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Single Idea 13251

[filed under theme 5. Theory of Logic / C. Ontology of Logic / 4. Logic by Convention ]

Full Idea

In logic, there are no morals. Everyone is at liberty to build his own logic, i.e. his own form of language. All that is required is that he must state his methods clearly, and give syntactical rules instead of philosophical arguments.

Gist of Idea

Each person is free to build their own logic, just by specifying a syntax

Source

Rudolph Carnap (The Logical Syntax of Language [1934], §17), quoted by JC Beall / G Restall - Logical Pluralism 7.3

Book Ref

Beall,J/Restall,G: 'Logical Pluralism' [OUP 2006], p.78


A Reaction

This is understandable, but strikes me as close to daft relativism. If I specify a silly logic, I presume its silliness will be obvious. By what criteria? I say the world dictates the true logic, but this is a minority view.


The 8 ideas with the same theme [logic is just a set of rules and concepts agreed by people]:

Each person is free to build their own logic, just by specifying a syntax [Carnap]
Laws of logic are like laws of chess - if you change them, it's just a different game [Wittgenstein]
If the result is bad, we change the rule; if we like the rule, we reject the result [Goodman]
Logic needs general conventions, but that needs logic to apply them to individual cases [Quine, by Rey]
Claims that logic and mathematics are conventional are either empty, uninteresting, or false [Quine]
Logic isn't conventional, because logic is needed to infer logic from conventions [Quine]
If a convention cannot be communicated until after its adoption, what is its role? [Quine]
Maybe conventionalism applies to meaning, but not to the truth of propositions expressed [Hale]