Non-Normative Logical Pluralism and the Revenge of the Normativity Objection

Philosophical Quarterly 70 (278):162–177 (2020)
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Abstract

Logical pluralism is the view that there is more than one correct logic. Most logical pluralists think that logic is normative in the sense that you make a mistake if you accept the premisses of a valid argument but reject its conclusion. Some authors have argued that this combination is self-undermining: Suppose that L1 and L2 are correct logics that coincide except for the argument from Γ to φ, which is valid in L1 but invalid in L2. If you accept all sentences in Γ, then, by normativity, you make a mistake if you reject φ. In order to avoid mistakes, you should accept φ or suspend judgment about φ. Both options are problematic for pluralism. Can pluralists avoid this worry by rejecting the normativity of logic? I argue that they cannot. All else being equal, the argument goes through even if logic is not normative.

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Erik Stei
Utrecht University

Citations of this work

The Normative Autonomy of Logic.Diego Tajer - 2022 - Erkenntnis 87 (6):2661-2684.
Logic as a methodological discipline.Gil Sagi - 2021 - Synthese 199 (3-4):9725-9749.
Disagreement about logic from a pluralist perspective.Erik Stei - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 177 (11):3329-3350.
The collapse of logical contextualism.Timo Meier - forthcoming - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy.

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References found in this work

Logical Pluralism.Jc Beall & Greg Restall - 2005 - Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Edited by Greg Restall.
Doubt truth to be a liar.Graham Priest - 2006 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Varieties of Logic.Stewart Shapiro - 2014 - Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Philosophy of Logics.Susan Haack - 1978 - London and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Logical pluralism.Jc Beall & Greg Restall - 2000 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 78 (4):475 – 493.

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