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18801 | Classical negation is circular, if it relies on knowing negation-conditions from truth-conditions |
Full Idea: Explanations of classical negation assume that knowing what it is for the truth-condition of some statement to obtain, independently of recognising it to obtain, we thereby know what it is for it NOT to obtain; but this presupposes classical negation. | |||
From: Michael Dummett (The Logical Basis of Metaphysics [1991], p.299), quoted by Ian Rumfitt - The Boundary Stones of Thought 1.1 | |||
A reaction: [compressed wording] This is Dummett explaining why he prefers intuitionistic logic, with its doubts about double negation. |