Drawn from forthcoming book The Art of Logic.
I analyzed in some detail the basic formalities of the argument by analogy close to ten years ago in my book A Fortiori Logic. I there showed in what ways it resembles and differs from a fortiori argument. Howe…
Logic is founded on certain ‘laws of thought’, which were first formulated by Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher. We shall describe them separately here, and later consider their collective significance.
The Law of Identity is an imperative t…
We began our study by presenting the laws of thought — the Laws of Identity, of Contradiction, and of the Excluded Middle — as the foundations of logic. We can see, as we proceed, that these first principles are repeatedly appealed to in reasoning and validatio…
The concepts of ‘logical modality’ enable us to predict systematically all the ways credibility may arise in knowledge over the long-term. Credibility itself is not a type of modality, but the ground and outcome of logical modality. We shall immediately de…
We defined logical modalities with reference to the relative credibilities of appearances ‘within contexts’. We will here try to clarify what constitutes a context, and its role.
In a very narrow, ‘logical’ sense, one might refer to the context of a proposition as …
Induction, in the widest sense, is concerned with finding the probable implications of theses. Deduction may then be viewed as the ideal or limiting case of induction, when the probability is maximal or 100%, so that the conclusion is necessary. In a narrower …
The ‘scientific method’ consists in trying out every conceivable imaginary construct, and seeing which of them keep fitting all new facts, and which do not. Those which cease to fit, must be eliminated (or at least corrected). Those which continue to f…
Knowledge requires inquisitiveness and creativity. It cannot advance far inertially. The role of the knower is to actively ask questions and look for answers, not to sit back passively and assume all is well. Knowledge is a constructive activity.
In forming one…
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