Judgement

A form of thinking in which the mind determines the object of thought. Affirmation or negation of thinking objects is the most basic feature of judgment. True or false is the other feature. A judgment is true when the content it affirms or denies conforms to the reality of the object it judges. Otherwise, the judgment is false. Although the truth of the hypothesis has not been finally verified, it is always true or false objectively. The result of the judgment should be tested through practice. If the practice outcome has reached the expectation of the judgment, the judgment is proved to be consistent with the reality of the thinking object and the correctness of the judgment. Therefore, the criterion to test whether the judgment is correct or not is practice. Judgment is expressed in sentences, but not all sentences can express judgment. Only sentences that directly contain true or false statements can express judgment. In common logic, judgment is divided into simple judgment and compound judgment, modal judgment and non-modal judgment according to different division criteria. It is very necessary to correctly understand and apply the knowledge and methods of judgment provided by common logic for correct logical reasoning. Aristotle, as the founder of formal logic in ancient Greece, expounded the theory of judgment (proposition) in his “On Interpretation” and “Prior Analytics”, especially made a systematic study on simple judgment (mainly categorical judgment, that is, categorical proposition in traditional logic) and modal judgment. Since then, Stoic logicians have further proposed and studied complexes of judgments such as hypothetical conditional judgments and disjunctive judgments. It is of great significance for people to correctly understand and grasp the logic structure of judgment and the knowledge of judgment classification in common logic, so that they can correct their thoughts and logic reasoning.

Engels clarified the difference in principle between dialectical logic and the old pure formal logic in making judgment, pointing out that dialectical logic, in contrast to the old merely formal logic, is not like the latter, content with enumerating the forms of motion of thought, i.e., the various forms of judgment and conclusion, and placing them side by side without any connection. On the contrary, it derives these forms out of one another, it makes one subordinate to another instead of putting them on an equal level, it develops the higher forms out of the lower. While affirming the truth and necessity of Hegel’s Greater Logic (Science of Logic) in the classification of judgments, Engels criticized Hegel’s idealist judgment view. He said that “in Hegel appears as a development of the thought form of judgment as such, confronts us here as, the development of our empirically based theoretical knowledge of the nature of motion in general. This shows, however, that laws of thought and laws of nature are necessarily in agreement with one another, if only they are correctly known.” The judgment based on materialist theory of reflection originates from the process of cognitive development based on practice. The law of thinking of judgment can correctly reflect the natural law.

Lenin emphasized that human judgment is not a mechanical reflection, but a process of deepening and developing from sensory experience to rational knowledge. Even the simplest generalization, and even the initial and simplest formation of concepts (judgment, reasoning, etc.), has meant that people are increasingly deeply understanding the objective connection of the world. The objective connection of the things revealed by judgment is the unity of opposites that are indivisible, gradually transited and mutually transformed, reflecting the individual and universal dialectical relationship. Lenin pointed out that from a certain point of view, under certain conditions, the general is individual and the individual is general. It is not only the connection and inseparable connection of all concepts and judgments, but also the transition from one thing to another, and not only the transition, but also the unity of opposites.

The Marxist judgment view reveals the dialectical nature of judgment, stating that judgment is not only a reflection and judgment of objective things, but also contains the unity of opposites of individual and general, phenomenon and essence, accident and necessity. Dialectics of judgment reveals the law of gradual deepening of human cognition from individual to general, from accident to necessity, and from phenomenon to essence. It reveals the evolution and development of judgment from low to high level in the process of deepening people’s understanding, and scientifically grasps the general rules of understanding. Marxist philosophy’s grasp of the dialectical relationship of judgment has become the basis for people to correctly grasp, judge and actively change real things and phenomena, which is conducive to promoting the development of people’s practice in understanding and reform.