Judgment is one of the basic forms of human thinking , which is an inalienable element of all cognition. Especially if this process is connected with reflection, conclusions and the construction of evidence. In logic, judgment is also defined by the word "utterance."

Judgment as a concept

Having only one concept and representation without the possibility of their connection or connection, could people come to know something? The answer is unequivocal: no. Cognition is possible only when it relates to truth or falsity. And the question of truth and lies arises only in the presence of any connection between concepts. The union between them is established only at the time of judgment about something. For example, when pronouncing the word "cat", which does not bear either truth or falsity, we mean only the concept. The judgment "a cat has four paws" is already a statement that is either true or not and has an affirmative or negative evaluation. For example: "All trees are green"; "Some birds do not fly"; "No dolphin is a fish"; "Some plants are not edible."

Building judgments creates a foundation that is considered valid. This allows you to move in reflection to the truth. Judgment allows you to reflect the connection between phenomena and objects or between properties and characteristics. For example: "The water expands when frozen" - the phrase expresses the relationship between the volume of matter and temperature. This allows us to establish the relationship between different concepts. Judgments contain an affirmation or denial of the connection between events, objects, and phenomena. For example, when they say: "The car is going along the house" - they mean a certain spatial connection between two objects (a car and a house).

Judgments are a mental form that has the affirmation or denial of the existence of objects (concepts), as well as the connection between objects or concepts, objects and their attributes.

Language form of judgment

Just as concepts do not exist outside words or word combinations, so utterances are impossible outside sentences. In this case, not every sentence is a proposition. Any utterance in a language form is expressed in a narrative form bearing a message about something. Proposals that do not have a negative or affirmative (interrogative and motivating), that is, those that can not be characterized as true or false, are not judgments. Statements that describe future events are also impossible to assess as carrying lies or truth.

And yet there are such proposals, which in form look like a question or exclamation. But in the sense they claim or deny. They are called rhetorical. For example: "What Russian does not like fast driving?" Is a rhetorical interrogative sentence that relies on a concrete opinion. Judgment in this case contains the statement that every Russian likes fast driving. The same goes for exclamatory sentences: "Try to find snow in June!" In this case, the idea of the impossibility of the alleged action is asserted. Such a construction is also a statement. Similar to sentences, judgments can be simple and complex.

Structure of judgments

A simple statement does not have a certain part that can be singled out. Its constituent parts are even simpler structural components that call concepts. From the point of view of the semantic unit, a simple proposition is an independent link that has the meaning of truth.

The statement connecting the object and its sign contains the first and second concept. Suggestions of this type include:

• The word reflecting the subject of judgment is a subject denoted by the Latin letter S.
• Predicate - reflects the feature of the object, it is denoted by the letter R.
• A bunch is a word intended to connect the two concepts together ("is," "is," "is not," is not "). In Russian, you can use a dash for this.

  "These animals are predators" is a simple proposition.

Types of judgments

Simple statements are classified by:

• Quality;
• Quantity (by subject's volume);
• The content of the predicate;
• Modality.

Judgments on quality

One of the main, important logical characteristics is quality. The essence in this case is manifested in the ability to reveal the absence or presence of certain relations between concepts.

Depending on the quality of such a bundle, two forms of judgments are distinguished:

• Affirmative. Discloses the existence of some connection between the subject and the predicate. The general formula for such an assertion is: "S is P". Example: "The sun is a star".
• Negative. Accordingly, reflects the absence of any connection between the concepts (S and P). The formula of negative judgment is "S is not P". For example: "Birds are not mammals."

This division is very arbitrary, since any statement in a hidden form contains a negation. And vice versa. For example, the phrase "this sea" means that the subject is not a river, not a lake, and so on. And if "this is not the sea," then, accordingly, something else, perhaps an ocean or a bay. That is why one statement can be expressed in the form of another, and a double negation corresponds to the statement.

Varieties of affirmative judgments

If the particle "not" does not stand before the bundle, but is an integral part of the predicate, such statements are called affirmative: "The decision was incorrect". There are two varieties:

• Positive property when "S is P": "The dog is domestic".
• Negative character when "S is not-P": "Soup stale".

Varieties of negative judgments

Similarly, among the negative statements are distinguished:

• With a positive predicate, the formula "S is not P": "Olya did not eat an apple";
• With a negative predicate, the formula "S is not non-P": "Olya can not but go."

The importance of negative judgments is their participation in achieving the truth. They reflect the objective absence of something from something. No wonder they say that a negative result is also a result. The establishment of what is not an object and what qualities it does not possess is also important in the process of reflection.

Judgments by number

Another characteristic, based on the knowledge of the logical volume of the subject, is the quantity. There are the following types:

• Single, containing information about one subject. The formula: "S is (is not) P".
• Private - these are those that have a judgment about a part of the objects of a particular class. Depending on the definiteness of this part, they are distinguished: certain ("Only some S are (not is) P") and indefinite ("Some S is (not) P").
• General contain an assertion or a negation of each subject of the class in question ("All S is P" or "No S is P").

Consolidated judgments

Many statements have both a qualitative and a quantitative description. For them, a combined classification is used. This gives four kinds of judgments:

• General: "All S is P".
• Commonly negative: "No S is P".
• Particularly affirmative: "Some S are P".
• Partially negative: "Some S are not P".

A variety of judgments on the content of a predicate

Depending on the semantic load of the predicate, statements are made:

• Properties, or attributive;
• Relations, or relational;
• Existence, or existential.

Simple judgments that reveal a direct connection between the objects of thought, regardless of its content, are called attributive, or categorical. For example: "No one has the right to take the life of another". Logical scheme of attributive utterance: "S is (or is not) P" (subject, bundle, predicate, respectively).

Relative judgments are statements in which the predicate expresses the presence or absence of a relationship (relationship) between two or more objects in different categories (time, place, causality). For example: "Petya came earlier than Vasya".

If the predicate points to the fact that there is no connection or presence of a connection between objects or the object of thought itself, such an utterance is called existential. Here the predicate is expressed by the words: "there is / is not", "was / was not", "exists / does not exist" and so on. Example: "No smoke without fire".

Modality of judgments

In addition to the general content, the statement can carry an additional semantic load. With the help of the words "possible", "negligible", "important" and others, and also the corresponding negations "not allowed", "impossible" and others, the modality of the judgment is expressed.

There are such types of modality:

• The aletic (true) modality. Expresses the connection between the objects of thought. Modal words: "possible", "accidentally", "necessary", and also their synonyms.
• Deontic (normative) modality. Refers to the norms of behavior. Words: "forbidden", "necessary", "allowed", "allowed" and so on.
• Epistemic (cognitive) modality characterizes the degree of reliability ("proven", "disproved", "doubtful" and their analogs).
• Axiological (value) modality. Reflects a person's attitude to any values. Modal words: "bad", "indifferent", "unimportant", "good."

The expression of the relation to the content of the utterance through the approval of the modality, usually associated with the emotional state, is defined as an appraisal proposition. For example: "Unfortunately, it's raining". In this case, the subjective attitude of the speaker to the fact that it rains is reflected.

Structure of a complex utterance

Complex judgments consist of simple, connected together logical alliances. Similar ligaments are used as a link that can combine sentences with each other. In addition to logical binding, which in Russian has the form of unions, quantifiers are still used. They come in two forms:

• The quantifier of commonality is the words "all", "everyone", "none", "everyone" and so on. The sentences in this case look like this: "All items have a certain property".
• The quantifier of existence is the words "some," "many," "a little," "most," and so on. The formula of a complex sentence in this case: "There are some objects with certain properties".

An example of a complex judgment: "Early in the morning the cock crowed, he woke me, so I did not get enough sleep."

Judgment ability

The ability to build statements comes to a person with age, gradually. By about three years the child can already pronounce simple sentences stating something. Understanding of logical connections, grammatical unions, is a necessary and sufficient condition for correct judgment on a particular occasion. In the process of development, a person learns to generalize information. This allows him, based on simple judgments, to build complex ones.