形式逻辑创始于古希腊的亚里士多德。它是一门研究思维形式 、思维规律和思维方法的工具性学科。联合国教科文组织把形式逻辑列为一种基础性学科。

形式逻辑的基本内容有：形式逻辑的历史、对象和性质；概念的种类，概念的外延和内涵，下定义和划分，限制和概括；简单判断的种类及其推理，复合判断的种类及其推理；逻辑基本规律；假说、论证和反驳。

形式逻辑的教学目标是提高学生的思维能力，帮助学生正确、准确地进行思维，从而增强学生的认知能力，更好地巩固旧知识、获得新知识。通过学习形式逻辑，学生应能用适当的逻辑形式、合乎逻辑地表达论证思想，批判谬误、捍卫真理，并能写出中心明确、条理清楚、论证严密、有说服力的文章。学习形式逻辑还能帮助学生进行实验、策划、谈判、辩论和参加MBA、MPA等考试。

Formal Logic can be dated back to Aristotle in Ancient Greek. It is an instrumental science that examines thinking categories, thinking patterns and thinking approaches. UNESCO lists Formal Logic as a foundation subject.
The contents of Formal Logic consist of the history and research objects of formal Logic, types of concepts, the connotation and denotation of concepts, definition and classification, restriction and generalization, types and reasoning of simple judgments, types and reasoning of compound judgment, the basic laws of Logic, hypotheses , arguments and refutation.

The teaching object of Formal Logic is to promote students’ cognitive ability by stimulating their thinking and helping them rationalize appropriately and accurately, review previous knowledge and acquire new knowledge. After learning Formal Logic, students should be able to employ appropriate logic propositions, argue logically, criticize wrong ideas and defend the truth. Students should also be able to write logical, focused, well-structured and convincing articles. Formal Logic also helps students do experiments, negotiate, debate and take MBA and MPA exams.