of logic.This article is intended to explore the broader differences between Chinese and Westernculture that are influencing the emergence of different logical thinking, using the comparativestudy mentioned above. In the comparison of the similarities and differences, we need both"reserving differences" and "seeking common ground", to achieve the goal we want, and tofurther develop the Chinese traditional logic study and seek innovation. It has very importanttheoretical and academic value, so it’s significant for us to compare the Aristotle logic and theAncient Chinese Mohist Logic, to learn the formation and development of these two logic,and to grasp the law of development and its future direction. Through a comparative study ofthe two systems, we can learn the difference of Chinese-Western logic, to better promote therevival of classical Chinese culture and the construction of modern culture.The article, in the view of reasoning features and using logical reasoning comparison askernel, gives a systematic comparison study between the Chinese logic and Western logic inthe frame of the study of Chinese-Western logical comparison. The study can be divided intofollowing parts: First, the article introduce the basic overview of the study ofChinese-Western logical comparison. It gives a theoretical arrangement of the background ofthe comparison logic’s emergence, the process of development and the result of study;moreover, it raises the main question---what is the significance of the study ofChinese-Western logical comparison and where does the question lie---and gives thesystematic answer and expansion on this question. The first part of the article gives aprerequisite bedding of the comparison study of the logical reasoning. It gives intro to theessential of the logical reasoning, the development and developing, the fundamental class, themethodology and rules, etc. The second part of the article, in the name of Chinese classicMohists and Aristotle’s logic, gives a systematic comparison study between them from severalaspects like their structure, the function and value, the background of culture and the processof development. In the third part, the article, by comparing the two logic system, gives theconcluding understanding and gives the theoretical explanation why two logic havecompletely different evolution direction. What’s more, it discusses the reasonability andlimitation of comparison logic, from which it raises the value and meaning both theoretically and in reality.This article will compare the two logic systems from two dimensions: thinking mode andlanguage culture. From the comparative study between Chinese classical logic and Westernlogic, deficiencies will be identified on the Chinese logic system itself. Learning frompredecessors’ logical thinking provides a base for future logical development. This paper aimsto compare the two classical logic systems, helping people understanding and evaluatingMohist Logic correctly, and striving to make people recognize logical position of Mohist inthe history of China or even in the world, while highlighting its significance at present age.Through inheriting the good aspects and abandon the bad aspects of Chinese classical cultureand Western culture, we can better develop our ancient Chinese culture and classical logicalthinking, and also let the world know the human care rooted in Chinese classical logicthinking. This has its significances to evaluate Chinese logic, to understand logic of scienceand its development, and also to guide practice and innovation through logical thinking.