Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Not Not Double Negation, Jagmeet Sahota

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

According to the law of the excluded middle (hereafter ‘LEM’) any sentence of the form ‘p or not p’ is logically true. In other words, no matter how the work is like in itself, any sentence of this form must be true. Yet the truth of this theorem remains highly controversial. For it appears to be subject to counterexamples. On the other hand, according to the law of non-contradiction, no sentence of the form ‘p and not p’ is true. The law of non-contradiction is an uncontroversial theorem in logic. Yet a simple proof allows us to derive the former …

Russian Logics And The Culture Of Impossible: Part Ii: Reinterpreting Algorithmic Rationality, Ksenia Tatarchenko, Anya Yermakova, Liesbeth De Mol

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article reinterprets algorithmic rationality by looking at the interaction between mathematical logic, mechanized reasoning, and, later, computing in the Russian Imperial and Soviet contexts to offer a history of the algorithm as a mathematical object bridging the inner and outer worlds, a humanistic vision that we, following logician Vladimir Uspensky, call the “culture of the impossible.” We unfold the deep roots of this vision as embodied in scientific intelligentsia. In Part I, we examine continuities between the turn-of-the-twentieth-century discussions of poznaniye—an epistemic orientation towards the process of knowledge acquisition—and the postwar rise of the Soviet school of mathematical logic. …

Logical Reasoning, Soo-Jin Lee

Open Educational Resources

Syllabus for Logical Reasoning

Non-Reductionist Science: Assessing Metabolism And Entropy With Systems Theory And Hegelian Logic, Tre Schumacher

Undergraduate Research

This paper will offer Hegelian logic, its connection with systems theory, and how it can serve as a replacement for reductionism in the sciences. First, the connection will be made between formal logic and reductionism. Second, systems theory will be introduced as an alternative to reductionism. Third, Hegelian logic and its connection with systems theory will be demonstrated. Fourth, a non-reductionist mode of science will be offered, wherein Hegelian logic and systems theory can work alone or together, in replacement of reductionism and formal logic. Last, a brief sample of this mode of science will be shown in an examination …

Metaphysics Supervenes On Logic: The Role Of The Logical Forms In Hegel's "Replacement" Of Metaphysics, W. Clark Wolf

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

In this paper, I seek to explain Hegel’s view that his “logic” replaces metaphysics. I argue that Hegel’s discussion of logical forms of judgment and syllogism in book III of The Science of Logic is meant to be the foundation of his reformation of metaphysics. Implicit in Hegel’s discussion of the logical forms is the view that the metaphysical concepts discussed in books I and II of the Logic supervene on the role of subject and predicate terms in the logical forms discussed in book III. Hegel thus has an explanation for the nature and signifcance of metaphysical concepts that …

Vagueness And The Logic Of The World, Zack Garrett

Department of Philosophy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this dissertation, I argue that vagueness is a metaphysical phenomenon---that properties and objects can be vague---and propose a trivalent theory of vagueness meant to account for the vagueness in the world. In the first half, I argue against the theories that preserve classical logic. These theories include epistemicism, contextualism, and semantic nihilism. My objections to these theories are independent of considerations of the possibility that vagueness is a metaphysical phenomenon. However, I also argue that these theories are not capable of accommodating metaphysical vagueness.

As I move into my positive theory, I first argue for the possibility of metaphysical …

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Phi 1600 (Logic And Moral Reasoning), Alexander Steers-Mccrum

Open Educational Resources

The goal of this class is to familiarize students with formal and informal logic. Logic illustrates and explores the connections between ideas. It can help us evaluate our beliefs and make and understand arguments. Aside from its use in philosophy, logic is of particular importance in mathematics and law, and is foundational for computer science.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Phi 1600 (Logic And Moral Reasoning), Andreea Prichea

Open Educational Resources

The goal of the course is for students to familiarize themselves with the structure of an argument. Identify and iterate the difference between inductive and deductive, valid and invalid arguments. Learn methods to determine if an argument is valid or invalid, and be able to identify faulty arguments based on the argument's structure. The core of the course will focus on deductive arguments as they relate to moral arguments. . The student throughout the course will be exposed to arguments in natural language, and try to analyze them through the methods learned.

The Logical Fallacies In Political Discourse, Zilin Cidre Zhou

Summer Research Program

I examined the use of logical fallacies in political discourse. Logical fallacies are fraudulent tricks people use in their argument to make it sound more credible while what they really do is to fool the audience. Out of more than 300 kinds of fallacies, I focused on 18 common ones by analyzing their use in debates about political issues. During conducting my research, I noted that being aware of my mental state is very important if I want to accurately detect the fallacies. Furthermore, while watching two sides debating, being impartial is as significant as staying calm. I also need …

Classical Logic, Stewart Shapiro, Teresa Kouri Kissel

Philosophy Faculty Publications

[From introductory section]

Typically, a logic consists of a formal or informal language together with a deductive system and/or a model-theoretic semantics. The language has components that correspond to a part of a natural language like English or Greek. The deductive system is to capture, codify, or simply record arguments that are valid for the given language, and the semantics is to capture, codify, or record the meanings, or truth-conditions for at least part of the language.

The following sections provide the basics of a typical logic, sometimes called “classical elementary logic” or “classical first-order logic”....

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Phi 1600 (Logic And Moral Reasoning), Gerrit Jan Kamperdyk

Open Educational Resources

This course examines the principles of clear and accurate thought, including sound and valid arguments and methods of scientific reasoning in moral and political argument.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Phi 1600 (Logic And Moral Reasoning), Jesse Rappaport

Open Educational Resources

This course examines the principles of clear and accurate thought, including sound and valid arguments and methods of scientific reasoning in moral and political argument.

The Logic Of Comprehensive Or Deep Emotional Change, Jeremy Barris

Humanities Faculty Research

The article proposes an analogue of conceptual change in the context of comprehensive or deep emotional change and growth, and explores some aspects of its logic in that context. This is not to reduce emotions to concepts, but to say that concepts express the sense that is already inherent in experience and reality. When emotional states change so thoroughly that their applicable concepts become completely different, they shift from one logical structure to another. At the moment or phase when one conceptual structure transforms into another, two logically incompatible descriptions both apply to the same state at the same time. …

The Logic Of Concessive Statements, Aharon Grenadir

School for Lifelong Education Publications

Concessive statements appear frequently in everyday reasoning. They are one of the eleven types of statement mentioned in the Ramchal‟s Sefer Derech Tevunos. In addition, in Talmudic discussions, every statement has a presupposition (hava-amina) and a conclusion (ka mashma lan). This goal of this research is to organize the categorizations of concessive statements that are stated in the technical literature. Using the distintinction in lomdus between dechiyah (overriding a law) and hutrah (removal of a law), a novel categorization can be added, according to the type of denial of the expectation by the main clause. That is the subject of …

What Do We Mean By Logical Consequence?, Jesse Endo Jenks

Summer Research

In the beginning of the 20th century, many prominent logicians and mathematicians, such as Frege, Russell, Hilbert, and many others, felt that mathematics needed a very rigorous foundation in logic. Many results of the time were motivated by questions about logical truth and logical consequence. The standard approach in the early part of the 20th century was to use a syntactic or proof-theoretic definition of logical consequence. This says that "for one sentence to be a logical consequence of [a set of premises] is simply for that sentence to be derivable from [them] by means of some standard system of …

The Italian Mind: Vernacular Logic In Renaissance Italy (1540 –1551). Marco Sgarbi (Review), Alan R. Perreiah

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Square Of Opposition: Innovations In Teaching Logic, Marc R. Dimartino

Senior Honors Projects

Teaching classical logic can often be challenging, especially when working with students who lack any prior experience with the more technical aspects of critical thinking. The abstraction of statements into logical symbols and the implementation of various diagramming methods can be enough to frustrate novice logicians, leading to a lack of hope and sometimes failure of mastery. The unique difficulties in teaching classical logic can, in addition, exacerbate tricky pedagogical issues that arise on a day to day basis in the critical thinking classroom. For example, it can be challenging to convey complex information in a meaningful way when dealing …

A Formalization Of Topical Logic, Aharon Grenadir

School for Lifelong Education Publications

The author discusses the history of topical logic.

Rhetoric And Platonism In Fifth-Century Athens, Damian Caluori

Philosophy Faculty Research

There are reasons to believe that relations between Platonism and rhetoric in Athens during the fifth century CE were rather close. Both were major pillars of pagan culture, or paideia, and thus essential elements in the defense of paganism against increasingly powerful and repressive Christian opponents. It is easy to imagine that, under these circumstances, paganism was closing ranks and that philosophers and orators united in their efforts to save traditional ways and values. Although there is no doubt some truth to this view, a closer look reveals that the relations between philosophy and rhetoric were rather more complicated. …

Dreams As A Meta-Conceptual Or Existential Experience, Jeremy Barris

Humanities Faculty Research

The paper argues that dreams (or the recollected experience of dreams) consist partly in an awareness or experience of the conceptual fabric of our existence. Since what we mean by reality is intimately tied to the concepts given in our experience, dreams are therefore also partly an awareness of the fabric of what we mean by being itself and in general, that is, by objective as well as subjective reality. Further, the paper argues that this characteristic of dreams accounts for several other, more specific aspects of dreams and their possible interpretation, and that it allows us to see how …

Logic, Truth And Inquiry (Book Review), G. C. Goddu

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Mark Weinstein’s, Logic, Truth and Inquiry is an ambitious and provocative case for a theory of truth and warrant strength that will undergird an “account of argument in the broad sense of current argumentation theory” (p. 12). I begin with a very schematic synopsis of Weinstein’s rich discussion through his six chapters. Weinstein himself notes that his arguments are “frequently presented in broad outline” (p. 1), so my quick sketch will be even broader. I conclude with some brief observations about both what the book leaves unresolved and the merits of Weinstein’s intriguing book.

A Foundation For Arithmetic, Kevin Halasz

Summer Research

This paper contains a proof of Frege's Theorem: the statement, first discovered by George Boolos, that Gottlob Frege's failed proof of the analyticity of arithmetic could be slightly altered so as to provide an axiomitization of arithmetic with just one proposition. After an expository treatment of the mathematical work in Frege's 'Foundations of Arithmetic,' the work in which Frege presented his failed proof, a novel, and particularly succinct, proof of the Theorem is provided.

The Logic Of Objects, David B. Eichelberger

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

The human mind assimilates information and experiences quickly and constantly, and is aided by mental systems that we rely on to function. We classify the input of our lives with extreme efficiency. Our notions about the things we encounter in the world are learned from past experiences, and these expectations help us file the data of our lives. My work is composed to create pause. I am interested in slowing down the processes of assimilation by manipulating our expectations, and extending events measured in microseconds into saturated and engaging experiences. Functional qualities, visual rhythms, and exaggerated proportions are some of …

An Internal Connection Between Logic And Rhetoric, And A Legitimate Foundation For Knowledge, Jeremy Barris

Humanities Faculty Research

It has often been argued that a theory that tries to justify itself fully is either viciously circular or produces an infinite regress of justifications. Thinking that tries to establish ultimate foundations for itself seems in the end to base itself on nothing but its own insistence that it is right. As a result it offers no real knowledge. As Robert Almeder notes, for example, a strong appeal attaches to arguments such as that "there is no non-question-begging way to answer questions such as 'Are you justified in believing your definition of justification?'"

Restorative Rigging And The Safe Indication Account, Steven Luper

Philosophy Faculty Research

Typical Gettieresque scenarios involve a subject, S, using a method, M, of believing something, p, where, normally, M is a reliable indicator of the truth of p, yet, in S’s circumstances, M is not reliable: M is deleteriously rigged. A different sort of scenario involves rigging that restores the reliability of a method M that is deleteriously rigged: M is restoratively rigged. Some theorists criticize (among others) the safe indication account of knowledge defended by Luper, Sosa, and Williamson on the grounds that it treats such cases as knowledge. But other theorists also criticize the safe indication account because it …

Aristotle's Formal Language, Mary Mulhern

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

A formal language was invented by Aristotle and used by him in his lectures. This formal language consisted of Greek capital letters used as placeholders, arrayed in the schemata of the three figures recognized as authentically Aristotle’s. In these arrays, arcs under the placeholder letters indicate how the terms are linked in the premisses and conclusion and are read as some inflection of ΰπάρχειν, used by Aristotle as a second- order expression to convey the relation that the terms—not the designata of the terms-of a syllogism have to one another. It is further possible that Aristotle elaborated the three- term …

Past Desires And The Dead, Steven Luper

Philosophy Faculty Research

I examine an argument that appears to take us from Parfit’s [Reasons and Persons, Oxford: Clarendon Press (1984)] thesis that we have no reason to fulfill desires we no longer care about to the conclusion that the effect of posthumous events on our desires is a matter of indifference (the post-mortem thesis). I suspect that many of Parfit’s readers, including Vorobej [Philosophical Studies 90 (1998) 305], think that he is committed to (something like) this reasoning, and that Parfit must therefore give up the post-mortem thesis. However, as it turns out, the argument is subtly equivocal and …

Nietzsche’S Place In Nineteenth Century German Philosophy, Michael S. Green

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Nietzsche’S Aphoristic Turn, Steven Michels

Political Science & Global Affairs Faculty Publications

Nietzsche’s use of the aphorism has most often been taken as evidence of his esotericism. Nietzsche was less than clear in his writings, it is claimed, because he did not want his true teaching to be available to just anyone. This article contends the opposite—that is, that Nietzsche wrote aphoristically for the very purpose of being read, and understood, by the widest possible audience. Moreover, this change in style had a marked impact on the nature of his philosophy. Unburdened by conventional methods, Nietzsche’s critique of modernity became more exact and his own positive philosophy became more radical.

Moorean Absurdities And Iterated Beliefs, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.