FOM: second-order logic is biased; Bourbaki

[Edwin Mares]

At 01:57 PM 3/26/99 -0500, Simpson wrote:
>Actually, I would deny that logic is a branch of philosophy.  It's
>true that logic as a science of correct inference was first laid down
>by a philosopher, Aristotle.  However, logic itself is (or should be)
>a neutral discipline underlying philosophy and all other sciences.
>Aristotle himself viewed it in this way.  

There are two issues being conflated here, I think. There may be one
logical system that somehow captures every correct deductive inference.
Logic, in this sense, might be the foundation of every science as
Steve suggests. But, that does not mean that what 
the correct logical system is. Logic, as a branch of philosophy,
is to a large extent the study of correct inference to find out what
rules it uses. Hence the current debate between classical
logicians, intuitionists (such as Dummett), relevance logicians,
paraconsistent logicians, and so on. 

Ed Mares




Edwin Mares
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Department of Philosophy
Victoria University of Wellington
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