The AskPhilosophers logo.

Logic

Is it possible that there exist types or methods of argument/reasoning that have not been discovered or employed before? (I do not mean specific arguments for specific problems, but Forms of arguments, so to speak.)
Accepted:
November 24, 2010

Comments

Richard Heck
December 9, 2010 (changed December 9, 2010) Permalink

Sure, why not? Historically, there certainly have been. An example would be mathematical induction, which was known, in some form, to Euclid, but, so far as I know, is not present in earlier Greek mathematics. That seems to me to count if anything does. Now that was a long time ago, but why shouldn't there be such argument-forms that are unknown now even to us? Discovering one would be a very good thing, then!

  • Log in to post comments
Source URL: https://askphilosophers.org/question/3697
© 2005-2025 AskPhilosophers.org