Rivalry, normativity, and the collapse of logical pluralism

Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 63 (3-4):411-432 (2020)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Logical pluralism is the view that there is more than one correct logic. This very general characterization gives rise to a whole family of positions. I argue that not all of them are stable. The main argument in the paper is inspired by considerations known as the “collapse problem”, and it aims at the most popular form of logical pluralism advocated by JC Beall and Greg Restall. I argue that there is a more general argument available that challenges all variants of logical pluralism that meet the following three conditions: that there are at least two correct logical systems characterized in terms of different consequence relations, that there is some sort of rivalry among the correct logics, and that logical consequence is normative. The hypothesis I argue for amounts to conditional claim: If a position satisfies all these conditions, then that position is unstable in the sense that it collapses into competing positions.

Similar books and articles

Logical pluralism, indeterminacy and the normativity of logic.Filippo Ferrari & Sebastiano Moruzzi - 2020 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 63 (3-4):323-346.
Disagreement about logic from a pluralist perspective.Erik Stei - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 177 (11):3329-3350.
Problems for Logical Pluralism.Owen Griffiths - 2013 - History and Philosophy of Logic 34 (2):170-182.
Logical pluralism, indeterminacy and the normativity of logic.Filippo Ferrari & Sebastiano Moruzzi - 2017 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy:1-24.
Czym jest pluralizm logiczny?Bożena Czernecka-Rej - 2013 - Roczniki Filozoficzne 61 (1):5-22.
What logical pluralism cannot be.Rosanna Keefe - 2014 - Synthese 191 (7):1375-1390.
Carnap’s Tolerance, Meaning, and Logical Pluralism.Greg Restall - 2002 - Journal of Philosophy 99 (8):426-443.
Logical Pluralism.Jc Beall & Greg Restall - 2005 - Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Edited by Greg Restall.

Analytics

Added to PP
2017-05-26

Downloads
799 (#17,371)

6 months
173 (#14,104)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Erik Stei
Utrecht University

References found in this work

Philosophy of logic.Willard Van Orman Quine - 1970 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Edited by Simon Blackburn & Keith Simmons.
In contradiction: a study of the transconsistent.Graham Priest - 1987 - New York: Oxford University Press.
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.

View all 42 references / Add more references