The Metaphysics of Logic

This wide-ranging collection of essays explores the nature of logic and the key issues and debates in the metaphysics of logic.

Penelope Rush (Edited by)

9781108433242, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 October 2017

277 pages
23 x 15.3 x 1.6 cm, 0.43 kg

'Rush's volume will be recommended as important reading for anyone interested in the philosophy of logic. Each article is interesting and well edited, doing a service to the study of logic.' James Cargile, University of Virginia

Featuring fourteen new essays from an international team of renowned contributors, this volume explores the key issues, debates and questions in the metaphysics of logic. The book is structured in three parts, looking first at the main positions in the nature of logic, such as realism, pluralism, relativism, objectivity, nihilism, conceptualism, and conventionalism, then focusing on historical topics such as the medieval Aristotelian view of logic, the problem of universals, and Bolzano's logical realism. The final section tackles specific issues such as glutty theories, contradiction, the metaphysical conception of logical truth, and the possible revision of logic. The volume will provide readers with a rich and wide-ranging survey, a valuable digest of the many views in this area, and a long overdue investigation of logic's relationship to us and the world. It will be of interest to a wide range of scholars and students of philosophy, logic, and mathematics.

Introduction Penelope Rush
Part I. The Main Positions: 1. Logical realism Penelope Rush
2. A defence of logical conventionalism Jody Azzouni
3. Pluralism, relativism, and objectivity Stewart Shapiro
4. Logic, mathematics and conceptual structuralism Solomon Feferman
5. A Second Philosophy of logic Penelope Maddy
6. Logical nihilism Curtis Franks
7. Wittgenstein and the covert Platonism of mathematical logic Mark Steiner
Part II. History and Authors: 8. Logic and its objects: a medieval Aristotelian view Paul Thom
9. The problem of universals and the subject matter of logic Gyula Klima
10. Logics and worlds Ermanno Bencivenga
11. Bolzano's logical realism Sandra Lapointe
Part III. Specific Issues: 12. Revising logic Graham Priest
13. Glutty theories and the logic of antinomies J. C. Beall, Michael Hughes and Ross Vandegrift
14. The metaphysical interpretation of logical truth Tuomas E. Tahko
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Mathematics [PB], Philosophy: logic [HPL], Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology [HPJ], Philosophy [HP]