The Dialogical Roots of Deduction
Historical, Cognitive, and Philosophical Perspectives on Reasoning

The first comprehensive account of the concept and practices of deduction covering philosophy, history, cognition and mathematical practice.

Catarina Dutilh Novaes (Author)

9781108790925, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 August 2022

285 pages
22.9 x 15.1 x 1.6 cm, 0.43 kg

'This book is required reading not only for those interested in the history and philosophy of logic. It has something to teach any of us who are interested in what we are doing when we reason together. The lessons we learn will help us address some of our old questions from new perspectives, and will leave us asking fresh questions, too.' Greg Restall, MIND

This comprehensive account of the concept and practices of deduction is the first to bring together perspectives from philosophy, history, psychology and cognitive science, and mathematical practice. Catarina Dutilh Novaes draws on all of these perspectives to argue for an overarching conceptualization of deduction as a dialogical practice: deduction has dialogical roots, and these dialogical roots are still largely present both in theories and in practices of deduction. Dutilh Novaes' account also highlights the deeply human and in fact social nature of deduction, as embedded in actual human practices; as such, it presents a highly innovative account of deduction. The book will be of interest to a wide range of readers, from advanced students to senior scholars, and from philosophers to mathematicians and cognitive scientists.

Preface
Part I. The Philosophy of Deduction: 1. The trouble with deduction
2. Back to the roots of deduction
3. The Prover-Skeptic dialogues
4. Deduction as a dialogical notion
Part II. The History of Deduction: 5. Deduction in mathematics and dialectic in Ancient Greece
6. Aristotle's syllogistic, and other ancient logical traditions
7. Logic and deduction in the Middle Ages and the modern period
Part III. Deduction and Cognition: 8. How we reason, individually and in groups
9. The ontogeny of deductive reasoning
10. The phylogeny of deductive reasoning
11. A dialogical account of proofs in mathematical practice
Conclusions.

Subject Areas: Computer architecture & logic design [UYF], Philosophy of science [PDA], Philosophy: logic [HPL]