Boolean Logic, Fregean Logic, Wittgensteinian Logic and the Processing of Natural Language
Gottlob Frege (1848-1925) transformed the field of logic from what it had remained since the days of Aristotle. Regarded as the founder of modern logic and much of modern philosophy, Frege laid the foundations of predicate logic, first-order predicate calculus and quantificational logic – formal systems central to computer science and mathematics. Frege was not satisfied with the ambiguity and imprecision of ordinary language. He created a new ‘formula language’ with elaborate symbols and definite rules, focused on conceptual content rather than rhetorical style, which he called Begriffsschrift – a formal language for 'pure thought'. Before Frege, George Boole (1815-1864) created what later became known as ‘Boolean logic’ which is fundamental to operations of computer science today. An application of Wittgensteinian logic could help filter authentic information from information disorder (non-information, off-information, mal-information and mis-information). Wittgensteinian logic applied in natural language processing technology (NLP), if possible and via automation, could transform the quality of information online. Many challenges remain.