The Turn to Logic and the Transformation of an Ancient Quarrel

Poetics Today ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-100
Author(s):  
Kristin Boyce
Keyword(s):  
Predicate Logic ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Formal Logic ◽  
Early Form ◽  
Analytic Tradition ◽  
New Form

The development of an analytic tradition in philosophy is bound up with a newly intensified interest in logic, and Frege’s development of a new form of logical notation — an early form of what is now called predicate logic — is one of the conditions that made that tradition possible. At the same time, the development of analytic philosophy is also tied to a turn away from what had until that time been a natural and often mutually beneficial exchange with poetry, drama, and fiction. It is easy to assume that the turn away from literature is a necessary consequence of the turn to logic. This essay argues that in fact there are good reasons to think that if we follow the turn to formal logic through, it instead pushes philosophy back into a transformed and perhaps deeper kind of conversation with literature. The terms that organize this renewed conversation are those of a shared preoccupation not with certain ideas or content but with the power of form. The upshot is that the turn to formal logic returns philosophy to a transformed version of the “ancient quarrel” with which it began.

scholarly journals Analytic Tradition in Law: Through the Analysis of Language to the Reconstruction of Social Order

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (8) ◽  
pp. 47-55
Author(s):  
Liana A. Tukhvatulina
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Ontology ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Analytic Tradition ◽  
Open Texture ◽  
Legal Concepts ◽  
Creative Role ◽  
The Ideal

The article reconstructs the premises of the reception of analytic philosophy in jurisprudence and shows that the development of a method for clarifying the meanings of legal concepts is not least connected with the problem of legitimizing law enforcement. The article analyzes H.L.A. Hart’s approach to the problem of correlation between the “letter” and “spirit” of the law in the process of interpreting legal norms. The article argues that the process of interpretation is determined teleologically. In its limit, the interpretation of legal norms presupposes the re-creation of the desired image of society, the reconstruction of such social ontology that is most consistent with the ideal of achieving social welfare. The article examines the collision of the “ideal of order” and the “ideal of justice” as two regulations of law enforcement. The author believes that the interpretation of this collision within the analytical tradition was characterized by a gradual movement from the ideal of “mechanical” law enforcement, which minimizes the creative role of the interpreter, to the ideal of flexible interpretation focused on achieving legal goals in a changing environment. It is noted that, according to analytic approach, a theoretical solution to this conflict was proposed due to the development of the ideas of an “open texture” of law (H.L.A. Hart, F. Waismann). The author demonstrates that the development of the analytic tradition in jurisprudence has shown that the criticism of language and the interpretation of meanings are not technical tasks, but it presupposes the construction of a metaphysics of law. In this regard, the author concludes: the development of the ideas of the analytic tradition in jurisprudence demonstrates that the thesis about the absence of a positive program in analytic philosophy, put forward in the first (A.L. Nikiforov’s) article of the discussion, can be challenged.

scholarly journals Psychology of Worldviews (selective translation)

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-133
Author(s):  
Karl Jaspers
Keyword(s):  
Formal Logic ◽  
Karl Jaspers ◽  
Selective Translation ◽  
German Philosopher ◽  
New Form ◽  
Inner Contradictions

The paper presents an author’s translation of fragments of previously unpublished in Russian «Psychology of Worldviews» by the German philosopher Karl Jaspers. The excerpts have been chosen to illustrate the basic considerations of the philosopher and psychiatrist regarding the metaphor of the shell introduced to describe a rigid worldview standpoint that people take to obtain support and shelter from the vulnerability and the uncertainty of environment, while, at the same time, paying for the seeming stability and certainty with the loss of their vitality and intensity of experiencing their own life. As Jaspers highlights, the shell as antinomic in its nature, and the inner contradictions related to the antinomies are resolved at the psychological level of existence, when the shell is melted and moulded into a new form, rather than at the level of formal logic, involving the reason. The author also supplies the translation with some comments and his own considerations on the topic.

Necessity Lost

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanford Shieh
Keyword(s):  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Logical Positivism ◽  
Bertrand Russell ◽  
Gottlob Frege ◽  
Deductive Argument ◽  
Analytic Tradition

A long tradition, going back to Aristotle, conceives of logic in terms of necessity and possibility: a deductive argument is correct if the truth of its conclusion follows necessarily from the truth of its premises or, put differently, if it is not possible for the conclusion to be false when the premises are true. A relatively unknown feature of the analytic tradition in philosophy is that, at its very inception, this venerable conception of the relation between logic and modality was put into question. The founders of analytic philosophy, Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell, held that there are no genuine distinctions among the necessary, the possible and the actual. In this first of a two-volume book, I investigate the grounds and consequences of this anti-modal position. The grounds lie in doctrines on truth, thought, and knowledge, as well as on the relation between mind and reality, that are central to the philosophies of Frege and Russell, and are of enduring philosophical interest. The main consequence is that logic is fundamental, and, to be coherent, modal concepts would be reconstructed in logical terms. This rejection of modality in early analytic philosophy remains of contemporary significance. The coherence of modal concepts is rarely questioned nowadays, because it is assumed that suspicion of modality derives from logical positivism, which has not survived philosophical scrutiny. The anti-modal arguments of Frege and Russell, however, have nothing to do with positivism, and remain a challenge to the contemporary acceptance of modal notions.

How Marxism Is Analyzed: An Introduction

1989 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Robert Ware
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Bertrand Russell ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Karl Popper ◽  
Analytic Tradition ◽  
Popular Texts

What has come to be called ‘analytical Marxism’ is to be celebrated when properly understood. It is a phenomenon that has engaged some of the best people in philosophy, political science, economics, sociology, and other disciplines. In the last fifteen years there has been a blossoming of anaytic studies on Marx and on Marxism in the mainstreams of academic disciplines, with the first impetus coming from philosophers who had been working in the analytic tradition. During the previous sixty years of analytic philosophy virtually nothing was said about Marxism. It was not even considered worthy of philosophical attack. Bertrand Russell, who did write on Marxist topics, confined his considerations on Marx to popular texts. Karl Popper, who did take Marxism seriously philosophically, concentrated on criticisms which were in any case ignored by analytic philosophers.

scholarly journals TAN MALAKA: FILSAFAT REALISME KETIMURAN

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salahuddin Harahap
Keyword(s):  
Formal Logic ◽  
Eastern Philosophy ◽  
Great Work ◽  
Acculturation Process ◽  
High Concern ◽  
New Form ◽  
Popular Work

<p><em>Tan Malaka, is one of the Indonesian thinkers who seems to have quite a high concern for philosophy as stated in his fairly popular work MADILOG stands for "Materialism-Dialectics and Logic". A great work put the foundations of philosophy and logic which, if developed, is believed to give birth to a new philosophical model and not just a transfer of the philosophy of Western Materialism, Dialectic Socialism and Aristotelian Formal Logic. The author prefers to call "Philosophy of Eastern Realism" towards the philosophy developed by Tan Malaka with the following considerations: First, in general the territory of Indonesia is included in the category of agrarian (close to nature) so that the nature of thought is very laden with mysticism or myth, so that necessary encouragement more realistic and logical so it is called "Realism". Second, the term eastern represents typical traditions, culture, religion and territory so as to necessitate a strong acculturation process for any ideas, thoughts and traditions that originate from outside. At least these two considerations have been exposed in various writings by Tan Malaka, which the writer believes can be formulated as a new form of philosophy specifically for the treasures of Eastern Philosophy in particular Indonesia.</em><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Keywords</strong><strong>: </strong><em>Tan Malaka, Eastern Realism Philosophy.</em></p>

Personhood in Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Anglophone Philosophy

Persons ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 263-300
Author(s):  
Aaron Preston
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
First Century ◽  
Analytic Tradition ◽  
Martin Luther King ◽  
Century Thought

This chapter surveys the respective influences of personalism and of analytic philosophy on twentieth-century thought about persons. It shows that personalism promoted a concept of personhood that is supportive of human dignity and conducive to positive moral and social engagement, as exemplified in personalism’s best-known representative, Martin Luther King, Jr. By contrast, the analytic tradition has exhibited a persistent tendency to undermine personhood as King and the personalists understood it, while failing to supply a metaphysically and morally adequate alternative. This unfortunate legacy is worth reversing if possible. With this in mind, I suggest that contemporary analytic philosophy has something important to learn from personalism concerning what counts as an adequate metaphysical basis for human dignity and the moral life.

Konrad Zuse and his Plankalkül: The Hope to Emerge from the Sleep of Sleeping Beauty

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 249-265
Author(s):  
Carla Petrocelli
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Predicate Logic ◽  
Sleeping Beauty ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Formal Logic ◽  
Writing Programs ◽  
Living Room ◽  
World War ◽  
Processing Data ◽  
Notational System

Germany, 1935: the engineer Konrad Zuse (1910–1995), in the living room of his Berlin house, devotes himself to the design and construction of a binary, programmable machine, the Z1, capable of processing data in a fast and efficient way. While building his machines, he also started to devise a conceptual and notational system for writing ‘programs’ to execute applications much more complex than the basic arithmetic calculations. He delved deep into the study of formal logic in order to work out his “computation plan”, the Plankalkül. Although the Plan Calculus didn't exercise much impact on German post-World War hardships, it displays all the traits currently recognized as standard features of modern programming languages. The aim of the present study is to highlight the general purpose and technical specifics of this language, its historical and scientific background, and the philosophical inspiration leading Konrad Zuse to employ the predicate logic in the formalization of the “computation projects” for his machines.

Vorprung durch Logik: The German Analytic Tradition

1999 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 137-166
Author(s):  
Hans-Johann Glock
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Vienna Circle ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Considerable Part ◽  
American Pragmatism ◽  
Analytic Tradition ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World

Although at present analytic philosophy is practiced mainly in the English-speaking world, it is to a considerable part the invention of German speakers. Its emergence owes much to Russell, Moore, and American Pragmatism, but even more to Frege, Wittgenstein, and the logical positivists of the Vienna Circle. No one would think of analytic philosophy as a specifically Anglophone phenomenon, if the Nazis had not driven many of its pioneers out of central Europe.

scholarly journals A Plea for a Peircean Turn in Analytic Philosophy

1998 ◽  
pp. 20-26
Author(s):  
Jaime Nubiola
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
Analytic Tradition

Criticisms of analytic philosophy have increased in intensity in the last decade, denouncing specifically its closing in on itself, which results in barrenness and ignorance of real human problems. The thought of C. S. Peirce is proposed as a fruitful way of renewing the analytic tradition and obviating these criticisms. While this paper is largely a reflection on Hilary Putnam’s study of the historical development of analytic philosophy, not only can some of its main roots be traced back to Peirce, but also the recent resurgence of pragmatism can be regarded as a pragmatist renovation of the analytic tradition. Further, Peirce’s thought offers suggestions for tackling some of the most stubborn problems in contemporary philosophy, thereby enabling us to shoulder once more the philosophical responsibility which has been abdicated by much of twentieth-century philosophy. The most accurate understanding of Peirce is to see him as a traditional and systematic philosopher, but one dealing with the modern problems of science truth, and knowledge from a valuable personal experience as a logician and an experimental researcher in the bosom of an interdisciplinary community of scientists and thinkers.

Analytic Philosophy, the Ancient Philosopher Poets and the Poetics of Analytic Philosophy

Rhizomata ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-182
Author(s):  
Catherine Rowett
Keyword(s):  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Ancient Philosophy ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Analytic Tradition ◽  
Ancient Philosopher ◽  
Poetic Style

Abstract The paper starts with reflections on Plato’s critique of the poets and the preference many express for Aristotle’s view of poetry. The second part of the paper takes a case study of analytic treatments of ancient philosophy, including the ancient philosopher poets, to examine the poetics of analytic philosophy, diagnosing a preference in Analytic philosophy for a clean non-poetic style of presentation, and then develops this in considering how well historians of philosophy in the Analytic tradition can accommodate the contributions of philosophers who wrote in verse. The final part of the paper reviews the current enthusiasm for decoding Empedocles’ vague and poetic descriptions of the cosmic cycle into a precise scientific periodicity on the basis of the recently discovered Byzantine scholia on Aristotle. I argue that this enthusiasm speaks to a desire for definite and clear numerical values in place of poetic motifs of give and take, and that this mathematical and scientific poetic is comparable to the preferred poetic of analytic philosophy.

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