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Single Idea 21588

[filed under theme 5. Theory of Logic / A. Overview of Logic / 3. Value of Logic ]

Full Idea

Logic gives the method of research in philosophy, just as mathematics gives the method in physics.

Gist of Idea

Logic gives the method of research in philosophy

Source

Bertrand Russell (Our Knowledge of the External World [1914], 8)

Book Ref

Russell,Bertrand: 'Our Knowledge of the External World' [Routledge 1993], p.243

A Reaction

I'm struck by how rarely philosophers actually prove anything. Mostly they just use the language of logic as a tool for disambiguation. Only a tiny handful of philosophers can actually create sustained and novel proofs.

The 23 ideas with the same theme [relative importance of logic in life and reason]:

16728 Logicians acknowledge too few things, while others acknowledge too many [Fitzralph]
12992 Logic teaches us how to order and connect our thoughts [Leibniz]
22275 Logic gives us the necessary rules which show us how we ought to think [Kant]
14780 Only study logic if you think your own reasoning is deficient [Peirce]
7188 Logic tries to understand the world according to a man-made scheme [Nietzsche]
7145 Logic is not driven by truth, but desire for a simple single viewpoint [Nietzsche]
7144 Logic must falsely assume that identical cases exist [Nietzsche]
16867 Logic not only proves things, but also reveals logical relations between them [Frege]
14880 Logic is just slavery to language [Nietzsche]
9179 Frege frequently expressed a contempt for language [Frege, by Dummett]
21588 Logic gives the method of research in philosophy [Russell]
6107 It is logic, not metaphysics, that is fundamental to philosophy [Russell]
10152 Set theory and logic are fairy tales, but still worth studying [Tarski]
6428 Wittgenstein is right that logic is just tautologies [Wittgenstein, by Russell]
9028 Maybe logical truth reflects reality, but in different ways in different languages [Quine]
9244 Logic is easy, but what about logic to the point of death? [Camus]
8219 Logic has an infantile idea of philosophy [Deleuze/Guattari]
8246 Logic hates philosophy, and wishes to supplant it [Deleuze/Guattari]
13479 Given that thinking aims at truth, logic gives universal rules for how to do it [Burge]
3599 Deduction shows entailments, not what to believe [Williams,M]
13378 It is a mistake to think that the logic developed for mathematics can clarify language and philosophy [Jubien]
6858 Formal logic struck me as exactly the language I wanted to think in [Williamson]
9390 Logic guides thinking, but it isn't a substitute for it [Rumfitt]