Philosophy of logic is the branch of philosophy that is concerned with the nature and justification of systems of logic. Some fundamental questions with which it is concerned are:

• Is there only one "true" logic, or are many logics equally correct?
• Is it possible to have genuine disagreements about whether a logical principle (such as the law of excluded middle) is correct?
• What makes an expression a logical constant?
• What are the proper accounts of logical consequence, quantification, and other logical concepts?
• What is the scope of logic (e.g., does it encompass mathematics)?
• Is second-order logic really logic?
• Is logic a matter of convention?
• Is logic empirical?
• What is the nature of logical necessity?

Philosophy of logic is often confused with philosophical logic, which is the application of formal logical techniques to philosophical problems. Several philosophers have made important contributions to both fields.

There is some overlap between philosophy of logic, philosophical logic, philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics.

Important figures

Important figures in the philosophy of logic include (but are not limited to):

• Aristotle
• George Boole
• George Boolos
• Rudolf Carnap
• Alonzo Church
• Augustus De Morgan

• Michael Dummett
• Gottlob Frege
• Kurt Gödel
• Georg Hegel
• Immanuel Kant
• Gottfried Leibniz

• John Stuart Mill
• Charles Peirce
• Arthur Prior
• Willard Van Orman Quine
• Bertrand Russell
• Alfred Tarski

Resources

• Haack, Susan. 1978. Philosophy of Logics. Cambridge University Press. (ISBN 0521293294)
• Quine, W. V. O. 2004. Philosophy of Logic. 2nd ed. Harvard University Press. (ISBN 0674665635)

External links

• Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
• essay on the nature of logic (from organelle.org)

Branches of philosophy | Logic

Philosophie de la logique