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Ideas for 'Three Varieties of Knowledge', 'Introducing the Philosophy of Mathematics' and 'Principia Mathematica'

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2 ideas

4. Formal Logic / E. Nonclassical Logics / 2. Intuitionist Logic
Double negation elimination is not valid in intuitionist logic [Friend]
     Full Idea: In intuitionist logic, if we do not know that we do not know A, it does not follow that we know A, so the inference (and, in general, double negation elimination) is not intuitionistically valid.
     From: Michèle Friend (Introducing the Philosophy of Mathematics [2007], 5.2)
     A reaction: That inference had better not be valid in any logic! I am unaware of not knowing the birthday of someone I have never heard of. Propositional attitudes such as 'know' are notoriously difficult to explain in formal logic.
4. Formal Logic / E. Nonclassical Logics / 6. Free Logic
Free logic was developed for fictional or non-existent objects [Friend]
     Full Idea: Free logic is especially designed to help regiment our reasoning about fictional objects, or nonexistent objects of some sort.
     From: Michèle Friend (Introducing the Philosophy of Mathematics [2007], 3.7)
     A reaction: This makes it sound marginal, but I wonder whether existential commitment shouldn't be eliminated from all logic. Why do fictional objects need a different logic? What logic should we use for Robin Hood, if we aren't sure whether or not he is real?