Topics Logic

Question Why are philosophers silent about Aristotelian principles of logic?

Accepted:
October 29, 2005

Comments

I'm not sure what you have in mind here by "Aristotelian principles of logic". I can think of a couple possibilities. I should say first, however, that some philosophers spend a lot of time thinking about Aristotelian logic, namely, historians of ancient philosophy. But I take it that your question concerns contemporary philosophy.

One aspect of Aristotle's writings on logic is his theory of valid inference. This is not much discussed because it has been essentially supplanted by modern logic, which can explain the validity of the valid figures of the syllogism and do much that Aristotle's logic could not do. Famously, Aristotelian logic cannot explain the validity of the inference from "Every horse is an animal" to "Every horse's head is an animal's head". The validity of that inference can be explained by modern logic. Since such inferences occur throughout mathematics and ordinary reasoning, Aristotelian logic is simply far too limited in its scope.

Another aspect of Aristotle's work on logic is his conception of how propositions are formed from their constituents, that is, his theory of forms of judgement, such as universal, particular, hypothetical, and so forth. Here again, the theory is not much discussed because it has been superseded by modern logic and linguistics.

Question Why are philosophers silent about Aristotelian principles of logic? Accepted:October 29, 2005

Question Why are philosophers silent about Aristotelian principles of logic?

Accepted:
October 29, 2005