Chapter 20

Kostya was approaching the college, in one of whose lecture halls young people awaited his lecture. A telephone call. Konstantin's mobile phone now never ceased ringing and ringing. If two hours passed, or even one, without a telephone call, it was already strange. This time Nikita was calling:

"Hello Kostya, so what are we doing? Have you read the prepared monthly publication?" Nikita asked quickly. He had remained in charge of printing, but now the society had its own private typography, which Nikita managed.

"Yes, I've read it. In principle I like it, you can print it," Kostya informed him.

"So we're not changing anything, and sending it to print, yes?" Nikita asked again.

"Yes, let's do the same print run as last month," Konstantin ordered, and bid farewell to his friend.

Kostya entered the lecture hall. He walked silently to the teacher's desk, which stood directly ahead from the door. He raised his eyes, surveying the adolescents present, none older than university age. The desks were single-seated. Konstantin softened his stern expression, smiling slightly.

"Good day. Today we must begin studying one of my favorite subjects," Konstantin began his introductory speech, "this is logic."

Someone in the middle rows snorted sarcastically.

"Roman, you of course know what logic is, do you not?" Kostya addressed the sarcastic adolescent. "Please share this knowledge with us as well."

The aforementioned Roman stood up and began speaking haltingly: "Well, logic... it's when a person thinks correctly... like, he has logical thinking."

"Thank you for your opinion. Please sit down," Konstantin thanked Roma for his answer. "Indeed, to think logically to some degree means to think correctly. But there exist people who believe otherwise. Such people consider that attaining true knowledge is impossible through logic alone. We shall not speak of them for now. Logic as a science is, above all, intended for establishing true propositions through establishing the laws of thought. It occupies itself with clothing our diverse thoughts in form or system. Moreover, such forms, systems, or rules are not many, yet thoughts based on these rules are limitless in their diversity."

"Remember, when we studied the introductory course in philosophy, we learned of such a category as 'form and content,'" Konstantin waited for affirmative nods from the audience and continued, "well then, it is important to understand that logic, unlike philosophy, concerns itself with the forms of thoughts, not their content. Logic is interested, above all, not in what we think, but in how we think. Let us, perhaps, write this down." Konstantin repeated the last two sentences, then continued: "It is understood that the form of a judgment is closely connected with its content. One cannot reason about the content of a judgment without its correct form; therefore one cannot consider philosophy without logic. Hence your sarcasm, Roman, at the beginning of the lecture, I consider inappropriate." Konstantin smiled, concluding the introductory portion.

"Now, let us write a bit. Then we shall sort through what has been written, if there should be need for it," Konstantin said, and began dictating the following words: "Any rational cognition consists of such elements:

1. Concept — this is a form of thought that designates some object or its property. Examples of concepts: pencil, plant, celestial body, chemical element, courage, foolishness, notebook, et cetera. The first definition of 'concept' was given by the famous Cynic Antisthenes, and it sounded thus: 'A concept is that which reveals what a given thing is or what it happens to be.'

2. Judgment — this is a form of thought that consists of concepts connected to one another, and affirms or denies something. Examples of judgments: 'All planets are celestial bodies,' 'Some students are failing students,' 'All triangles are not squares.'

3. Inference — this is a form of thought in which from two or more initial judgments (premises) a new judgment (conclusion) follows."

Konstantin finished dictating and announced to the audience: "The elements you have written down will be the first three sections of our course in logic." Making a pause, he continued with enthusiasm: "And so, 'CONCEPT.' It is important to understand that a concept is defined by content and extension.

The content of a concept — this is the attribute, no, rather — the attributes of a concept. For example, let us take the simple concept 'human being.' Into this concept enters only one essential attribute, possessing which we can identify this concept; this attribute is 'the possession of consciousness.' If we take the concept 'woman,' then we must take two attributes: 'the possession of reason' and 'belonging to a particular sex.' One can take a concept even greater in content, for example 'Ukrainian girl,' at whose disposal will be fully four attributes: 'the possession of reason,' 'belonging to a particular sex,' 'a particular age,' and 'belonging to a particular nationality.'

The extension of a concept — this is the quantity of objects that fall under this concept. For example, the extension of the concept 'human being' is far greater than the extension of the concept 'girl.' And the extension of the concept 'girl' is greater than the extension of the concept 'Ukrainian girl.'

The connection between the extension and content of a concept is inversely proportional: the greater the extension, the lesser the content, and the greater the content, the lesser, correspondingly, the extension. For example: let us take the concept 'human being.' Its content is only one attribute, 'the possession of reason,' but its extension is vast, for it includes all people on earth. And now let us take the concept 'Ukrainian girl.' The content of this concept is composed, as we have already examined, of four attributes, but the extension will be smaller, since this concept includes only people of the female sex who live in Ukraine and are still girls..."

His lecture continued for more than an hour. At the end he recalled several interesting logical puzzles, which he posed to the audience, thereby enlivening it somewhat. Kostya enjoyed teaching; in these minutes he rested and at the same time gave himself completely. During his lectures he rarely thought of anything bad. When Kostya left the lecture hall, Elizabeth called him.

"Hello, are you busy?" came Liza's question after Kostya answered the telephone.

"Well, so-so... not very much at the moment. I just gave a lecture on logic. Now I'm going to the office. I need to see what news there is," the Magister spoke in a businesslike tone.

"I see. When shall we gather? I want to tell you all something."

"Let's say next week. It's just that now it's the end of the month. We're all preparing reports. There's no time to get away," Konstantin complained a little, and bid farewell to his friend.

They were now on good friendly terms. From time to time they would meet, spend time together. Konstantin sometimes helped her with various matters. Liza, nevertheless, continued seeing the same young man. Kostya saw that everything seemed to suit her, and did not wish to interfere with her for now. "My time will yet come," thought Kostya, calming himself. He was very busy, though he always remembered her as soon as his head was freed from other thoughts.