Questions tagged [philosophy-of-logic]

Philosophy of logic is a branch of philosophy concerned with investigating the nature, scope and role of logic.

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Confidence margin for logical verification

I'm starting to read Wittgenstein and I keep circling around a problem, which I'll lay out with the following ideas: a. Logical space is the totality of external reality. b. A proposition is logical ...
connor449's user avatar
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Formal logic - a priori or a posteriori

I am aware of the classical classification of logical calculus as apriori. I have also read pretty much anything I could get my hands on regarding "logic", including "New Essays on the ...
k-wasilewski's user avatar
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Do not understand Truth value gap theorists' response to the Strengthened Liar

Truth value gap theorists assert that the Liar sentence is neither true nor false - it has no truth value. But here comes my first question: If we take a sentence's meaning to be its truth condition, ...
Constantly confused's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
69 views

Is the distinction between fact and opinion, and objectivity and subjectivity universal or cultural? [closed]

I noticed in certain cultures that I interact with here in Malaysia, it seems that the distinction between fact-opinion and objectivity-subjectivity is non-existent. Whereas in STEM and the scientific ...
Chris Edward's user avatar
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1 answer
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What is the exact form of law of non-contradiction that dialetheism rejects?

Dialetheism asserts that there are sentences that are both true and false, e.g. the Liar. This seems to, quite obviously, go against the law of non-contradiction (LNC), and indeed Priest seems to ...
Constantly confused's user avatar
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Is deductive logic, and more specifically propositional logic, ultimately derived from induction?

Is the system of propositional logic itself induced, beyond its manipulated assumptions? It seems to be the case that we use propositional logic on the basis of two facts - firstly that it seems to ...
CodeReaper's user avatar
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3 answers
288 views

Infinite Regress in Language and Logic?

I had this idea, and it seems novel to me, but I'm wondering if there is a philosopher that addresses this issue already because I think it's kind of interesting. When making a logical statement, you ...
visualbread's user avatar
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2 answers
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Why are some things considered "impossible" even in other universes?

For example, I often hear that life could not develop in a universe where the fundamental constants were even slightly changed, or where certain physical laws were different. But if we're dealing with ...
Emerald47890's user avatar
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an argument that is clearly valid but invalid in a sentence logic

I was reading these paper(dont really remember the title) it stated that there are simple arguments that are clearly valid but would be counted as invalid in the sentence logic system it was using. i ...
Assfaw kidane's user avatar
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1 answer
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Can we make statements for persons/objects that cease to exist?

I am asking this question because I thought what truth value would have a have a quantifier over a set that contains persons that are dead. For example suppose I state: "For every x that is ...
ado sar's user avatar
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Is there some non-classical logic where the van der Waerden theorem does not apply?

The van der Waerden theorem is a theorem in the branch of mathematics called Ramsey theory which states that for any given positive integers r and k, there is some number N such that if the integers {...
vengaq's user avatar
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Hegel's counter proof of the old Logic

In his book on Logic,Hegel makes a counter proof of the old way of defining Logic. I have trouble understanding in which way Aristotle or Descartes were wrong according to him. Could someone explain? ...
maths_mz's user avatar
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166 views

Fail to understand Tarski's substitution argument for logic apriorism and a rebuttal against it

I have been reading Bueno and Colyvan's Logical Non-apriorism and they mentioned that Tarski has the following argument for logic apriorism: If, in the sentences of the class K and in the sentence X, ...
Constantly confused's user avatar
3 votes
5 answers
543 views

Why is first-order logic interesting to philosophers?

This site had a question: Is First Order Logic (FOL) the only fundamental logic? Let me ask the opposite: Why is FOL still interesting or useful to philosophers? For example, the "ancestor" ...
MWB's user avatar
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Yablo's condition on "Truth about a subject matter"

In section 2.4 of "Aboutness" Yablo offers the following analysis of what does it mean that a statament is true about a certain subject matter/topic: So, what is the proposition we are ...
PwNzDust's user avatar
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How do dialetheists determine which contradiction is true?

I have been reading a lot about dialetheism lately. I know for a fact that dialetheists do not believe that every contradiction is true. (Surely there is a difference between asserting that Liar is ...
Constantly confused's user avatar
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What is the 'axiomatic' or epistemological foundation of Analytic philosophy, what is its practice and purpose?

In researching the origin and purpose of the Analytical Tradition in philosophy, all that appeared was that it traces its origin to the 'Tractatus' offshoots following Wittgenstein and Russell, and ...
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Are there examples of ideas that rationally-trained persons agree on?

This question is meant for a bit of fun as a comedic corollary to JDH's top-voted question, "What would it take in a book to convince a rational person that it had been written by or directly ...
TCP's user avatar
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Santa Claus does not exist. Therefore, something does not exist. Valid?

My professor defines logical validity (in the English language) like so: 'An argument is logically valid if and only if there is no (uniform) interpretation (of subject-specific expressions) under ...
Jayjay45's user avatar
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2 answers
110 views

Is it rational to use disjunctive imperative sentences?

Suppose you tell someone, "Go to the store or go to the creek." Now, if this person is otherwise predisposed to one option, and your command triggers this predisposition, then by issuing the ...
Kristian Berry's user avatar
13 votes
8 answers
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If you used intuitionistic logic in real life, would you not sound absurd?

Intuitionistic logic does not include the law of the excluded middle and double-negation elimination. I imagine a real-life conversation with an intuitionist might go like this: Amy said you didn't ...
MWB's user avatar
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Why did the mid-19th century and earlier thinkers fixate on one-place predicates?

A book I'm reading mentions the following: A major barrier to the development of first-order logic had been the concentration on one-place predicates to the exclusion of many-place relational ...
MWB's user avatar
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-3 votes
3 answers
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How to reconcile the fact that mathematical proofs are logical implications with the lack of a formal calculus equivalent to the logical implication? [closed]

Theorems follow from axioms. That is, theorems are the logical consequence of axioms. Thus, mathematical proofs are essentially deductive. Proofs are all essentially logical implications. There is ...
Speakpigeon's user avatar
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What are the advantages of Aristotle's term logic over predicate logic?

I have read Wikipedia's term logic entry, and the quote by Gareth Evans in the Revival section that's supposed to argue for term logic's advantages over predicate logic: "I come to semantic ...
MWB's user avatar
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Can classical logic hold without causality?

Consider a universe where causality failed to hold. Would that universe be described by classical/standard logic? Or would we have to use a radically different logic where causality was not necessary? ...
vengaq's user avatar
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1 answer
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Is it true that if an argument is invalid, any argument of that logical form must be invalid?

I am stuck over whether these statements are true: First: "If an argument is invalid, any argument of that logical form must be invalid." Second: "There may be invalid argument with ...
Not a Salmon Fish's user avatar
14 votes
12 answers
12k views

Why is it that the statement "All goblins are yellow" does not contradict the statement "All goblins are pink?"

From what I know, I think it has something to do with vacuous truths, but my understanding is not quite there yet.
loopzoop's user avatar
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can an argument containing a contradiction be valid argument

I know that validity has nothing with truth of the conclusion or with how good argument is in general, and an argument is valid iff the truth of its premises guarantees the truth of its conclusion. ...
Not a Salmon Fish's user avatar
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Baconian Logical Fallacy

I have been reading about logical fallacies lately, and I saw the Baconian fallacy listed here (of course on everyone's favorite site, Wikipedia). The description provided reads: "using pieces of ...
Publius's user avatar
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Are axioms more important than definitions?

To prove a theorem in mathematics we usually use our axioms, definitions and other already proved theorems. Suppose we wante to prove a specific theorem and we haven't prove any other theorem and also ...
ado sar's user avatar
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Do mathematical objects exist after their definition? [duplicate]

Suppose we have a system with a set of axioms. Now we begined to define new terms. E.g. in maths we have a particular set of axioms and then we define what a function is. But do all the functions ...
ado sar's user avatar
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4 answers
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Does truth exist without proof?

When we prove something (e.g. in maths) we show that a particular statement is true. But if we couldn't prove that statement that doesn't mean that the statement would be false right? So is proof a ...
ado sar's user avatar
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Possible Models

A model consists in one or more possible worlds. Necessity in a world is determined by its associated set of possible worlds. I am curious whether there is any work that involves an account of ...
user3752935's user avatar
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1 answer
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How much of a nonstarter is this argument that tautologies are (true-ish but) not true?

I am wondering how much of a nonstarter you think this argument is. I am also interested in suggestions concerning articles or books to read. (More recent works preferred, as I can follow their ...
user3752935's user avatar
-1 votes
6 answers
2k views

Is atheism the null hypothesis on god's existence? Can the null hypothesis be accepted? Is the proposition "god does not exist" falsifiable?

 Is Atheism the Null Hypothesis?  Is Atheism Falsifiable?  Does Atheism Carry the Burden of Proof? Atheism has distinct definitions which can be categorized as follows: • Weak/Soft ...
Karlen Karapetyan's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
544 views

Any concrete, real life example of Peirce's Law? [closed]

What would be a real life, concrete example of Peirce's Law? ((p → q) → p) → p There is a Wikipedia article on it, if you are unfamiliar with it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peirce's_law There ...
Speakpigeon's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
274 views

Can animals follow logical rules of inference?

I've been trying to recall a thought experiment, which I very vaguely remember to have come across either in Davidson or Dennett, that considers the following scenario: A hound is chasing its quarry ...
alghazali's user avatar
-3 votes
3 answers
271 views

Deductive reasoning & conditionals

What would be a good example of explicit deductive reasoning that doesn't seem to be possibly interpreted correctly as a conditional (If A, then B)?
Speakpigeon's user avatar
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2 votes
4 answers
590 views

Is it logically permissible to neither believe nor disbelieve a proposition X? Or does this violate the law of excluded middle?

Given a proposition X, one can either believe it or disbelieve it. Is it logical however to neither believe X nor disbelieve X? Is it logical to neither believe proposition X nor its negation ~X? I ...
Karlen Karapetyan's user avatar
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1 answer
199 views

Equivalence Thesis

What is, if any, the canonical justification accepted in mathematical logic for the Equivalence Thesis, asserting (1) that indicative conditionals are truth-functional logical expressions and (2) that ...
Speakpigeon's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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Semantic rules overdetermine the truth value of Liar Paradox

I am reading Graham Priest's In Contradiction (p.14) and he mentioned that the semantic rules of 'this sentence' and 'is True' overdetermine and underdetermine the Liar Paradox and its counterpart ...
Constantly confused's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
65 views

Arguing that English does not satisfy the Tarski condition by appealing to truth value gap

I am reading Graham Priest's In Contradiction (P.12), where he is asserting that English satisfies the Tarski condition (a variant of semantic closure) and thus contains true contradiction. He ...
Constantly confused's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
434 views

Contradiction vs Impossiblity

When we do proof by contradiction we think in the following way: Suppose we know that Q is true. We assume that not P is true and through implications we conclude not Q is true. Now how we proceed ...
ado sar's user avatar
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1 answer
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Was Hans Reichenbach really a logical empiricist? Did he really think that logic was empirical?

I was reading an article in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy about Hans Reichenbach 1, and I have a specific question about it that I would like to ask. There, it is said that: Reichenbach ...
Maribel's user avatar
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2 answers
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Non-consistent mathematical axioms

It is known that axioms are the building blocks of mathematics. Differents sets of axioms different "games". What I don't understand is how do we know that we pick axioms that are consistent? . Does ...
ado sar's user avatar
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What is the ontological status of the laws of logic? [duplicate]

Are the laws of logic abstract objects that exist independently of physical things? Are they the same in all possible worlds? Are they man-made constructs, nothing more than ideas in our minds? Or ...
Joa's user avatar
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1 vote
5 answers
351 views

If-then statements meaning in everyday vs mathematics

In mathematics when a "P implies Q" statement is true it means that every time P is true, Q is true also. What about everyday usage? For example consider the statement: "If it is raining, then I am ...
ado sar's user avatar
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2 votes
3 answers
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Question on the "Property of an Object" and the "Action of an Object" (+the "State of an Object")

I have confronted a philosophical problem related to the definition of the "property of an object." What I believe is: The capability of an object (the capability to desire) is the property of an ...
user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
143 views

How/Why is the explanation/prediction of physical phenomena not deductive?

Why is the explanation of the triboelectric effect or the electrostatic effect(indicative examples) not deductive? How so we have a set of premises and from them follows the conclusion which is what ...
George Ntoulos's user avatar
-4 votes
2 answers
291 views

Is Classical Logic the proper model of the deductive logic of human reasoning?

Which mathematicians and philosophers unambiguously claimed that Classical Logic was the proper model of the deductive logic of human reasoning, and when did they say it? The expression "Classical ...
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