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Ideas for 'The Roots of Reference', 'Foundations without Foundationalism' and 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments'

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5 ideas

5. Theory of Logic / K. Features of Logics / 3. Soundness
'Weakly sound' if every theorem is a logical truth; 'sound' if every deduction is a semantic consequence [Shapiro]
     Full Idea: A logic is 'weakly sound' if every theorem is a logical truth, and 'strongly sound', or simply 'sound', if every deduction from Γ is a semantic consequence of Γ. Soundness indicates that the deductive system is faithful to the semantics.
     From: Stewart Shapiro (Foundations without Foundationalism [1991], 1.1)
     A reaction: Similarly, 'weakly complete' is when every logical truth is a theorem.
5. Theory of Logic / K. Features of Logics / 4. Completeness
We can live well without completeness in logic [Shapiro]
     Full Idea: We can live without completeness in logic, and live well.
     From: Stewart Shapiro (Foundations without Foundationalism [1991], Pref)
     A reaction: This is the kind of heady suggestion that American philosophers love to make. Sounds OK to me, though. Our ability to draw good inferences should be expected to outrun our ability to actually prove them. Completeness is for wimps.
5. Theory of Logic / K. Features of Logics / 6. Compactness
Non-compactness is a strength of second-order logic, enabling characterisation of infinite structures [Shapiro]
     Full Idea: It is sometimes said that non-compactness is a defect of second-order logic, but it is a consequence of a crucial strength - its ability to give categorical characterisations of infinite structures.
     From: Stewart Shapiro (Foundations without Foundationalism [1991], Pref)
     A reaction: The dispute between fans of first- and second-order may hinge on their attitude to the infinite. I note that Skolem, who was not keen on the infinite, stuck to first-order. Should we launch a new Skolemite Crusade?
Compactness is derived from soundness and completeness [Shapiro]
     Full Idea: Compactness is a corollary of soundness and completeness. If Γ is not satisfiable, then, by completeness, Γ is not consistent. But the deductions contain only finite premises. So a finite subset shows the inconsistency.
     From: Stewart Shapiro (Foundations without Foundationalism [1991], 4.1)
     A reaction: [this is abbreviated, but a proof of compactness] Since all worthwhile logics are sound, this effectively means that completeness entails compactness.
5. Theory of Logic / K. Features of Logics / 9. Expressibility
A language is 'semantically effective' if its logical truths are recursively enumerable [Shapiro]
     Full Idea: A logical language is 'semantically effective' if the collection of logically true sentences is a recursively enumerable set of strings.
     From: Stewart Shapiro (Foundations without Foundationalism [1991], 6.5)